Any tips, positive or negative, for a woman over 40 traveling alone for a two days in Rome? Also, is it safe to give your credit card number on an unsecured site for hotel reservations?


Thanks!

HI M,

>Any tips,...

No is "no"

Yes is "si"

>is it safe to give your credit card number on an unsecured site for hotel reservations?

It's as safe as giving it to someone over the phone, to a waiter in a restaurant or by fax.

If you have concerns, you could email the hotel giving your number and exp date in two separate messages.

Only tip you'll need - Go and have a good time!! I'm 48, single, and spent a week in Rome by myself last October, before joining a large group for a canonization at St Peter's. Had absolutely no problems (except for the drunk that peed on me on the Metro! Never wore that pair of pants again!!). I stayed in a small hotel about 2 minutes walk from the Pantheon and had no concerns walking through the neighborhood, even after midnight.

Travelling with friends is great, but there's something to be said for travelling solo - gives you the opportunity to spend time doing whatever you want without guilt. One of my favorite afternoons was spent just sitting in the Forum reading Harris' new book - "Imperium." Fabulous to read it where the story was set, with no guilt about other people in your group wanting to tick off the next thing on their list of "things we must do."

Sounds wonderful to have a couple days to myself. Are you meeting up with someone later? Think of all the people watching you'll do without the distraction of another person. You'll have more attention to devote to the little stuff. Wander and sit, wander and sit. Go see a little, obscure museum. Little memories, all your own.

I have not been to Rome but had been in Italy and love to travel solo.

Hopefully you will have a hotel in a central location, good for walking every where. That is one of my best tips as I don't like to have to depend on public transportation to get around.

Maybe you would want to join a 1/2 day tour to see the major landmarks more easily? Besides that I always enjoy spending time in the neighborhood around my hotel, poking around, people-watching, doing some window shopping.

(There's also a 'solo traveler' forum here at Fodor's... you'll likely get some different readers/repllies if you cross-post your question over there too.)