Check out www.onebag.com . This website has a good packing list, as does Rick Steves’ website, www.RickSteves.com . For more than a month, you may not be able to get everything in one bag, but it is a helpful place to start! And you will not lose your bag. Things that are either difficult or impossible to find here in Italy, that you might miss from home: Medicines and perscriptions (Ritalin is not sold in Italy, for example)...
When you share your plans: “I’m going to Italy for two (or three) months!” be prepared to handle the reactions. You’ll find three main reactions. 1.The detractors, who will try to tarnish or take your dream. (For example: “It is way too hot that time of year.” “You really should not go alone.”) 2.The attachers, who will try to make your dream theirs. I had one distant relative offer to stay with me for 2...
It sounds like it should be a simple choice, when the opportunity presents itself, to grab that brass ring. But it isn’t always. I first learned this when my daughter asked for a trip to Europe with me as her graduation present from college, destination: anywhere of my choice. I had never been to Europe, and I had always wanted to go to Ireland. This dream was probably propelled by my great grandmother’s wish to either...
Once you have determined if you will be in the city or rural, and how close to usual tourism, you will know how much language training you will need. I highly recommend finding an immersion day for travelers before you arrive. You can pick up tips from your fellow travelers (I learned it was a wise investment to buy a compass for traveling in the countryside!). You may wish to supplement this with CD courses or...
Be clear about your purpose in going to Italy. Write out a mission statement, because as you drill down into details — this will come in handy often through the process. You’ll find yourself checking back on your intention, as you get to various decision points. The first time I came to Italy alone was in 2005, for two months. My mission statement was: I want to experience living in a foreign country—more rural, to...
If you can pack up your house (or sublet it, or swap houses with an Italian family), the finances of the dream become suddenly much more within reach. Since mortgage, or rent, is not due in the US, then you have these expenses to apply to your adventure. Also, you can suspend your home phone and your US cell phone (if it does not have GSM 800/1900 global frequencies – more on this later). And your...
Citta della Pieve, Chiusi, and Paciano (Umbria.) My Uncle Ross always owned a Ford, his whole life. Every three years, he would trade in his Ford Station Wagon, country squire edition (with the “wood” panels) for another newer one. It was his farm and road trip car. He and Aunt Verna would drive it from Pennsylvania to their Florida for their annual migration–snow birds, wisely escaping ice and heating bills. Uncle Ross deeply believed in the...
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