Afterthoughts

In Italy, take every opportunity to use a free, and CLEAN, restroom possible, even when you don't think you need to. Decent bathroom facilities are few and far between, and can range from squat toilets with no paper available - always carry pocket packs of tissues!, to more American-style fixtures if you're lucky. Carry 1 Euro coins for the pay toilets, which are generally a little better-maintained than any you will find for free. The trains usually have bathrooms available, so it's always wise to use them about ten to fifteen minutes before you arrive at your destination - the stations' restrooms may be "pay" style.

Zip Loc baggies are a wonderful thing to pack. Throw in a couple of quart, gallon, and sandwich sized. If you buy some food item that isn't completely sealed, you can put it in one, you can store a wet washcloth, or other clothing item in the large size, or you can use them to keep snacks for munching on while you're walking around. Also, if you happen to freeze a water bottle so that you have cold water to drink all day long, you can slip it inside a gallon sized bag and keep the condensation from getting other things in your purse or backpack damp. Rubber bands and paper clips take up little room, also, and can be used to re-seal food packages.

While it may prove difficult to get out to the outskirts of places like Rome, Florence or Venice to where the "real" people live and shop, I think the prices are much lower there, if you do get a chance. The markup on goods sold in the "centre storico" is unreal. You have to make at least a token effort to haggle, or you'll miss out on an easy discount, and if you're serious about buying something, you'll probably spend as much time really dickering over the price as you do making your selection, and you still probably won't get anywhere near cost, but we routinely saw discounts of 40% and up when we spent a little time at it, and simply asking, "Can you make me a better price on two?"or "That's too much" will get you a few euros off nearly anything.

While for the most part I found Italy and the Italians charming, friendly and fun, there were a few grumpy grocery checkers, waiters, and salespeople, too. I find the same thing back home some days. I try not to let the bad experiences, like the leather salesman who got angry with me for not buying the perfect jacket, and the gelateria girl whom I believe intentionally short-changed me - we had been at that shop before and listened to an American accusing the other man there of short changing him, then giving up on it when his wife undercut him, so when it happened to me on a later visit, I kinda had to figure it was something they tried there every once in a while, counting on confused tourists not being willing to push things in a foreign country. The street vendors can be a bit pushy, and some of them will try to run a con on you to get money, like the East African who gave us "gifts" because he "loves America", then demanded money for them moments later, but there are just hordes of them out and about, so you have to take it in stride. Again, I see the same thing in U.S. tourist traps, just not in the same sheer numbers, plus it's illegal here for unlicensed vendors to sell and for tourists to buy from them.

For every Grumpy Gus, there seemed to be many an amiable soul who went the extra mile for us, like bringing us shots of homemade limoncello, gratis, after our meal, leading us all the way to the right bus stop several blocks away, comp-ing us some mind-blowingly good sorbet, sending us to amazing wineries, chatting with us about their families, describing the process and materials used in producing their hand-made wares, and many other small kindnesses.

One of the most important things that I feel one should do when traveling is to engage. So many folks are rushing from attraction to attraction, trying to tick the boxes on their bucket list du jour, and missing some of the richest experiences available. Now, to be perfectly fair, it seemed to me at times on this trip that we were rushing around, trying to squeeze in too many must-see things into too short of a time period, but we really did try to slow down and enjoy the pace of life, and to get down to a deeper level of engagement with people here.

GPS sucks. There's no other way I can put it, really. The mapping applications on the local phone my friend loaned me, my own iPhone and iPad, were never really reliable out in the field. If you have wifi access in your hotel or apartment, you can get the maps to pull up, and give you directions to your destination, but out in the maze of streets of Rome and Florence, GPS signal is sketchy, and when you need it the most, it can disappear entirely. I finally learned to get my directions pulled up before I left the house in the morning, write them down "old school" on my pocket notebook, and then when the mapping app went belly-up, I could still get where I wanted to go. Forget e-maps, and buy a Michelin guide. Lesson definitely learned. 

Holy Flying Pizza Pie! Italian motorists, motorcyclists, scooter pilots and bicyclists are absolutely and completely out of their minds!