BocelliOnline

[guest]

I have been e-mailing another member of this website about travel tips for her trip to Tuscay. This would be a good site for sharing lessons we've learned or tips to help us travel.

The gypsies are groups of small children, usually 4-5, who suddenly close in on you by some distraction like putting a newspaper in front of your face. While you are dealing with that distraction, the others are extremely agile at pickpocketing. The Italians will help you if they are around. I have even seen them strip these kids naked to get people's possessions back, and the French just walk on by. They are most active in the cities like Firenze and Roma, but they also like high tourist areas so you can bet they will be on the coast like in Forte in August.

Suggestions: You no longer need traveler's checks - your exchange rate is the worst on these today even at the banks. There are ATMs everywhere and there is your credit card - these will give much better rates because your get the bank's international rate on millions of dollars exchanged each day. I only carry penny cash with me each day.
Another suggestion is to make 3 copies of your airline tickets, credit card, driver's license, and passport before you leave. Leave one copy at home with someone you can call, leave another copy in your checked luggage and a third on you. Never carry your passport or tickets with you while touring; carry only the copies. Replacing a stolen passport is a hassle that will cost you 2-3 days of your trip and you can instantly cancel your credit card.
Make all long distance telephone calls at the post office and never in your hotel.
Do not trust that just because a one-way arrow has the traffic going in one direction that the Italian drive will actually pay attention to this. So ALWAYS look both ways before pulling into any intersection.
Always count your change and check your restaurant bill to be sure you are paying for only what your ordered and not another customer's bottle of wine.
Buy an Italian newspaper every day and carry it with you whenever you are touring or walking. Unless someone talks to you in Italian, they will not know you cannot read a word of it.
If you can't find your destination in a city, hire a cab driver to lead you to it. After 90 minutes of going in circles around Rome trying to reach the Scalinata di Spagna Albergo, I did just this.
Never travel in Italy on the first of August. The entire country is on the move.

[Annalisa]

The tip about making copies of credit cards and other documents is excellent. I recently lost my wallet in Paris on the second day of a 12 day trip (or maybe someone took it, I really don't know for sure). Luckily I had copied the front and back of my two credit cards so I was able to call their international numbers to cancel them. I just wish I had thought to enlarge them when I made the copies because the numbers were in very small print.

Also, since I had most of my cash in my money belt, I only lost about 10 Euro. If I hadn't taken those precautions, my trip would have been ruined. Now I have to remember to make enlarged copies of my new credit cards. :?

[Echo]

Excellent advise! Thank you, Guest!

nell'amicizia,
Echo :D
_________________
My heart opens to your voice
Like the flowers open to the kisses of the dawn!
But, o my beloved, to dry my tears the best,
Let your voice speak again!
- Mon coeur s'ouvre a la voix, Samson et Dalila - Saint Saens

[Signora Innamorata]

two tips on the more frivilous aspect of things... buy *every*.. and I mean EVERY Italian music CD that you can possibly afford!

:P :P :P :P

(did I mention...EVERY?)

:wink:

And the last, but of EQUAL important... buy EVERY box of Italian tissue (Kleenex) that you can afford - for the very moment you step foot on that darn plane to head back home!

Believe me on this... no matter how manyyyy BOXES you might buy... you shall run out before you get half way home! Trust me on this!

It's just toooo toooo sad for words to wave ciao ciao to bella Italia. OH!

:D : :D

Sorry to get off of the serious side of this post..... they are just 2 little tips that every human being should have heads up on... eheheh *grin*

Happy traveling to all!

p.s... (did I mention to buy EVERYYYYY Italian cd that you can afford?)

:D :D :D :D

p.p.s....GREAT thread, Em! Brava!
_________________
Don't marry the man you can live with... marry the man you can't live without ~

[buckeyeboy]

Hi,
I only have Italian 101 under my belt and am signed up for Italian 102, do you need to speak Italian fluently to get around and basically stay out of bad situations? btw I'm not going to Sicily (I know they have a different dialect there)

Thanks,
Ben

[Janice]

Have a great trip! I've heard that it depends on where you go--that people in big cities know English but in the smaller towns you will want to know Italian. I was in Tuscany last year for the first time and was always in a group. For the most part, we didn't need to know Italian. We could point and do okay when they didn't know English. But I have to say I did really like it when our group was taking tours with local guides. I always felt most confident at those times.

[jlew1949]

Dear Guest and Everyone,
Excellent advice. I have been traveling abroad since 1992, to Asia and Europe and I always learn something new or I am reminded of some advice given to me in the past.

Thanks!

Jane
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Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the places and moments that take our breath away ~Anonymous

[buckeyeboy]

Hey has anyone come across any Bocelli or shops with extensive Andrea Bocelli merchandise in any of their travels through Italia?