We've noticed that a lot of guidance provided to would be travellers tends to "pull the punches" and "hint" at conditions in Europe. I guess this is to try to support tourism while still giving people the general idea of how to prepare. The problem is, subtlety is generally lost an Americans. The following is our "unvarnished" truth about travelling in Italy. We aren't trying to discourage you from visiting. We are offering you practical and realistic tips to make your trip a success. Below is our collective wisdom.
1. Pay a little extra to enjoy the ride. There's no way around it: The trip to Europe is brutal, from the cramped seat to the long flights to the smelly bathrooms. You can make it a little better by minimizing stress. Pay the extra for more direct routes. Allow yourself plenty of time at each stopover to stretch your legs and to allow for late flights, lines at passport control and lines at customs (We allow 3 hours between international flights). We use British Airways, because the service is better and there is a little more legroom. If you want to go to hell on the cheap, fly United.
2. Before you leave, make photocopies of important documents--fronts and backs of credit cards and bank cards, passports and drivers licenses. You will have to turn over a copy of your passport at each hotel you stay at, so take multiple copies. Leave one copy at home where it can be accessed by someone you trust in case of emergency. Take one copy with you in case of theft, so you can contact your bank. Chances are you won't need this, but it's good to have. It is also advisable to purchase a good travel policy which covers medical emergencies and travel exigencies. Organize all your paperwork--airline itineraries, hotel reservations, car reservations, important papers, etc-- in some sort of binder in roughly chronological order. Be sure the binder has a pocket, as you will need to add loose papers and receipts as you go along. (At minimum you will need something in which you keep accumulated receipts for merchandise, which you can turn in at the end of your trip for refund of the 20 percent VAT tax that will be applied to all your purchases.)
3. Italy is not the 51st state. Rome is not America. It has at least 3000 years of known history and a tribal history before that. It would be well worth your time to read at least the Wikepedia entry before coming, if not something more substantial Once you are here, realize that you are not in America anymore. Be open to entirely new experiences and don't be one of the irritating Americans who walk into the trattoria and say, in LOUD English: "Do you have coffee? American coffee?" You will be disappointed in what you get, the Italians will think less of you, and you will not improve the image of your country. (Italian's don't know what drip coffee is. Or American-style bacon. Or scrambled eggs. Or hamburgers, tacos or orange cheese, so don't expect them. It is also helpful not to stand on one of the bridges shouting at your spouse, "Is it the Tiger or the Tiber?" (Yes, we saw this.)
4. You are in Italy. The national language is ITALIAN. Learn to speak it, at least a little. You have no more right to come to Italy, and ask Italians to speak English, than they have to come to Oregon and ask you to speak Italian. Learn to count to 20 and then how to count by 10s to 100. Learn the basic verbs like "to be", "to have", "to make", "to want" and the phrases such as "I'm sorry," "Excuse me" and "Where is the...bathroom, train station, bus stop, hotel, restaurant, etc." Your efforts, however clumsy to speak Italian and treat Italians with respect will open doors to you. Otherwise, you are just another boorish tourist with money.
5. This is a cash economy. Most Italian businesses do not take credit cards Even if they do, the internet probably won't be working on the day you try to use your card. Before leaving, talk to your bank and credit card companies and have them put travel alerts on your cards, so they will work here. (Take your bank's phone number, because banks cannot seem to get the travel alerts right and you will probably have to call your bank and remind them that you previously turned on a travel alert-- aggravating, but true.) Once here, withdraw euros in 300-euro increments and spend cash. Everything will go better. To withdraw cash conveniently look for an Italia Poste (post office.) There will be an ATM out front which is likely available day and night. It even has an English language button, which makes the ATM work just like it does in America.
6. Lower your expectations. At some point while you are here, the power will cease to work, the internet will stop working, the hot water will stop working, or the restaurant which advertises "air-conditioning" will provide you with a trickle of air that barely cools the temperature around you or the pizza oven will stop working or the fire alarm will sound for no rason (This is Italy, not America, so if you want America, stay home.) When something essential isn't working, wait a while. It will probably fix itself. If it doesn't, alert management. Be prepared to make do.
7. Safe drinking water comes in bottles. Even the tap water may be contaminated, and there is nothing like spending your vacation hurling across the room. Italy is very hot, and it is important to stay hydrated, so order bottled water every time you get a chance and drink it all. You will need to specify whether you want "naturale" or "frizzante: (still or sparkling). Fountains on street corners spouting water in which lots of Italians are splashing and tourists are filling their water bottles may be safe--or may not. Assume they are not. If you are one of those people who wants every beverage served with ice, get over it. Ice is rare in Italy and a possible source of contamination.
8. Bring hand sanitizer. It is hard to find here, and it is, unfortunately, necessary. Bathrooms may or may not have soap in the dispensers. You will be sharing the countertops, grab bars, table tops and everything else with millions of other hands that have been God knows where. Be prepared to carry around and use the hand sanitizer for your own health. It is also handy to have a pack of tissue/Kleenex. Toilet paper may not be available in the bathroom you are using. Is this gross? Maybe. But this is Italy. If you want America, stay home.
8. Bring hand sanitizer. It is hard to find here, and it is, unfortunately, necessary. Bathrooms may or may not have soap in the dispensers. You will be sharing the countertops, grab bars, table tops and everything else with millions of other hands that have been God knows where. Be prepared to carry around and use the hand sanitizer for your own health. It is also handy to have a pack of tissue/Kleenex. Toilet paper may not be available in the bathroom you are using. Is this gross? Maybe. But this is Italy. If you want America, stay home.
9. When it comes to food, safety matters. Closely related to the concern over hand sanitizer has to be a concern for the safety of food. General lack of hygiene standards, the hot sun and a lack of environmental regulations, make this a potential disaster for anybody whose digestive tract isn't accustomed to such conditions. Generally, the rule is; Baked is good. Anything that comes hot from the oven or off the stove has a decent chance of being OK. Beware, however, of lavish buffets sitting on a front counter. That buffet is likely the source of what's going on your plate, even if you are seated inside a restaurant and ordered the dish off the menu. Beware of the sandwiches, sitting in an unrefrigerated counter at midday. Beware of fresh fruit unless you see it being washed. Sadly, being safe will mean missing out on some great options for enjoying Italy's cuisine. But a little vigilance will save you a LOT of unpleasantness the next day!
10. Enjoy the cultural venues. Being a world capital, Rome attracts all the major performers, and Rome does a good job of advertisng these venues--along with their healthy admission prices. However, youre options aren't limited to the blockbusters, especially if art or music are your things. As you travel around, keep your eyes open. You will likely see free concerts and ads for art exhibitions advertised on posters, usually posted only at or near the venue where vocal and string and brass performances will be staged or where exhibitions will be staged. These can almost never be found on the internet, but are part of the joy of Rome
11. Time your visit. Consider coming here in the fall. Or better yet, the winter. Italy is incredibly crowded in the summer months, and, frankly, it is oppressively hot. Why fight the lines? Everything is still open in the off season, but the lines are shorter and the prices are lower. You won't get a tan, but you will get a better experience, unless you are here specifically for the sun (which also shines in America.)
12. Americans drive cars; the rest of the world walks, or takes public transit. If taking a car everywhere is important to you, stay in America. If you come to Rome, learn to walk. Most of the sites for tourists in Rome are within walking distance of each other. The distances on the map are deceiving. Ancient Romans walked their city, because they had no other way to get places. You can, too. Buy a good pair of shoes and a good map. Wander down crooked streets, and when you get lost, consult your map and recalculate. When you are really lost use your broken Italian to ask someone to put you back on course, Most of the major sites have signage pointing the way. If you are not up for walking, you have public transportation options. Taxis are an easy, if somewhat expensive way to get around. The Metro is efficient. (That said, Italy lived on Metro Line A and Metro Line B is not real Italy but rather is a bizarre blend of real Italy and tourist Italy.) For maximum flexibility, learn to use the bus system and the trams and regional railroads. You can buy a one week multi-modal pass at Termini, where your credit card will work, or at the ticket machines at San Giovanni, which may require cash. If you have a map of the transit stops, you figure out which busses run from which locations to the places you want to visit. (GoogleMaps will tell you the same thing most of the time.) This is important because the names of the stops are likely unrelated to the places you are visiting. (Piazza Venezia, for example, may be Piazza Venezia. Or it might be Aracoeli or it might be Corso or it might be Foro Imperiali.) Don't be afraid to try. If you get off course, you can always get back on course by walking--with the aid of your maps and your good walking shoes.
13. A useful investment is a portable wifi device. This can be rented in the U.S. and brought with you, or rented online and delivered to your hotel in Italy. (You can also pick it up at a designated pick up pont. Since internet is somewhat unreliable, this will keep you connected and can help you power useful apps like Google Maps) while you are here. Also, we found halfway through our trip that portable batteries are very useful. The key to using these and all other electronics is to make sure you have enough adapters, converters and cords to plug in and recharge all your various devices. When you add up the price of all these, you will gasp, and you will probably conclude that you will make do with "serially charging" your electronics. This will not work, because you will not be willing to sit in your hotel room doing nothing while waiting for electronics to recharge, which you would otherwise be using while out and about. Make the investment. One adapter/converter and cord per device.)
14. Put some clothes on. Italians are conservative and modest, and God, apparently, doesn't like women's shoulders, too much cleavage or men's thighs (unless you happen to be a completely naked male statue, which you are not, no matter what your mirror tells you.) By wearing tank tops or short running shorts, you will be barred from entering the religious sites (such as the churches) or embarrassingly asked to leave or provided with an ugly wrap, which has been God knows where, to put over yourself while inside. In any case, you will look like an ignorant and boorish tourist. Put your clothes on. Outside of a romantic relationship, your body probably isn't worth sharing with the rest of us.
15. For women, consider a good cross-body purse. This will give you something in which to carry around water, sanitizer and your day's purchases and enhance your security. Women should also consider casual skirts and dresses, which are cooler. Bring fewer clothes, not more, especially if you can have access to laundry facilities. You aren't going to see the same people every day, and Italians wear the same clothes over and over anyway. Remember that Italians are modest people, so black and white are preferable to bright colors. Men visiting in summer should wear cargo shorts. You will need the pockets, and the front pockets can help add security for things stored there. Men do not wear pink in Italy. At some point, you will probably will need long pants and a long sleeve shirt (non patterned), so bring at least one set with a pair shoes appropriate for a formal setting.
16. Convert your measurements to continental before you go. Italy has great clothes, although you may have to search a bit to find the deals. (Hint: they are not in the tourist venues.) Italian clothes fit more tightly, and you are going to lose weight while you are here (due to all the walking; see above), So you are going to be tempted to buy something Italian. The problem: you'll have no clue what size you are. Fortunately, the internet can convert your American size to Continental sizes. Do the research and carry the information around with you. It will come in handly when you see that perfect little dress or that must-have pair of shoes. Just remember when you are buying XL and XXL, that's only a comparison relative to the size of the average Italian, which is smaller than the size of Americans (or even Germans for that matter). At home, you're still still an M-L and trying to squeeze into something smaller and flatter your ego will only flatter you, not your figure.
17. The shopping experience. There are several ways to shop in Italy: you can buy your stuff at the museum gift stores and at the popular tourist destinations such as the area around the Spanish steps or the Piazza Navona. This will be relatively hassle free but is the most expensive way to shop. You can also visit the street vendors (or worse yet, they will descend on you) who offer their wares at streetside tables. (These will mostly be Pakistani/Indian/Bangladeshis and other southeast Asians or the occasional African.) You can generally bargain with these vendors, and they expect you to do so. Getting off the beaten path will take you to local stores, where the prices will be much more reasonable, but Italian will likely be the only language spoken. Look for signs that say saldi (sale) and sconto (discount). Lastly, be sure to visit a grocery store. A visit to a grocery store (an actual grocery, not one that caters to tourists or a mini-market) is a glimpse of real life and offers a wealth of curiousities in any foreign country.
16. Convert your measurements to continental before you go. Italy has great clothes, although you may have to search a bit to find the deals. (Hint: they are not in the tourist venues.) Italian clothes fit more tightly, and you are going to lose weight while you are here (due to all the walking; see above), So you are going to be tempted to buy something Italian. The problem: you'll have no clue what size you are. Fortunately, the internet can convert your American size to Continental sizes. Do the research and carry the information around with you. It will come in handly when you see that perfect little dress or that must-have pair of shoes. Just remember when you are buying XL and XXL, that's only a comparison relative to the size of the average Italian, which is smaller than the size of Americans (or even Germans for that matter). At home, you're still still an M-L and trying to squeeze into something smaller and flatter your ego will only flatter you, not your figure.
17. The shopping experience. There are several ways to shop in Italy: you can buy your stuff at the museum gift stores and at the popular tourist destinations such as the area around the Spanish steps or the Piazza Navona. This will be relatively hassle free but is the most expensive way to shop. You can also visit the street vendors (or worse yet, they will descend on you) who offer their wares at streetside tables. (These will mostly be Pakistani/Indian/Bangladeshis and other southeast Asians or the occasional African.) You can generally bargain with these vendors, and they expect you to do so. Getting off the beaten path will take you to local stores, where the prices will be much more reasonable, but Italian will likely be the only language spoken. Look for signs that say saldi (sale) and sconto (discount). Lastly, be sure to visit a grocery store. A visit to a grocery store (an actual grocery, not one that caters to tourists or a mini-market) is a glimpse of real life and offers a wealth of curiousities in any foreign country.
17. Do you need a mobile phone in Italy? That's hard to say. We made do without one. We did have use of a Skype phone app, which sort of worked with wifi. When Linda visited us, her carrier allowed her to make calls over a wifi network. If staying connected to the mainland is that important to you and email just won't work, it probably won't hurt to invest in a sim card that will give your phone international calling ability.
18. There are 2.5 million people living in Rome. The pope counts as one person. Rome does not belong to the pope. (That city and country is called, The Vatican.) For historical reasons, Romans respect but don't particularly trust the pope, so don't think about Rome entirely as being Papa-centric, no matter how popular Francis may be in the rest of the world. Likewise, while Romans take great pride in their former glory as "capital of the world", Rome also has a medieval, renaissance and modern history. If you limit yourself to studying the Rome of 2000 years ago, you will miss the best of Rome. If you aren't interested in the culture and history of Rome, stay home.
19. Beware of strikes, slowdowns and unexpected closures. Italy is prone to labor strife. You may have a big trip planned and suddenly find that the bus that was going to take you there simply isn't running today. We travelled all the way to Herculaneum one day, only to find a labor dispute in progress, and uncertainty about whether the site would open or not. (Fortunately, it did.) We were surprised one morning when the tram lines stopped running for three weeks, apparently because the tram workers like to take their holiday at the same time as everyone else--at the peak of the tourist season. We also encountered a slow-down, caused by a fight between transit workers and management, because of management's unreasonable request that workers punch a time clock. As a result, it was decided to do everything slowly and by the book--including kicking off all the passengers in the middle of a route at the end of a shift and returning immediately to the terminal. There is nothing to do to prevent any of this, except to have a back up plan and be patient. Our last tip would be to check the hours when planning to visit any venue where your time is not flexibile. Italians generally work in the cool of the morning and late in the evening, and even churches will shut their doors from 1-4. Plan accordingly.
20. Consider the world beyond Rome. Rome is amazing, but Rome isn't all of Italy. In fact, the idea of Italy as a unified country is fairly new to the Italians and they still hang on pretty intensely to regional identify and local cultural preferences. Generally speaking, the farther north you go, the better things works, but that is by no means a universal truth! Day trips are easily accessible from Rome--to Pompeii or to Florence. We even made Venice with a day trip, although that is not for the faint of heart. For day trips outside Rome, consider a tour company (most likely Viator) or consider hiring a private driver to take you door to door. The Agent 365 at Termini can help you arrange train tickets to whisk you right to your favorite destination and home again on the Italian train system for a very reasonable feel.
19. Beware of strikes, slowdowns and unexpected closures. Italy is prone to labor strife. You may have a big trip planned and suddenly find that the bus that was going to take you there simply isn't running today. We travelled all the way to Herculaneum one day, only to find a labor dispute in progress, and uncertainty about whether the site would open or not. (Fortunately, it did.) We were surprised one morning when the tram lines stopped running for three weeks, apparently because the tram workers like to take their holiday at the same time as everyone else--at the peak of the tourist season. We also encountered a slow-down, caused by a fight between transit workers and management, because of management's unreasonable request that workers punch a time clock. As a result, it was decided to do everything slowly and by the book--including kicking off all the passengers in the middle of a route at the end of a shift and returning immediately to the terminal. There is nothing to do to prevent any of this, except to have a back up plan and be patient. Our last tip would be to check the hours when planning to visit any venue where your time is not flexibile. Italians generally work in the cool of the morning and late in the evening, and even churches will shut their doors from 1-4. Plan accordingly.
20. Consider the world beyond Rome. Rome is amazing, but Rome isn't all of Italy. In fact, the idea of Italy as a unified country is fairly new to the Italians and they still hang on pretty intensely to regional identify and local cultural preferences. Generally speaking, the farther north you go, the better things works, but that is by no means a universal truth! Day trips are easily accessible from Rome--to Pompeii or to Florence. We even made Venice with a day trip, although that is not for the faint of heart. For day trips outside Rome, consider a tour company (most likely Viator) or consider hiring a private driver to take you door to door. The Agent 365 at Termini can help you arrange train tickets to whisk you right to your favorite destination and home again on the Italian train system for a very reasonable feel.
Bottom line: Rome and Italy are wonderful experiences, but traveling there involves living in a foreign country. Things here will be FOREIGN. If you want America, stay in America. If you are ready to broaden your horizons, visit Italy and enjoy the Italian experience fully. You'll be back in America soon enough.
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