I must be crazy but...

Well, I've done it! I booked myself a flight to Italy yesterday!

How come? I hear you ask.

Well, I was invited to join Martha (FS) and Sue (Suberbabe) and the rest of a party of US tourists in Milan, spend a week with them touring the Northern lakes and Western coast of Italy and Rome in September - and after I saw the itinerary, could hardly stop myself from drooling.

Imagine a lakeside hotel with views either over the Italian alps or the lakes, a hotel in Rome with paintings on the ceiling that is barely 400m from St Peters, or cruising to an island in the middle of Lake Maggiore!

Sighh.

How could I say no - and to such lovely ladies?

Since this means I'd have to fly half way round the world ( the flight is about 25 hours) , I decided to make it more worthwhile by spending a further week there and seeing more of this incredible country.

My tentative plan for my extra week takes in the Amalfi Coast (Sorrento and Pompeii), Tuscany (Florence and the Cinque Terre) and Venice.

I must be crazy. Right?

Remember my last blog entry? The one where I got lost in Melbourne - which is a mere 500 km away, where they speak the same language as me?

This is the woman with no sense of direction, no knowledge of Italian past what you might find on a menu or dredge up from some schoolgirl Latin (and we're talking nearly 40 years ago now), a hatred of big cities - but a love of all things Renaissance, thanks to my HSC European History teacher, Miss Gibson- and a very BIG tendency to unwittingly attract disaster.

Yup, that's me.

But I'm nothing if not game. And I have dreamed of visiting Europe ever since high school. When my marriage broke up I feared I'd never have the chance. But I intend to regard this trip as tentatively dipping my toe in the water of international travel for three weeks. If it goes well, I might decide to go to France or Switzerland next time around.

On the other hand, I may never leave home again.

I've only booked the international flight so far. The domestic flights and the land content are yet to be organised for my solo week. The week with the touring party only needs to be paid for. (Like that will be any easier)

It's gradually starting to hit me what I'm letting myself in for. There are so many decisions to make between now and then, such as -

How do I manage to strike a balance between seeing as much as I can, or relaxing and soaking up the atmosphere ( ie food and amazing scenery) without missing out or running myself ragged.

Do I want the freedom/flexibility to travel independently- which knowing me, could be tricky- or should I bear the higher costs and tight scheduling of organised tours since I'm on my own - in the interests of personal safety and having someone to have dinner with?

Should I opt for budget options like Youth hostels or B&B accommodation and a Eurail pass, rather than pricey coach trips and nice hotels, so that I can spend my limited cash on the actual sightseeing?

Hmm...as 'Deep Thought' put it. 'Tricky...'


So after some very determined armchair traveling in cyber space, these are the things I've decided to see that are NOT negotiable:

1 Il Duomo in Florence,
2 The Birth of Venus in the Uffizi and the statue of David at the Galleria della Arte.
3 The Cinque Terre and
4 Pompeii.


Everything thing else is just gravy. I must add though that I was really tempted with two 'different' tours in Florence

One is a small group cooking morning, where participants prepare a four course Tuscan banquet in the home of an Italian chef. It starts at the markets in the morning where the produce is selected and ends with eating the food we cook.

Frankly I'm drooling at just the thought of it.

The other tour is a three hour Segway tour around the city, checking out the various monuments. That could be a lot of fun - and be a bit easier on my feet than pounding the pavement all day.



Anyway I'm feeling optimistic that this whole trip will be fabulous. I just hope it doesn't beggar me. LOL

Now I think I better find some internet sites that will teach me some survival Italian. Does anyone know how to say, 'Excuse me I'm lost'?