On a trip to Italy , in our Bologna apt. the electricity went out...we made a few calls to some English speaking contacts but the electrician who came spoke no English

my Italian is at the intermediate level, but words like : " one could smell the wire burning",
"we don't know where in the building the breakers are" , " what will happen if we use the washing machine and the iron at the same time", were not in my vocabulary.
ALWAYS carry a small dictionary !

Oh, NO! You have started the book that I have been writing in my head for ages.

One more: If you have asked the forum to plan your trip to wherever and have 43 responses, come back to let us know whether the responses have been helpful and how they have affected your plans.

Ah, yes, the dictionary. Reminds me of the time I went into a Japanese pharmacy with my little Japanese/English dictionary and pointed the the symbol for pain, and then to the symbol for menstrual cramps. What a lifesaver that little book was!

Oh, I left out a chapter: "Use the internet instead of asking these fool questions."

Thank you for that! And for this whole thread.

Folks, if you can find Fodor's you can do some basic research. Really.
And don't wait until the week before you leave to ask US about cheap hotels & restaurants.

And yes, please do not use Cali, ever,thank you.

Carry on.

Some of these posts are a little sour. And Peg, it sounds like what you meant was just "don't bring a suitcase that is too heavy for you to handle" which is a more reasonable dictum.

Dick, (Iris)old friend... >>>'How to be gentile with posters<<<

I'm sure you meant "gentle", eh.

Peg..one last peeve..the OP who asks some serious, and maybe not so serious, questions, gets dozens of responses..and he/she never returns..just fades away wthout so much as a thank you..never to be heard from again. This happens all too often.

Jean's peeve is mine: people who say they are going to _________ and want to know what there is to do there.

Why on earth go there if you don't know why?

This may not be gentle or sweet, but I do not get why a person would want to go to a place if they don't know what they want to do when they get there.

Peg, please include this topic in your book. And in case you want to know, I hate sweet and gentle reading.

Another chapter to add. 'How to be gentile with posters asking these perceived foolish questions.'
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How do you know they are not Jewish?

Very enjoyable thread. I was one of the ignorant ones that posted a dumb question about what I could cram into London into 3 days (I had booked a Cosmos tour for a month). My DH had a stroke and then lost his job and I had to cancel my "once in a lifetime" trip that I had been waiting and saving all my life to take.

It turned out to be a blessing in disguise (just the trip cancellation). I took one comment that "ira" posted that said basically, if you want to do so much in London why don't you just spend all your time there? I was offended at first and then re-evaluated the comment.

I planned a budget conscious trip the next year for 11 days and spent my whole time just in London and went alone. It was fabulous. He was right.

I've saved for three more years and am going to Paris in September. I posted a crazy long list again - and have now whittled it down. Fodorites give great advice - even if you have to post it over and over, ad nauseam.

Oh, and I vote for "Suck it Up" for a title too!

There will be children on the plane, there will be large people and there will be delays. Choose your attitude carefully.

That could be a whole chapter right there.


Yes, there may be a time when we really won't be back but we say, "we'll just have to come back" anyway.

If they are asking "Is this Itinerary nuts?" The answer is yes, then I read it.

Oh, mogsovana, have a wonderful time!!!! Paris is just amazing. Just walking around is such a pleasure.

My father and my brother passed away before they could go back. In fact most of the people around me cannot go back one another time. I refrain from making "do it next time" comments unless I really know their circumstances. One might need to see the evanescence of the life of the loved ones before one realizes the value of what might turn out to be a fleeting travel opportunities in front of him.

greg, I don't tell people to do it next time, because of course we humans are not promised another day.

I do however, object to the phrase "trip of a lifetime." I really think it is placing very unrealistic expectations on a mere trip to consider it the best of your lifetime.

Besides, why is a trip to Europe weighted with such a load? Why not a trip to NJ, or Vietnam, or the Alamo?


Horizons tend to expand when we travel, and although I haven't been to Egypt or Japan or Australia, I don't think I'll call my possible trip to any of those place my "trip of a lifetime." Why not? Well, when I go to one place, I find I want to go to some place else.

I never stop planning, although I'm sure that someday I'll stop living.

It seems to me that to say "trip of a lifetime" would place limitations on me that I don't want.

This is a pretty serious post on a fairly lighthearted thread, but I wanted to say why I object to that damn phrase.

greg..if you read my post above, you'll see why one never knows whether he'll be able to go overseas again. Now I can't.

Hey Stu and Aduchamp1; Perhaps I'll keep you guessing!! YES, gentle. P.S. I can't understand the spelling error as I had my G and T withour the G.

tuscan, good post. I don't like "trip of a lifetime" either. Some people have had trips of a lifetime going to the grocery store.

A friend met her husband there years ago, wearing sweats and uncombed hair.

"I never stop planning, although I'm sure that someday I'll stop living." Words to remember.

I just got home and already have been putting together my next trip.

It could have been:

Gentle

Gentile (Jews and Mormons use the same word to describe someone who is not of their religion. Although I do not know about Mormons, but the Jews also have more colorful words for that. And if you are alta cocker like myself and a baseball fan, there was a ballplayer named Jim Gentile.)

Genteel-a word rarely heard any more.
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I do not have a problem with a trip of a lifetime as some others but with qualifications. We have many relatives and friends who have never been abroad. One friend is terrified of flying but when he retires will find some boat that will take him back and forth to Europe where they will spend three months. It will truly be a trip of a lifetime.
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My biggest gripe is that people are too friggin serious about their trips. It is supposed to be fun. I guess defintions of fun vary but most trip reports read like their constipation medicine did not take effect. And their questions and attitudes reflect that constipation. They think they must have a prescribed good time.

Only 17 misspellings of itinerary? That's nothing. I've collected 33 so far!

Shoes do not have to be ugly to be comfortable. I routinely take at least 3 pairs of shoes but prefer 4 pairs. I use a 24" suitcase which I check and a carry-on. I'm working on whittling that down to a 22" and a carry-on.

I did go to Guatemala for 11 days with a carry-on only but my father had died there and my sister and I had to retrieve him. That certainly was the "trip of a lifetime" as I have no plans to do something like that again .

Half the fun of a trip for me is the research. I start planning my next trip pretty much as soon as I arrive home.