I always like to arrive 1 day before the tour begins. I'm very lucky that I don't experience too much jet lag, but I also contribute part of that to the fact that I hit the ground running. I don't sleep much on planes and I usually try to find flights that arrive early in the day. I will then make my way to the hotel. If it is too early to check in, I ask to leave my bag there and start exploring. On this trip, after my layover in Frankfurt and the train from Venice to Padova, I arrived between 2 and 3. I was able to check into my hotel, but then left quickly to see some of Padova and avoid falling asleep. I do my best to try and keep a regular schedule and not go to bed until normal bedtime. I think I barely made it to 10 pm this trip. Of course, when I'm home, I usually go to bed at 9 pm! I'm very much the early bird.
On this trip, I ended up going to St. Anthony's after checking in and there were hardly any people around, so I was able to spend a bit of time enjoying the inside of the basilica. Also helps if by chance you have travel issues. I've, thankfully, not had to deal with this. |
I only needed it one day on this trip, but I find that raincoats are far more convenient than an umbrella. They also double as a light jacket and even a little travel pillow for the bus. I've used my raincoat a lot on other trips and since they don't take up too much room, I now take them on all my trips.
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Your bus driver is an important part of your tour. They join you for breakfast and dinner, plus they are responsible for a lot! They have to get you safely from place to place and keep all of your stuff secure. We had such a wonderful bus driver, Ezio, on this trip. He became another member of our group. He was trying to learn more English, so he would sit and talk with us at dinner. He was always so happy to help us and talk to us. He always wanted to sing, but we didn't let him on the bus so that Tricia could talk to us. As you saw earlier in the scrapbook, we did eventually let him sing!
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I don't like to journal. I don't necessarily mean that you have to devote a great deal of time to chronicling every aspect of your trip, but I do find it very useful at the end of the day to jot down the things that you have done that day. I tend to make quick outlines of events and what I ate, so that when I go back through my pictures, I can remember more details. It is really helpful when making a scrapbook too! (I'm making this in January after my trip in May.)
If you like to journal, more power to you. I try to start out with those intentions, but they quickly go away. Note taking is the best I can do each day. |
I do some of this before hand and keep them in a cloud storage device. Things like passports, credit cards and bank phone numbers, hotel information, etc. But while on tour, I take a picture each day of the itinerary posted by the guide. This does a couple of things - it helps me be on time for things and it helps me remember what day it was in my pictures. I use my smartphone for this, so that I can quickly look it up when needed.
I do also like to take pictures of Rick's book for the maps and food suggestions in case I don't want to carry the whole book. (I've yet to be able to follow Rick's advice of tearing the book up, but maybe some day.) |
I'm not usually a person that sleeps on planes or in cars. Makes the flights long, but on a bus, it allows me to enjoy the beautiful countryside as it passes by. We got to see a lot of Italy on this tour and from the bus, you were able to watch the terrain change from one part to another.
The bus is also a time when we would get lessons on Italy from Tricia. These lessons would include history, current affairs, and language lessons. We were only told our room numbers in Italian, so our first order of business was learning the numbers. We also learned about the history and the culture of Italy, along with Tricia's relationship to Italy. I always enjoy the time on the bus and learning new things. |
As I was preparing for this trip, I would check the weather in Italy to see what I should and should not pack - I mean, you have to prepare these things in order to pack light. Every website and forecast I checked showed temperatures in the mid to high 70's (Fahrenheit) for all locations on our trip. This prompted me to toss in an extra light sweater and take out some capri pants. Well, turns out that it was in the upper 80's every day. I really could have used those capri pants and I never pulled that sweater out of my bag. Oh well, I just washed the one pair of capri pants a little more often. (I did have the room for them, so I should have thrown them in anyway.)
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I get better at this every year. Other than my above mentioned sweater, I didn't take anything I didn't use while on my trip. I love my backpack suitcase (eBags Brand). In Italy, I find that it is easier to put my bag on my back as opposed to trying to wheel it down a street. This may change in the years to come, but I'm still good for now. I also take with me a cross body purse that fits my camera and water bottle. I also take with me a Rick Steves' Civita Day Pack that I use for my bus bag. Usually, I keep some extra water and snacks in here. I do also take a Rick Steves' Hide Away Tote bag for when I come home, but I didn't use it this year. I do typically check my bag on the way home - due to purchases like olive oil and wine, so the tote becomes my carry on bag for my electronics, but this year they all fit in my day pack.
Also, remember that you can get most things in Europe - so if you forget something, you get to experience shopping for it! Even more fun! |