Italy trip - preparations, continue....
Now that we've set up a date, and shared the document, it's time to plan what to do in Italy and when.
The plan is to have a tour and a day of no activity in each city. First full day in a city should be a tour day. Hopefully, that would give us a little better feel for the city for the next day, which is a day just to walk around, relax and hangout. There needs to be a time to try gelato in every city. Of course, we have to go for a wine tour in Florence. After all, Florence is in Cianti region, Tuscany. And in Rome, I am allocating a day for Vatican.
So, here is the plan:
Now that we've set up a date, and shared the document, it's time to plan what to do in Italy and when.
The plan is to have a tour and a day of no activity in each city. First full day in a city should be a tour day. Hopefully, that would give us a little better feel for the city for the next day, which is a day just to walk around, relax and hangout. There needs to be a time to try gelato in every city. Of course, we have to go for a wine tour in Florence. After all, Florence is in Cianti region, Tuscany. And in Rome, I am allocating a day for Vatican.
So, here is the plan:
- Venice:
- day 1 - arrival
- day 2 - city tour
- day 3 - off
- day 4 - drive to Florence
- Florence
- day 1 - arrival
- day 2 - city tour
- day 3 - wine tour with truffle based lunch
- day 4 - off
- day 5 - drive to Room thru Pisa
- Rome
- day 1 - arrival
- day 2 - city tour
- day 3 - Vatican tour
- day 4 - off
- day 5 - off
- day 6 - fly home
Now, that we know which tours we want, it should be easy to arrange it. But there is a glitch :) We need all tours with Russian speaking tour guides. My cousin does not speak English and we don't speak German. The only common language is Russian. Natan found Russian speaking tour guides in each city and I found a wine tour guide around Florence that speaks Russian, English, and German!!! The glitch is no longer a glitch!
Next topic: money. obviously I'd like to have some euros when we land in Italy. Also, I don't want to exchange the money in the airport. So, I talked to my friendly banker in the local Chase bank. They've exchange dollars to euros with no fees. The exchange rate I got was 1.35. It's probably better rate then what I can get at airport or exchange. If I remember, I'll try to keep an eye on the exchange rates in Italy.
Last thing as far as I can tell: power. Most of the devices now can work in dual mode (120/220V). The problem is that there are too many devices: camera, phone, etc. Lana also wanted to take her straightener. That device works only in 120V. After doing some research I did find a straightener that had dual mode, and it wasn't that expensive. Also, I found the universal power strip with USB ports. So, we should not have any problem with power in Europe. If someone is going abroad in future, you can borrow these things.
I think we are all set and ready to go. Can't wait!
Last thing as far as I can tell: power. Most of the devices now can work in dual mode (120/220V). The problem is that there are too many devices: camera, phone, etc. Lana also wanted to take her straightener. That device works only in 120V. After doing some research I did find a straightener that had dual mode, and it wasn't that expensive. Also, I found the universal power strip with USB ports. So, we should not have any problem with power in Europe. If someone is going abroad in future, you can borrow these things.
I think we are all set and ready to go. Can't wait!
Good thing my knitting doesn't require any power. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited!!!! Can't wait.