News from San Jose

I suppose you're wondering why it's taken me so long to update my website. Well, I was in Italy!

From June 22 to July 9, I took my first trip over the ocean to Europe. It required my first passport, and my first International flight. We saw Padua, Venice, Rome, Florence, Lucca, Cinque Terre (Italian Mediterranean towns), Milan and a few small Italian towns.

I had a blast, and learned a lot besides.

1. Find out where your destination is before blindly heading there without water on a hot day. (We spent hours hiking uphill with no water the day we got into Italy to see Varenna's castle.)
   
   
2. International flights are COLD! Never wear shorts. (I lost my blanket on the flight to Italy.)
   
   
3. Cheese sauce is not necessarily melted cheese. In Italy, it may be cream sauce. (That was my only really bad meal.)
   
   
4. Pizza and gelato are good. (I had gelato almost every day!)
   
   
5. Get reservations for big tourist cities like Venice, Rome, and Florence. Call to confirm by the morning of the day you are scheduled to arrive, so they don't give your room away! And know how to do it in their native language. (We lost one of our reservations in Bologna when we couldn't confirm in Italian.)
   
   
6. Italy has squat toilets. What is the advantage?
   
   
7. Always schedule food into the itinerary, with extra time for the bill. (Three out of five of our travelers had chronic low blood sugar!)
   
   
8. Bring gum for the planes, trains (fast trains cause low pressure through long tunnels), hunger distraction, and teeth cleaning.
   
   
9. Buses are bad, but taxis are worse. Everyone drives crazy in Italy except bus drivers, but buses are often hot and crowded.
   
   
10. Have train tickets validated professionally. Don't write anything on them yourself, unless a conductor asks you to. (We nearly got a citation for writing our own dates!)
    
    
11. Stairs are evil. EVIL! (Especially when you have to go up a million of them, as we did at Cinque Terre.)
    
    
12. Italy has good tap water. Don't waste your money on mineral water. Bring at least a liter bottle for water and refill often. Always carry water.
    
    
13. Italians don't care if you die. There are no screens on windows, no rails on trails, and no seatbelts in taxis.
    
    
14. International ATMs don't give your balance. Bring your password to check your balance on the internet.
    
    
15. Check your pack for important things (like extra contact lenses) before leaving. Check twice.
    
    
16. Laundromats are expensive!
    
    
17. Don't bring earrings on trips - buy them. (I lost the pair I brought.)
    
    
18. Avoid chicken on airplanes, especially if it isn't specified as "white." (The stuff I had on the plane on the way to Italy was GROSS!)
    
    
19. I can find my way around foreign countries without too much difficulty, just by knowing a few words of the native language. (I had been studying Italian on tape for a couple months before the trip.)
    
    
20. Something always has to go wrong on vacation. Pray it isn't too bad.

last updated August 6, 2000