276. From Cash to Coffee: Essential Travel Tips for First-Time Visitors to Italy

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Heading to Italy for the first time or after a
few years or even decades. Listen on as my friend
Karina Cook and I reveal our top travel tips for
first time visitors and share our first trips to Italy,
both in a style that might surprise you.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Chawatuti and Benvenuti tu one Told Italy The travel podcast
to where you go to the towns and villages, mountains,
the lakes, hills and coastlines of Bela, Italia. Each week,
your host Katie Clark takes you on a journey in
a search of magical landscapes, history, culture, wine, gelato, and

(00:40):
of course, a whole lot of pasta. If you're dreaming
of Italy and planning future adventures there, you've come to
the right place.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
Dreaming of arriving in Italy is strolling in to a
gelatia and ordering your gelato with confidence. If you've been
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Speaker 1 (01:17):
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(01:40):
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(02:02):
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Speaker 3 (02:13):
Jao bonjouno. Everyone.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
I hope you're doing well and enjoying life as Europe
and the Northern Hemisphere heads into summer. Looks like things
are really cotting up in Italy over the next few weeks,
so I've done a rethink of my packing and I've
added in a couple more floaty dresses and swapped a
pair of flats for another pair of sandals. Now, before
we get started on this week's episode, I want to
take a moment to remember two travelers and incredible women

(02:38):
who we've lost too soon. On the day we recorded
this episode, Karina's friend Melissa lost a very short but
brutal battle with cancer. Karina had many adventures in Italy
with Melissa, and she was an important friend that bridged
the oceans.

Speaker 3 (02:53):
Between the United States and Europe for her.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
I know Karina cherishes the stories and laughter and fun
they had together and just wishes that she could be here.
Earlier this year, a good friend's young daughter was taken
from us too soon. Soria was a bright chining star
with an incredible future ahead of her. She embraced her
mum's passion for travel and sense of adventure, and was
a talented dancer. Soria had been to more countries and

(03:19):
experienced more cultures than most of us will ever enjoy
in our lifetimes. And as my friend Sharon and her
family navigate this world without her, I know that they
cling to those memories that they spent together as a
family exploring the world. So this episode is dedicated to
Melissa and Sorea, who, without a doubt would have wished
that each of us sees every opportunity to see the world,

(03:41):
to meet people from countries far and wide, and know
that we're not so very different after all. Ben Tornata, Kavina,
my dear friend, welcome back to the Untold Hesaily podcast.

Speaker 4 (03:54):
Thank you Katie. It is wonderful to be back again,
to be invited back again, And hello everybody.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
Now, Karina and I we like to talk, and when
we were talking recently about the Mark, we had a
bit of an idea to also maybe share some tips
for first time visitors. And so that's why Makarina's back today.
So if you don't know Karina, you really should. And
so I'll just get her to introduce herself, because she

(04:26):
does that way better than I do.

Speaker 4 (04:28):
Oh, thank you Katie. Yeah, my name's Karina Cook and
I write a book series called the Glamatalia how to
Travel Italy books, and these are guides that show you
a different way of seeing Italy and different things to
see inside the big city centers as well. There's so
much to do in Italy. It's wonderful and this is

(04:48):
just a chance to see some things that the tour
bus crowds are not going to see. I also run
small group tours for women called the Glamatalia Tours, and
along the way, I've learned a lot of tips that
I wish I had known when I was first going. There.
So many mistakes you learn from making mistakes. And I

(05:11):
also think that you know when you go on forums,
like sometimes things will pop up about like some Italy
travel group or whatever, and if I have a look
in it, I often find it quite toxic. And I
would find that if it was me going for my
first time, I would find some of these people snapping away,
quite bossy, unpleasant. So with this, we want to address

(05:33):
people who are going for the first time and you know,
just just things that you may not know about, and
if you do already know about them, great, And you
know there's gonna be stuff in here you didn't know,
and if you don't know any of it, great, Like
we're just gonna meet you wherever you are and tell
you some cool tip.

Speaker 3 (05:49):
It's fun. I'm going to try and do it quickly.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
Luck with that, So I thought though, as we could
start off with our first trips to Italy because I think,
you know, after a while, we've been so many times,
but you know, you have to really take yourself back
to the first time, to really put yourself in those shoes,
to really remember what it was like. And you know,
the journey that the life journey or the travel journey

(06:12):
that we've been on to actually get to a point
where we do feel.

Speaker 3 (06:15):
Like we are the seasoned travels.

Speaker 1 (06:17):
That was going to say wis and doll drones, but
come on, we are fabulous.

Speaker 3 (06:24):
So it's like your older auntie.

Speaker 1 (06:26):
You know, we've done it a few times and so
please take everything with a grain of salt. But I
feel like we have some some years under the belt
and we can give you some considered advice.

Speaker 4 (06:37):
Yeah, And I think most of these things I really
wish that somebody had told me before. Maybe not before
my first time, because my first time I was a
complete idiot anyway, But like a lot of these things,
I wish that someone had told me and that I
didn't have to learn the hard way. But you know,
my first time to Italy, I was only twenty one

(06:57):
years old. I'd moved from Church, New Zealand, which at
the time wasn't an extremely cosmopolitan place like it is now.
I'd moved. I was living in London and came over
to do my first trip around Europe, and I was
on a big bus tour. It was a Kentucky tour
for eighteen to thirty five year olds, and I was
thinking it was a four week tour, but I actually,

(07:18):
not too long ago went back and was looking at
some stuff and realized it was a six week tourist
a six week tour around eleventy billion countries in Europe.
It was fantastic. I couldn't have organized anything. And in
those days there was no internet.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
Yeah, it was very different back in those days. I
did something similar actually, but I was on a Trafalgar
tour and I was with my partner at the time
and his parents and some you know, like.

Speaker 3 (07:44):
Some older people.

Speaker 1 (07:45):
I have to say, it was not a Kentucky tour,
which if you don't know the Kentucky tour, this is
a bit of a ride of passage for Australians and
New Zealanders and it involves typically some very late nights
and a lot a lot of drinking. But I was
on a different tour in the place that we stopped
in and I can remember it like yesterday. And also
my mum kept a diary that I wrote, a little

(08:09):
travel journal and it's got like printed out photos.

Speaker 3 (08:13):
People.

Speaker 1 (08:13):
This is when we had I had to go back
and get the camera role printed. So I'm just we're
all dating ourselves here. But you know what, I don't care.
I was in Lake Gata.

Speaker 3 (08:21):
It was Malchesny.

Speaker 1 (08:22):
I've said it before on these podcasts, and then I
also went to Verona and Venice on that trip, and honestly,
I couldn't believe it, like I was so smitten. I
was pinching myself the whole time because I was living
in London at the time and a lot of Australians
and New Zealanders do that too, so they can travel
around Europe and have those adventures. And the contrast between

(08:45):
living in the UK and Italy was it was not
lost on me. And I'm no disrespect to London because
I've lived there a third of my adult life and
you know, I've had some good times there, but I
did not feel the same there as I did when
I arrived in Italy and it was a magical time
and yes, things were very different back then, but Venice

(09:07):
was crowded.

Speaker 3 (09:08):
I remember that very much.

Speaker 1 (09:09):
The other things that I remember, which you know, we
don't have today. The currency was different. We had the
lira back then, and you had to carry around wards
and wards of cash because it was a very devalued currency.

Speaker 3 (09:22):
You had a lot of notes. Let's just say it's
like a.

Speaker 4 (09:25):
Thousand lira was a dollar.

Speaker 3 (09:28):
Yeah, oh my god.

Speaker 1 (09:33):
I was going to ask you as well, Karina, what
do you think's change you know, over the years that
you've traveled in Italy.

Speaker 4 (09:39):
Well, I mean, it's just so easy to get around.
I think there's a lot of stuff that's changed because
I just didn't know, things like how easy it is
to get around. And I personally think, I mean, I've
been to most countries in Europe, and I personally think
that Italy is the easiest one to travel. It is
the easiest one to get out down left right, you know,

(10:01):
all over the blaze. Plenty of places have great train systems,
plenty of places have great highways, but here you've got
the incredible warmth and the people as well. So I
found that's incredible.

Speaker 1 (10:13):
One of the things I remember is when you would
if you were a backpacker like I was, with very
little money. You would not be using a travel agent
so and there was no internet, so you to get
accommodation basically the backpacking style, which you'd be clutching your
lonely planet.

Speaker 3 (10:30):
So you totally look like a tourist.

Speaker 1 (10:32):
And then you get off at the train station and
you'd be met by all these people holding their laminated
advertisements for their apartment to stay in. It was like
the pre Airbnb. I'm sure the Airbnb founders. You know,
you did a bit of backpacking in the nineties. It
was so interesting. You were just like, oh, yeah, I
like the look of that one, and then you go
haggle a bit and see how much it would cost,

(10:54):
and that was it.

Speaker 3 (10:55):
That was a very different thing.

Speaker 4 (10:56):
There was no online And I remember too, when I
was first going to Italy, for example, the roads around
the Duomo and Florence was all traffic like that didn't
stop until comparatively recently. And you know, I remember admittedly,
I was fresh off the bus from New Zealand, so

(11:17):
I back up the boat from New Zealand, so I
didn't have a lot of experience in big, busy cities
other than London. But I remember thinking, you know, God,
am I going to get hit by a car as
I'm trying to like zoom across to get to the drama,
like get across right now is all pedestrian, so I
think they have a lot more pedestrian streets now. And

(11:37):
there's so many places that have become so cosmopolitan that
were perhaps a little bit more not rural, but not chic.
I'm like a ratzo. There used to be cars in
Piazza Grande, and it's so hard to think of that
now because it's so incredible and such a beautiful place

(11:59):
to sit and have a drink. And it was really
comparatively recently in my lifetime that it was just cars
and stuff happening, so.

Speaker 3 (12:08):
And I think, you know, that's the beauty of Italy. Like, really,
Rome is Rome.

Speaker 1 (12:12):
Not much has changed there for two thousand years, except
for we've added a few cars in instead of horses
or whatever they had and chariots.

Speaker 3 (12:20):
But we do have mass tourism now.

Speaker 1 (12:22):
Although I do really remember being in the Vatican Museums
when I first went, thinking, oh my goodness, this is
a nightmare, because it was very, very busy even then,
and I don't believe it was the first time I
think was in like that I was in Rome would
have been October.

Speaker 3 (12:38):
And November timeframe.

Speaker 1 (12:39):
So we do have a lot more tourist visiting and
the democratization of travel, which is amazing, right. It has
meant that there are more people visiting, so there are
bigger crowds. And you didn't have to prepay your tickets
and you didn't have those options.

Speaker 4 (12:54):
Did you just get your tickets when you got there.
I don't remember having a ticket to get into the
coliseum or anything. I think that just walked up.

Speaker 3 (13:04):
There were still scammers though out the front.

Speaker 1 (13:06):
I remember, you know there have been scamming since.

Speaker 3 (13:12):
Three hundred BC.

Speaker 1 (13:13):
I guess, yeah, there you go seventy nine AD when
this coliseum was opened, So I bet there was scammers
back then, even though it was free.

Speaker 3 (13:22):
All right, so let's get started, shall we.

Speaker 1 (13:24):
We're going to go some quick tips now for our
first time visitors.

Speaker 3 (13:28):
And there's lots of advice out there.

Speaker 1 (13:31):
There's people spouting advice everywhere, and you should take it
or leave it, and you should do the trip that
suits you. But these are the things that I think
that Corina and I think will make things just run
a little smoother.

Speaker 4 (13:42):
Yeah, I think so. So there's a lot of people
who will not have been out of their home country. Yeah,
this might be your first trip or maybe like for
North American as they've often been to Canada, they've been
to the Caribbean, Mexico, things that function quite similarly, so
they haven't had to deal with any of this before.
But we have three things I recommend you do before

(14:04):
leaving home. The first one is get a travel credit card. Now,
a travel credit card is one that is going to
let you swipe that card internationally and not charge you
additional fees, and they typically also have a much better
exchange rate. So that's number one. And we did an
episode quite a ways back we talked about about how

(14:26):
the travel credit cards.

Speaker 3 (14:27):
Wort I use a WISE card. It's international.

Speaker 1 (14:29):
You can get one all over the world, and you
if you're going to different countries, you can use different
currencies as well.

Speaker 4 (14:35):
But if you live in America, you can't have a
Wise card. You can have a Wise account, but you
can't have the Wise debit card. So here in the
United States, the top too are the Capital one Venture
Card and the Chase Sapphire Card. Then there's different banks
like HSBC and the Barclay Group. They're known for having
some good travel credit cards. Airlines have attached credit cards

(15:00):
as well that are for travel. For international travel, you
want to have a credit card that anything you want
to buy, anything you want to spend that you can
be able to swipe it and not be incurring international
fees for doing so and have a better exchange rate
at the same time for running cash. Back in the
back in the old days, we used to have travelers

(15:23):
checks but remember those.

Speaker 1 (15:26):
Yes, it's actually one of my first jobs was working
in a bank in London counting out foreign currency and
travelers checks. It was actually quite fun because everyone was
a student and just you know, like it was like
such a mind numbing task that we just went to
the pubet lunchtime. Probably somebody got a few extra lera

(15:48):
who knows after.

Speaker 4 (15:49):
That, Oh gosh, have fun. Well. We as well as
having a credit card, we also need to have access
to cash because there's some stuff that you're going to
be using cash for very much less now then it
used to be, but you do still need cash. So
you want to get a debit card, but check with
your bank what they charge. For example, my bank here

(16:10):
in the United States costs an arm and a leg
to use their debit cards. So I have a credit
Union that I belong to and that debit card costs
me nothing. Also in the United States, if you open
a Schwab account like you don't even need to do
the investing side of it, but the checking banking side
of it, that debit card is free to use overseas.

(16:32):
And again these fees add up, So your debit card,
you're not swiping it away like a credit card. You
only use a debit card to pull cash as you
need it, and you want to make sure you've got
one that's not charging you horrible fees and that is
not giving you a terrible exchange rate. And then we
get to number three on my list of before you
leave home, you need to order some currency whatever country

(16:56):
you're going to. So if you're coming to Italy, you've
got to arrive with some euros on you, and I
recommend coming in with about two hundred euros. So here
in America, I feel like I keep saying, here in America,
so sorry for what is not America, and listen to this.
We normally have to order it. So I live in Phoenix,
I don't think any of the manks here carry euros,

(17:17):
so I have to order them in advance. I know
I'm not going to get my best exchange rate, but
it's going to be whatever. I make sure I order
it in small denominations. I try to get twenties and
below because a lot of places can't break at fifty
if you depending on where you are. So we're on

(17:38):
zoom and Katie just count them a bunch of euros
at me. I do believe you should have currency on
you before you arrive in whatever country you're going to.

Speaker 1 (17:49):
I'm just going to say the reason I got those
euros out was because.

Speaker 3 (17:53):
I got those out from my last trip and I
didn't use them.

Speaker 1 (17:55):
So please don't go out and take out heaps of
cash because you won't need it, and what do you
do with it. I'm just going to be taking it
back with me and I will be using it for
tips and things like that.

Speaker 4 (18:07):
Now, the next thing is where we're getting cash from,
so avoid money exchange places. When you're walking around in Italy,
you'll see ATM. When you see ATM, which is what
we call them here. In most of the places in America,
they're called ATMs, that's actually a money exchange place that
is tricking you because you're going to go, oh and ATM,

(18:28):
I gotta go get cash, and again you're going to
get terrible exchange rates and massive fees. When you're actually
in Italy. You want to pull cash from a bank,
not from anything that's out on the street. And I
actually always do it where you have to walk inside
because it's very easy to put a cloning device on
an outside ATM. Also, if you're a baddie and you're

(18:51):
looking for some people to pickpocket and they can stand
across the street, watch where you pull your card out
from where you put everything in, you know you're sitting duck.
So I recommend going in side the bank, and they
do have ATMs inside like the bank lobby. Thing. Last
thing I want to say there is when you are
pulling cash, you don't want to be pulling fifty dollars
every day because that's going to cost you a lot

(19:12):
in fees. You want to be pulling like figure out
while you're there, like what you think the maximum amount
you probably would need is, and pull that you're not sure,
pull in a two hundred, three hundred, and then figure
it out for the next time. You know, if you
need to get more or not, the ATM machine is
going to offer you that. They'll do the conversion for you.

(19:33):
And so you can either accept conversion or decline. And
this is a flashing neon light in your brain. Decline
the conversion because that is going to give them sensational
exchange rates and new terrible ones. And at the airports,
the airports in your home country and the airport when

(19:53):
you arrive in Italy, you're going to see money exchange places.
Just keep on walking. They have the worst, worst exchange rates.
I actually put something on my Instagram just recently about it.
I was taking photos, taking photos of the exchange rate.
The official exchange rate was I think eighty eight cents

(20:14):
that day, and they were going to give you, oh gosh,
it was like eighty one cents or something horrific. So
you were going to be losing a huge amount of money.
And then they've also got their fees and there are
other things that they put on. So that's a big
no no.

Speaker 1 (20:28):
Okay, So should we also now then like talk about
things that are like just before you go and just
that are good to know. One thing I was going
to say about passports is that you need to have
a minimum of three months on your passport in terms
of its expiry date when you are leaving Italy.

Speaker 3 (20:48):
So anyway, I don't like to.

Speaker 1 (20:50):
Go too close or run the gauntlet on that one.
So I like to have six months online.

Speaker 4 (20:54):
And six months So if you're going in June and
your passports expiring in December, let's see about getting a
new passport before you go in June. Yep.

Speaker 1 (21:05):
And then just on the passports is you need to
carry your passport and it's become more important these days.
I used to carry a copy and I used to
say that. In fact, if you go back on the
back catalog of these podcasts, you'll hear me say, oh,
I just carry a copy. But these days no, because
people do get stopped by police on trains and my

(21:28):
team that lives initially have been stopped.

Speaker 3 (21:30):
They needed to provide their ID.

Speaker 1 (21:32):
And you really it's going to ruin your holiday if
you don't have it, basically, because if you don't have it,
you'll have to go and turn up to the police
station and you might be there for half a day.

Speaker 3 (21:42):
So you do need to carry your passport.

Speaker 4 (21:46):
I actually got checked last time I was there, and
I got checked in December when I was there. I
mean I have home there. The police will often come
on the train or be in the train station or
be wherever, and just everybody's going to got to show
them if they ask you.

Speaker 1 (21:58):
So you also need to show them now to go
into the coliseum and the Vatican museums and a lot
of the ticketing sites require that you have ID that
matches your ticket, so it's a requirement, and I guess
that people get very nervous about carrying such an important
document around.

Speaker 3 (22:14):
So then maybe, Karena, do you have.

Speaker 1 (22:16):
Any tips about security for our first time visitors to
keep their passport safe?

Speaker 4 (22:21):
Yeah, you want to have it zipped up, So I'm
all about having a crossbody bag and your bag is
always zipped and have it in a place that a
pickpocket is not expecting it, so you know, like I'll
have it like down the bottom of my bag with
other stuff on top or whatever, but you know, you
don't have it in a pocket, and you know, if

(22:42):
you're going to be wearing a moneybout where some people
still wear money belts. I haven't used one, and I
don't even know how many years. But we're I going
I don't know too Mumbai for example, I'll be out
of my out of my leg there, I wouldn't know
what was going on and maybe I would wear one
to start off with there, So there's no shame in

(23:03):
going in and wearing one. But you can keep it
in your money boutance under your waistband of your clothes
and you just don't get it out no matter what.
Unless a police officer asks you to see it, then
you'll get your money out, but otherwise it just stays there.

Speaker 3 (23:18):
What about to do?

Speaker 4 (23:18):
Where do you recommend people put there in the passport? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (23:21):
I keep mine in my cross body bag, and I
think that the thing is is it's got to have
a zipper on top, and you've got to have it
shat and all of that stuff and like things on top,
like you say, but also like some people carry their
phone in their bag, and like what I like now
these days is to have a like a lanyard phone
case so you have the phone across your body as well,

(23:43):
so you don't have to keep reaching in and out
of the bag to get your phone. For a start,
because obviously we're taking a bazillion photos and you have
it very handy and it's yeah, that's my way of operating.

Speaker 3 (23:56):
So I have a little cross body bag and then
I have my phone, landyards.

Speaker 4 (24:00):
And another thing before we get off of passports everywhere
you're staying, so whether you're in a hotel, an airbnb,
where you're in a hostel, wherever it is, they buy
law have to photograph or scan your passport and send
it into the local police. So I know some people
get freaked out when it's victually it's the first time

(24:21):
and you're asked to pull out your passport and then
they take a photo with their phone and you're thinking,
what's happening? This is actually by law and by the way,
if you go do something bad, like say, for example,
there was a couple of clowns a couple of years
ago that carved their name. It was like Barb and
Haley or something carved it into the wall of the coliseum,

(24:42):
which I'm still staggered at. The police found them because
they were able to go back and go, ah, let's
look through all the people staying in Rome tonight. Let's
look through all the turned in passports where they will
being registered and see where there's a Barb and A Haley,
and you know there's only whatever then were they were
the only pair with that pair of names. But you

(25:04):
know it keeps us safe, so I have no problem
with it. But just know that they will ask you
for your passport and they will photograph it or scan it.

Speaker 3 (25:12):
My husband works in cybersecurity.

Speaker 1 (25:17):
He's got some opinions about sharing things online and some
he's absolutely appalled at some of my behavior.

Speaker 3 (25:23):
But anyway, if you don't feel comfortable.

Speaker 1 (25:26):
Sharing that passport information online, then they can always take
it at the desk, especially if it's a smaller hotel.

Speaker 3 (25:33):
I feel like their cybersecurity practices.

Speaker 1 (25:36):
May not may not be up to part and in general,
Italy has a very underdeveloped e commerce and everything situation,
which no doubt everyone has found out while they have
been booking their trips.

Speaker 3 (25:53):
All right, any other tips about accommodation.

Speaker 4 (25:56):
Oh, I've got a lot of tips about accommodation. Okay,
in Italy, you're going to pay tourist tax per person
per night that you're staying there. In most cases, I
think if you're more than a week in one place,
then it gets reduced or something like that. I don't know,
And that is normally paid in cash as well. Like
some I've had plenty of hotels you know, have said

(26:18):
the tourist tax is paid in cash. I do a
lot of I call all vacation rentals airbnbs, but they
typically require the tourist tax to be paid in cash.
So don't be surprised if you get to your hotel
to check in and they say, and we need another
twelve euros in cash. That is the tourist tax. I

(26:39):
would say. With accommodation, one thing to watch out for,
like if you're booking a hotel, for example, don't book
a room for one person unless you like single beds,
because you're going to get a single bed, a small
single bed. And I do this all the time, Katie,
and I tell people not to do it. It's still like,
oh yeah, book this. I doebt in for one. If
it's two people, you need to have a look and

(27:00):
make sure that there's going to be either two single
beds or one double bed, because they might have a
room that's for two people, but when you actually look
into it, it's two singles. Although they can normally I
guess put them together. And you'll also you'll notice a
lot of times when there's especially if it's an old building,
when there is a room with what we would call

(27:23):
a queen's size or a king sized bed, there'll be
two mattresses. You're like, what on earth's going on. I
only recently found this out, Katie, because one of my
friends who lives in my town in Tuscany, was doing
up one of the rooms. She's an expat like me,
and she wanted to put a queen size bed in
her spare room and it couldn't be done because you

(27:44):
cannot get that mattress. The bed frame they can take apart,
but the mattress you cannot actually get inside. There's no
big windows for a crane to come out and put
it in, and the staircase is narrow and steep, and
so that's how we found out that you have to
do two singles, and sometimes they're quite narrow. But that
was getting it up the stairs into the apartment. Isn't

(28:05):
that interesting?

Speaker 3 (28:06):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (28:06):
I just think you need to leave the expectation of
unless you're going to stay in a chain hotel, like,
just leave the expectations of what you're used to at
home behind because different We've got a few.

Speaker 3 (28:19):
Episodes on accommodation. You can delve into that a bit more.

Speaker 4 (28:22):
Buts are different. Okay, So where I live in America,
it's pretty hot, so everybody has great air conditioning, Whereas
where my son went to school up on the East
Coast Northeast, most housers didn't have air conditioning. But you're
going to find that many hotels, although they have air conditioning,
it's not what you're used to at home, and it's

(28:46):
not going to be that great, or you may not
have as much control over the temperature. A lot of
vacation rentals now they tend to have air conditioning units
or many more of them do, but you may have
one unit for the whole apartment. So you just have
to know it's it's Italy, it's gonna be different. But
the cost of electricity over there is exorbitant and there's

(29:09):
not a huge amount of electricity, so it's really important
that when you are leaving your apartment you turn it
off and turn it back on when you get back in.
I have this all the time with my people that
they're on my tours, that they're used to the American
way and they's leave it on. And then I had
the landlords calling me, going caller, Now, what the hell's

(29:31):
going on? You know, the air conditioning on, So that's
a big important one. Turn it off when you leave,
turn it back on when you come back. Don't have
the air and windows open, which I means sounds smart anyway,
but you'd be surprised how many people do that. But
another one if you're not a summer traveler. Another one

(29:51):
to know is that Italy is broken into six zones
with regards to heating. Each zone is given a date
when the heating can be turned on and when it
must be turned off. So you can be in Rome
and it's the beginning of October and suddenly, out of

(30:11):
nowhere there's a cold snap and guess what, you can't
turn the radiators on in your apartment or I don't
know if it's all hotels, some hotels, whatever.

Speaker 3 (30:20):
But they might be hotels might be exempt.

Speaker 4 (30:23):
But yeah, there is and it's not one date for
the whole country. It's all broken up depending on where
in the country it is. But there's a date where
the radiators can be turned on, and there's a date
where they get turned off. And if you're cold outside
of that time, it's kind of like, it sucks to
be you, and when I say sex to be you,
I'm talking about me.

Speaker 3 (30:44):
Yeah, it's sex to me. I cannot do cold.

Speaker 4 (30:46):
I've done panic runs to obvious and bought everything like
it's gone and bought lakes, sweatpants and sweaters and all
this stuff because I don't do gold at all. So
that's something to to keep in the back of your
mind and know that it can just be that way. Typically,
there's no clothes dryers, so if you're staying in a

(31:07):
vacation rental in an airbnb, don't expect a clothes dryer.
I had one Airbnb. I had some people in a
couple of years ago that had one, and I was like, wow,
I think it might be the first I've seen. So
in general, when you're doing laundry, most of them will
have a washing machine, but you're going to be hanging
out your clothes on a drying rack to dry. So

(31:28):
you need to factor this into your equation as to
when you're doing laundry. You don't want to be doing
something the night before you're moving on because it's not
going to be dry necessarily in the morning.

Speaker 1 (31:39):
Yeah, we also didn't remember the episode we did about
what you should wear in Italy and we can link
to that one as well.

Speaker 2 (31:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (31:45):
Yeah, that's a really good one for definitely a good
one for first time is to listen to because it's
really important.

Speaker 3 (31:51):
Because I've spent a lot of time talking about fabrics.

Speaker 4 (31:56):
And all the things you need to think about.

Speaker 3 (31:58):
But that.

Speaker 4 (32:00):
I want to say about accommodation is that Italian beds
typically are a lot firmer than what we have here
in the United States. Anyway, here in the United States,
we tend to have a box spring and then a
mattress that's a bit softer, whereas there they'll have a
bed frame, they have wooden slats across the bottom, and

(32:20):
Italians like a firm bed. So if you're staying at
the Four Seasons, it's probably going to be bouncy and soft.
But if you're staying in a B and B, or
in an airbnb or in a you know, even though
I had plenty of hotels I've stayed in where the
bed's been pretty firm.

Speaker 3 (32:37):
But there's no mattress, top bar. Let's just say, yeah,
I mean.

Speaker 4 (32:41):
It just is what it is. If I would have
an overly firm bed and be in Italy or be
in the optimal puffy comfort and be here on Vegas
or something. Italy is going to win every time. So
it's just one of those things just to know about
in advance.

Speaker 1 (32:59):
Yeah, it's like, I don't know why they call it
that place in Vegas Bellagio, because it's just like it's
a travesty, like serious.

Speaker 3 (33:06):
If you've been to the real one, you'll know what
I mean. Okay, let's talk about tickets.

Speaker 1 (33:12):
Talk about getting our tickets, because we mentioned before that
you know you need your passport sometimes to when you
book your tickets. I have a point of view on
this one and may disagree with yours. I don't understand,
and I haven't been very vocal about this, but I'm
just going to lay it out on the line. We
have many articles, many, many, many many articles on how

(33:32):
to buy tickets for the major tourist places. You need
to book them in advance these days, and you can
do that online. You can book it through in our articles.
We always always always give the official site because some
people are very dedicated to using the official site.

Speaker 3 (33:48):
Well, here's the thing. They can be really ugly to use.

Speaker 1 (33:53):
And I value my time highly and I do not
value time trying to sort out websites that don't work,
so I always use an authorized third party and I'm
happy to pay a couple of extra euros more to
get the time that I want at the time, because
there are all sorts of rules about ticketing when they

(34:14):
go on sale. If you buy through the official site,
each to their own, that's what I do. I know
Karina has a different opinion, but you know, that's what
makes the world go around. But I'm quite happy to
pay a couple of extra.

Speaker 3 (34:26):
Euros to not have to sit there and figure it out.

Speaker 5 (34:29):
Well.

Speaker 4 (34:30):
I will say twenty twenty three nearly completely derailed me
the Colosseum. So under the Colosseum Group, there's all kinds
of ticketing in Rome that happens, and they were changing
from co Op Culture to Paco Colisse for the edding,
and so there was a year where everything went absolutely

(34:50):
haywire and it was so hard to get tickets and
you're having to stay up in the middle of the
night because they were releasing them. If you wanted to
go at nine o'clock on Monday morning, they were going
to release those tickets thirty days prior at nine o'clock
Monday morning Rome time, so you're having to be up
and down all over the in the middle of the
night trying to get tickets. It was really stressful. Now

(35:12):
the Park of Colisseo website seems to be working better,
but you know it can be handful. So I know
my way around it relatively well and I'm quite happy
to do it. But you want to find your most
efficient way. But I will say that kind of at

(35:32):
least since COVID, ticketing has been timed entry. So your
ticket says nine point fifteen, you can't roll up at
nine thirty and say, oh, I was in traffic. They
would say bye bye. It doesn't matter how much you've
spent on that ticket. So you really need to factor
in what is the entrance time on your ticket and

(35:53):
make sure you're able to be there, be in line.
Like I always get places early because you've got to
find what gate you're going in. And we got somewhere
like the Coliseum. That's a lot of different gates. I
was just at the Visari corridor. They reopened the Vasari
Corridor in Florence in December, and I know my way
around the Ufizzi Gallery extremely well. You know, been a

(36:15):
billion times, and I think my entrance was for eleven
thirty or something, and so I thought I'll get there
at ten thirty or ten fifteen, because that there was
an entrance into the Bisari corridor, not into the Ufitzi,
and I thought I'd just like smuggle my way in
a bit earlier. Oh my goodness, it was heyars getting

(36:38):
in there, and a lot of it was because people
going through the X ray machines had apparently never seen
an X ray machine before in their lives, and we're
walking in the circles not knowing. Oh my gosh, I
want to like throttle all of them. But for something
like that, to get into the bizarre corridor you have,
it's a long way from the entrance. You have to
go the full length of the Ufitzi, go up three

(37:00):
flights of stairs to the top, go the full length back,
come down another series of stairs, and then go to
where you're going to go. So while I was sitting there,
I watched a family come running up and they missed
their time. And you know, it was a lot of
money for those tickets. If they'd brought them directly through
the ufit seed, they would have paid to think about

(37:20):
forty five euros or something per ticket, and there's like
five or six of them, and if they had bought
it through a third party, it would have been substantially more.
I don't know what they're charging now, but it was
a lot more back then. But it was just that
not being there on time, So you really have to
factor that and know it whatever it is that you're
going to.

Speaker 1 (37:40):
And I would say you also have to book well
in advance for some of these places. I've imagined the
Visari corridors being shot for a very long time, so
people who would want to go see that will be
snapping those tickets, and there's very limited tickets. Another one
where people are constantly disappointed is the last supper in Mala.

(38:00):
You need to book in advance and they get sold out.

Speaker 4 (38:03):
I haven't had anybody through there for a while. What
is the leadst done? How far ahead you have to
book for last supper?

Speaker 3 (38:09):
I would say at least a couple of.

Speaker 4 (38:11):
Months, yeah, And also it depends on when you're going.
If you're June, July, August, September or August, maybe not
quite so bad, but those high tourism months, everyone wants
to go so it gets really tricky. I have people
messaging me saying, Oh, I'm going to Naples next week,
can I have your list of private guides? And I'm

(38:32):
like next week. They've been booked out for six months.
So things like booking guides and drivers, you've got to
get those bookings in well in advance, like as soon
as you've got your dates lined up. If you're booking
private guides, get them booked, because they all get booked out.

Speaker 3 (38:50):
This is another thing.

Speaker 1 (38:51):
Unfortunately, you can't win travel into these major areas like
you used to be able to do. So even as
much as we like to say just go with the
flow and do your own thing and trouble your own way,
you can really get unstuck if you're not booking the
major things in advance. So people get maybe a little
bit maybe think that we're being a bit precious, but

(39:11):
we know that. You know, you don't want to be
spending hours in lines. You do not want to be disappointed.
I know so many people that wanted to go to
the bulgesa gallery in Rome, and it's the tickets are
sold out, like well in advance and.

Speaker 4 (39:26):
Months in advance, month plan so you want to go
to the sign As which is the French embassies and
this plazzo in Rome, and it's got unbelievable art. Well
they only open it to the public a couple of
times a week, and it's got really strict rules, really
really strict for getting there. I can look months in

(39:47):
advance and it's still booked out, So it's some of
the stuff is really tricky. So I think part of
your expectations are to have a much bigger list of
things you want to see and do. And if you
can't get something in like that, you can't get tickets,
it's not the end of the world, because here's another
ten things.

Speaker 3 (40:04):
The news is you will never run out of anything
to do.

Speaker 1 (40:06):
But so maybe then we should also talk about restaurants
in that regard, because if you want to go to
some of the restaurants that you might have seen featured
on social media, and we can have a little chat
about that as well, you do need to book in advance.
I you know, like there's some places that people know.
One of my favorite restaurants used to be russh Oli Salumeria,

(40:30):
but I.

Speaker 3 (40:30):
Can't get in.

Speaker 1 (40:31):
You can't get in there anymore, and so I share
these places quite judiciously now, because I actually like to
go to my favorite restaurants.

Speaker 4 (40:41):
I normally don't tell people where as I go, but
I will say a lot of the time that you
see something on social media, it's going to be more
of a tourist place. And I want to eat real
Italian foods, but you know where the Italians eat, so
I like to go a couple of blocks back. I
just look in places and see is it full of Italian?
And then it's a when because they're not going to

(41:02):
bay you much and they are really discerning eaters. And
if it's full of American tourists or full of tourists,
I might keep moving because there's gonna be somewhere else.

Speaker 1 (41:13):
Yeah. I think the demand that you see for some
of these sandwich places or panini places.

Speaker 4 (41:18):
It's just insane.

Speaker 1 (41:20):
And SAE just go to the market and ask for
lampro dot, knowing full well that you're going to get
tripe though. Sorry just putting that one out there, but
you can get other flavors. But you know, yes, we
all want to be part of those exciting moments of
having that thing. There's usually an equally if not better
alternative that you can find.

Speaker 4 (41:41):
Yeah, that you don't have to wait in line for
an hour for I mean like some of the lines
for the Sandwich Place. And you know I've written about
the Sandwich Place. I loved it for years. I absolutely
loved it, but then it became so explosive and there's
no way I'm going to stay and in line for
an hour of my time in Italy to get a sandwich.

(42:04):
It's not realistic. But I also say, Katie, I have
this app on my phone that I use for booking
restaurants if I think I'm going to need a booking
for somewhere, and that's the Fork. Have you ever used
that one? Yes, yeah, I've found that really good. But
also they only get so many seats per session, So
if the Fork says it's booked out, still reach out

(42:26):
to the restaurant, because nine times out of ten they're like, oh,
we only have four tables that we allow for the
Fork or whatever apps. There's lots of foody apps, but
oftentimes if you call the restaurant, they can get you
in anyway. And restaurants typically are not kicking off at
five o'clock, six o'clock in the evening like a lot
of my North American people are freaking out and they're like,

(42:49):
what do you mean I have to wait till seven
thirty to have dinner. I'm like, yeah, that's how it
goes here, so you can expect to be eating later.
They do have this glorious event every day called a
barite foul Hour, where you can, you know, hit that
late afternoon, have a spritz or a glass of wine
and a platter of snacks, and then you're going to

(43:11):
be fine to eat your dinner later. If you know,
if you've got a later dinner happening.

Speaker 1 (43:17):
You just made me think the Italians are always eating.
We have Miranda, which is we have the peritivo. What
always bugs me and I really reckon we should do
a whole We need a health expert on this situation,
because if you are in any English speaking country, the
whole thing is don't eat all the time, leave three

(43:39):
hours between meals, don't eat too many cubs, do this.

Speaker 3 (43:43):
Do that? I don't know.

Speaker 1 (43:44):
The Italians seem to ignore all these rules and be fabulous.

Speaker 4 (43:48):
For those of you who haven't been before, you'll see
when you get there. They are a slim race. I
know here in the United States, there's something like forty
percent of the population is obese and thirty percent is overweight,
for a total of seventy percent. I might have those
around the wrong way, but in Italy ten percent of

(44:08):
the population is from a weight like they're slim. They
eat all the time, they eat pizza, they eat pasta,
they eat all this stuff. They're slim, they're healthy. I
found out a couple of years ago that they have
twenty five percent of the heart interventions that we do,
from ekag's to heart attacks to stents to pacemakers and

(44:30):
all that stuff, twenty five percent brock capita. And yet
they do all the things that we're told or wrong.
So I actually know you should have on to talk
about all.

Speaker 1 (44:38):
This right, but you can give me those twets later.
But yeah, I think it's this is my number one.
Please don't restrict anything when you're there, Just please have
the most wonderful time. I feel like we do this
incredible disservice to ourselves in terms of like a lot
of things. But you know you're in Italy, you have
it's a once in a lifetime trip. We have some

(44:58):
people that coming on our tours that, oh, I don't
think they're in in Tuscany with us last week and
they were like, yes, we are putting everything aside. I
was like, respect, because just enjoy everything.

Speaker 4 (45:11):
Leave your diet back in your home country and just
come and get into this because it's so great. But
there's one thing I'll tell you that drives me up
the wall, and that is when you sit down at
a table in a restaurant in Italy and they bring
out the bread, especially people from North America will dive
on it like savages and will foot all up. Now,

(45:32):
the bread has several roles in an Italian meal, or
several jobs. So for example, if somebody at the table
is ordering a Talieri plate with sliced cold meats, you know,
things like bishutos and cheeses, part of the use of
that bread basket on the table is they can put

(45:54):
some of their meat or their cheese on a piece
of bread and be sitting there talking and eating. You
use bread at the end of, for example, a pasta dish.
You'll pick up your piece of bread and swoop it
around to pick up the last of the sauce. It's
called scarpatter. But there's things like that, so that jumping
in maniacally and wolfing down all the bread, also doing
the oil and the vinegar and that whole thing and

(46:16):
dipping it all. And that's not an Italian things.

Speaker 3 (46:20):
They put it there for you.

Speaker 4 (46:22):
What needs my nail? All the bread? Just think about
the other people at the table. And it happens like
every tour. So now I'm just like, all right, I've
got it to a group with me. I'm not going
to order any Dallieri. I'll plan on not ever having
a scarpet on the end of my pasta or whatever,
because they're gonna they can do that.

Speaker 1 (46:40):
But the proble problem with that is if you fill
up on the bread, you're going to miss out on
the delicious taste that's gonna happen later. So I mean,
you do you if you want to eat the bread,
you do you what? But there are consequences.

Speaker 4 (46:52):
Ordering wine there is different from ordering wine here because
so much of the flavor pairing is done. So it's
a good idea to ask your waiter while whine he
would recommend you have with whatever you've just ordered. A
lot of things you can get by the glass, so
he might be like, I'd have a glass of varventina
with this or no, you need a good strong brunello

(47:13):
with this whatever. So that's kind of different from in
the United States. What about coffee cultures. We talk about
coffee culture.

Speaker 3 (47:22):
Yeah, yeah, let's quickly go through it.

Speaker 1 (47:23):
I think I think the general rule here when it
comes to food and drink is that you're in a
different country, embrace everything, try everything.

Speaker 3 (47:32):
If you in Australia.

Speaker 1 (47:34):
I think everyone in Australia is actually a little bit
obsessed with coffee. So we'll probably know that they don't
have Macona and this cafe gold.

Speaker 3 (47:42):
But it's part of the fun.

Speaker 1 (47:45):
You know, like, Okay, if you've never tried a machiato before,
give it a go. And if you don't like it,
that's only true. Euros a big deal, but you had
to go of the culture and you tried the Italian coffee.

Speaker 4 (47:57):
It was not like most places. It's not even too Euros.
So when you're away from the big city centers, you know,
I pay in my town. I think it's one twenty
for a cappuccino. Don't be scared to try things. It's
not like you're going to Starbucks and this drink costs
seven dollars and it's you know, twenty ounces tall or something.
We're talking about a small coffee. It's gonna cast a

(48:18):
round one two euros. It's nothing. If you don't like it,
oh wow, you lost three bucks. Nothing. But you're not
going to see American drip coffee. That's not normal there.
And most of their coffee drinks are espresso based, So
what we would call an espresso, they call it a coffee.
A coffee to them is what we would call an espresso.
And I think everybody probably already knows that lat is milk.

(48:40):
If you want a what we would call a latte,
you're going to order a cafe latte. But I recommend
people when you first go into so coffee happens in
a bar. That's where we get the word barista from.
When you first go in, just take a couple of
beats to observe, because most places, you're going to go
to a pay station and pay first. They're going to

(49:00):
give you a ticket that you're then going to go
up to the counter and order. So I like to
do a little scope behind that glass case to see
if I'm going to have a base tree or something
or not. I need to know that before I go
order and Also there's two different prices. If you're standing
up at the bar to drink your coffee, then it's
a different price than if you're sitting down at a table,

(49:23):
and that's pretty standard over all of Italy. So don't
think that somebody's ripping you off.

Speaker 1 (49:29):
No, Yeah, it's just some different cultural tips. And you
know what we're gonna this is like really quick stuff
that we're doing. We actually have quite a lot of
episodes ago into these deep dive but we will link
to into the show notes so you can really go
and explore the different topics. Also, if you have our
app you'll be able to find them very easily because
they're organized in the travel tips section.

Speaker 4 (49:52):
Okay, so rental cars. I've got a few quick tips
for rental cars. Number one, you're going to rent the
smallest car you possibly can, so park smaller. You don't
need huge suitcases, but get the smallest car because these
roads get very very narrow and parking is very difficult

(50:16):
for most non Italians because you'll see when you get
there tenny tiny parking spaces and they all park like
two inches spare on each side. I recommend always picking
up your car at an airport so yes, is bound
to be a rental car place close in town, but

(50:36):
it's difficult to drive inside these towns. There's ZTL areas
where you can cross into Google Google Maps will send
you into them and you InCor huge fines, and it
can just be really stressful at the airports. So yes,
you might bearn half an hour by taking a train
or a taxi or a tram or whatever to the airport.
But when you pick up a car at the airport,

(50:58):
first of all, they have all the cars as much easier. Secondly,
they tip you out onto the motorway, so you've just
gotten rid of all that stress part and now you're
just making the loops straight under the motorway and off
you go. It's so much easier. Leave nothing inside the
car when you park that car to go into whatever
it is that you're going in to see. Don't leave

(51:18):
clothes on the back seat, don't leave a baseball hat
on the back seat, don't leave anything because chances are
someone's going to break in and take it. And your
rental cars are very easy to identify, so everything's out
of sight. And the last thing I say is get
the super cover insurance. So that's the one that's going
to give you a zero deductible, because deductibles tend to

(51:40):
be really high, like three thousand to five thousand euros,
so a small ding in a parking lot can cost
you a whole lot of money.

Speaker 3 (51:48):
Oh, it must have international drivers permit also, Oh yeah.

Speaker 4 (51:52):
Yeah, I just got mine as we need mine the
other day.

Speaker 3 (51:54):
Yeah. Otherwise people like to argue about this.

Speaker 1 (51:57):
I don't know why, but you and if you're stopped,
first of all, you might they might not rent you
the car if you don't have it.

Speaker 3 (52:05):
It depends how thorough they are with the paperwork.

Speaker 1 (52:08):
If you stopped and you don't have it, you will
risk it fine, you will get a fine. And if
you're in an accident, well you invalidate your insurance.

Speaker 3 (52:17):
So for thirty dollars, it's.

Speaker 4 (52:20):
A nice and so a lot of rental car places
don't need to ask for it. But if you get
pulled over, and it's not that you get pulled over
for speeding, I mean they have lots of traffic things
where they stop every tenth car or whatever. I had
one of those in the map the last year. But
they have to see your international driver's license. They're not
going to accept your home driver's license and you can

(52:42):
get in a world of trouble and if somebody crashes
you and you don't have that, you know your toast
for a lot of money and the.

Speaker 3 (52:50):
Immortal words of Chappelle ruin good luck, babe. That's what
I say.

Speaker 4 (52:56):
I've can you tell Matt trains?

Speaker 1 (52:59):
I just would say that, especially for the first trip
most people are doing the classic Rome, Florence, Venus, maybe
a little bit of Tuscany. You don't need a car.
You don't need a car. You just get the train
and it's so much easier. So if you're just going
to cities you don't need you don't need a car,
you should just get the train. It's fast, it's efficient,
it's all of the above, and you'll get there in

(53:21):
a shorter time than if you had a car, and
it'll cost actually cost less because you won't have to
pay for parking or anything like that. If you're thinking,
you're thinking it's an excellent idea to drive on the
Amalfi Coast, you're wrong. No, We've done it, and look
it's just not a place to drive, unless maybe in

(53:42):
the winter.

Speaker 4 (53:43):
You're going to back up all the traffic for a
really long time while you're trying to navigate stuff. Just
don't do it.

Speaker 3 (53:50):
Don't do it.

Speaker 1 (53:51):
But with the trains, I love going on the train
in Italy, it's so relaxing. We did a great journey
from Rome to Bolsano earlier this year.

Speaker 3 (53:59):
It was five hours, sit back, relax free wi fi.

Speaker 4 (54:02):
I wou'd say so that they have like different levels
of train. So the high speed trains are the order
alache out of a lotched trains. With those, the earlier
you purchase your ticket, the lower the price. So it
used to be they released them three months before and
the price would be really low per ticket. And by
the time you got up to the day before, if

(54:24):
there was tickets still available, which in peak season you
may or may not be able to get on that
train if you haven't booked your tickets in advance. But
by then the tickets are often double triple the price
that they were way back when. So buy your tickets early.
What do you think on that? Like, I buy them
as as soon as I know that I'm going from
Rome to Florence on the twenty fifth boom, I'm buying

(54:48):
those tickets right then.

Speaker 3 (54:49):
I get the one that's flexible.

Speaker 1 (54:50):
You can change the day and the time unless if
you know exactly when you want to go, that's cool.

Speaker 3 (54:56):
You can just you can get them really cheap, can't you.

Speaker 4 (54:59):
Absolutely? And you know, for a lot of people, if
a train ticket is fifty euros more per person, that's
a lot of money, you know, So every fifty euros
that you saved on paying for a late train ticket
is fifty euros that you can be shopping with, So
I would put the money there. And then there's also
the intercity trains are really good too. They just have

(55:22):
more stops in between cities. When you are in the
train station, you want to cross through security, I think
they let you go through forty minutes before and this
is just you've got to scan your QR code or
your passon go through. You don't want to wait until
your train platform is announced because it can be too

(55:43):
much of a crush and you can be you know,
it can just push you back timewise, So I go
through early, doesn't matter from which side of them standing
on whatever, I'm going to be through and then they're
not going to normally announce your platform until about ten
minutes beforehand. Now in Rome, for example, when I'm taking
my train to where I live in Tuscany, it's on

(56:05):
a far, far far platform, but that's in additional ten minutes,
so they normally announce that train beforehand, like they'll announce
the ones going to one E and two E. But
in general are your platform is going to be announced
about ten minutes beforehand, so you want to be through
on the other side. Get out of people's way, because
it's so annoying when you're trying to move through your

(56:27):
train station quickly with luggage and there's a bunch of
clowns standing there with stuff all over the place and
they can't get out of your way. So get out
of people's way. Eyeball to see which end is platform
number one or which end is platform number twenty, so
that when yours comes up, you know which direction you're going.
And then you're going to look at the board called partensa.

(56:49):
Partensa means departing trains, and you'll see your train on
there a long time beforehand, like an hour or so
before and at least, but the platform or binario won't
be announced until ten minutes before. And also you're going
to have a look at your train number because For example,
say I was going to Rome, that train might be

(57:11):
ending in Naples, in which case it's going to say
the two fifty seven to Naples. It's not going to
say Rome on there, so I've got to look for
train two fifty seven and then see you know where
that is, and then it'll announce the platform for that.
And in the bigger train stations like in Rome, and
I think in Florence, I can't think we're else actually,

(57:33):
but a lot of the big stations there'll be TV
screens hanging from the roof down the platform, little small
screens that as the train's getting ready to come in,
it will put there the number of the carriage. So
if you are on carriage number six, you're going to
be looking at these little screens above until it says
number six, and that's where you're going to stand and wait.

Speaker 3 (57:54):
So I many good tips. We've got detailed things if.

Speaker 1 (57:58):
You want to read up on it, and it's really
good idea to do it just so you feel more comfortable.
So with them, our trip planning clients, we have a
lot of people that are quite nervous about getting trained,
but once they've done it, once they're like, oh my goodness,
this was so easy and they're absolute professionals at it.

Speaker 4 (58:12):
After that, and if you have your app, do you
have the breakdown in the app?

Speaker 3 (58:17):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (58:17):
What we tried to do is just like give everyone
information that they need because you know, we talk about
this a lot, We talk to people traveling a lot,
and we have ourselves experiences these several times and had
some bloopers along the way. So yeah, now I just
want to wrap this amazing session up with one more topic,
which is packing.

Speaker 3 (58:38):
Actually I'm going to change it. We've got two more topics.

Speaker 1 (58:41):
There is one place that has some specific things that
are really are important to know about, and that is Venice.
And I've just had someone that I'm very friendly with
book a trip to Italy and they're arviving in Venice
at nearly midnight and it's actually going to be a
little bit of a challenge to get to their hotel.
And that's because Venas is a city that's built on water,

(59:04):
and until you've been there and you can see that,
it's just not somewhere where cars go, you can't really
assume that you're going to get from A to B
in the way that you might assume in any other city,
which is what makes it magical. Right, If you're getting
in late, have it, think about where you stay you
should be. If you're wanting to stay on the lagoon,
really go close to Pizzala Roma so you can get

(59:26):
a taxi from the airport. There are other options, but
it starts to become challenging and pricing.

Speaker 4 (59:33):
Very pricing a water taxi from the airport to come
across the lagoon to Venice. It's what one fight his
friend just got quoted two hundred euros. So yeah, and
depending too on what time of Vira is and what
events are on, it can be very expensive. And the

(59:54):
airport is far from the city, so you just know
that going in. They have other options at it Laguna,
which is fifteen euros, takes about an hour to come over,
but that doesn't run all night. So I mean I
would say if your flights come in late at night,
I would probably just stay on the mainland near the

(01:00:15):
airport and come over the next morning. Because it can
be tricky. Venice operates differently. It's not on a grid system.
It's not easy streets to navigate. It's up and down
over bridges and around corners and all the rest, So
depending on where you're staying, that can be a little
bit of a headache.

Speaker 1 (01:00:32):
And one more thing about Venice, depending on the dates
that you're visiting, they have got a new tourist tax
that's been implemented there, so if you're visiting for.

Speaker 3 (01:00:41):
The day, you need to pay a charge.

Speaker 1 (01:00:43):
It ranges between five and ten euros depending on where
you buy it. But it does mean that you need
to pay attention because also if you're staying on the
lagoon and your accommodation should advise you of the is
that you need to apply for an exemption.

Speaker 3 (01:00:59):
And so these only applies.

Speaker 1 (01:01:01):
To specific days across the year that are particularly busy.
You won't be surprised to know. We have a detailed
article on that and the information is your.

Speaker 4 (01:01:09):
I just did all of mine for my June drawers
just recently. With this, I will say that I recommend
all my people when you get your So you're going
to go and you're going to check your dates to
see if this even applies to you, because it's not
all the dates, it's just the busy days. But it
takes ten seconds to do this online. It's not any

(01:01:30):
big deal if you're staying at an Airbnb vacation rental,
some of them will do it for you. I wouldn't
rely on that because I would just do it myself
and have it. I tell everybody, print it out and
then also take a screenshot, because if you were to
get pulled over and checked and you didn't have that

(01:01:52):
on you, it's a big fine, a big one. And
last year I did not see one person get pulled over,
and I was there for a bunch of the days.
So maybe nothing will happen, but it's bad news if
it does, and you can't fake it because I remember
how we talked about your passport getting registered with the
police saying where you're staying. When they scan your QR code,

(01:02:15):
it's going to come up your passport and it's on
your QR code for your exemption, it's going to say
the address of where you're staying, and that batter match
what is with the police station's been filed for you,
so you can't pull a fast one on this. And
they're doing it so that if you're coming in as
a day tripper on one of these busy days, if

(01:02:37):
you book your day tripper pass more than four days beforehand,
you get it for five euros. If you're booking it
in the last four days, you get it for ten euros.
And they haven't yet cut off a number of people
as far as I know. But if I know that
I'm going to be going to Venice for the day
on the twenty third, as soon as I know I'm
going to Venice for the day on the twenty third,

(01:02:58):
i want to check and see if that's one of
the dates, and I'm going to get that day pass
right now exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:03:04):
Okay, So now for the very last hurrah of these
quick tips for first time travelers.

Speaker 3 (01:03:11):
This is actually I always have to.

Speaker 1 (01:03:12):
Say some of the most important tips really, Like this
is like the non negotiables is you know, travel as
light as possible with a maximum medium case maximum. Like
if you think you're going to do it with a
large case, think again. I mean, you can do it
for sure, if you have the Louis Vuitton of luggage
and you have drivers whisking you around everywhere, go for it.

Speaker 3 (01:03:36):
But for the rest of us.

Speaker 4 (01:03:37):
For most of us mere mortals, we're not doing that.
So you really need to think this out and you
need to know that just because a place has an
elevator doesn't mean it's going to be working, and there's
a lot of places that won't. And you're going to
have to be taking your luggage up the deep staircases.
So I think pack light is really important.

Speaker 1 (01:03:58):
And the other, the other one that we absolutely think
is just a non negotiable, is the shoes.

Speaker 4 (01:04:06):
Oh yeah, you're gonna walk. I mean Italy, it's all walking.
You've got to have comfortable shoes. Don't be thinking about
fashion first, thinking about book comfort first.

Speaker 3 (01:04:18):
Yeah, And I think that will wrap us up for today.
Or you've got another one, let me.

Speaker 4 (01:04:22):
Got one more. This is a great, like just out
of nowhere tip that I recommend for everybody, and that
is bring those little you know, those little alcohol wipes
that you can get, Like you if you're gonna do
an injection, they'd give you those little wipes. Have those
in your handbag or in your wallet or whatever. Because

(01:04:43):
if you start getting carsick or seasick or motion sick
or nauseous, then one of the brilliant things to do
is you open up that and you hold it on
your nose and you inhale it and er doctors will
tell you it works faster than any carsick medicine, or
than any nose medicine. It's brilliant.

Speaker 3 (01:05:02):
I did not know.

Speaker 1 (01:05:03):
I thought you were going to say wrinkle release spray
all those close cleaning wipes, which I'm obsessed with the
closed cleaning wipes because that just saves a whole lot
of effort.

Speaker 4 (01:05:13):
But but you know, there's so many times where you'll
you know, maybe on a car trip going up to
Prosecco country, or you're hitting the Maulfi Coast road, well,
lots of people get carsick on that, or you're taking
a ferry across the Capri and it's just a wobbly
day and suddenly you're feeling awful. You don't want to
blow out your whole day, and most of us are

(01:05:33):
not going to be carrying around a first aid kept
with us all day every day. So if this does
happen to be able to whip out one of these
ten y little square things, stick it on your nose,
breathe in and it's magic.

Speaker 1 (01:05:45):
I'm just going to go out and buy some because
I have one child who is prone to that situation.

Speaker 4 (01:05:52):
So I get so carsick if I'm not in the
front seat, I do. I do pretty well on boats now,
but it's miserable. You get motion sickness and it can
impact your whole day as well. So if you got
this little emergency trick boom, and I learned it from
an earta.

Speaker 1 (01:06:08):
Well we trust them. Do you have a message though,
for first time visitors to Italy? Have you got anything
that you'd like to say just to wish them well?

Speaker 4 (01:06:18):
They do everything like leave all of your home traditions
at home and embrace being in Italy and embrace the
Italian culture, so that might be eating at different times,
eating different things, like you know, breakfast is a cappuccino
and a croissant, so you know, try the different things.

(01:06:38):
Don't get locked into whatever your systems are at home,
and take time to just breathe it all in. It's
the most magnificent country, it really is.

Speaker 1 (01:06:49):
We're so lucky to have this opportunity and keep talking
about it together. And I really always appreciate you coming
on to talk to me, Korena and everyone listening, because you.

Speaker 3 (01:07:00):
Have such a great perspective on things.

Speaker 1 (01:07:03):
And yeah, I think everyone just you know, I think
we said last time we chatted. Just please please don't
delay these trips because you know it does sound like
a lot. We've covered a lot in an hour, and
there are things you can do, and you know what,
some things are going to go wrong and doesn't matter.

Speaker 3 (01:07:18):
It's going to be absolutely fine.

Speaker 1 (01:07:20):
And maybe then you can start a podcast talking about
all the things that.

Speaker 3 (01:07:23):
We've been wrong on your.

Speaker 4 (01:07:26):
Just roll with it. Everything's going to be good. It's
going to be great, and Italy is a life changing experience.

Speaker 1 (01:07:32):
Graty careerer, thank you once again for coming on and
sharing everything with us.

Speaker 4 (01:07:37):
Thank you, thank you for having me again.

Speaker 3 (01:07:40):
Cha everybody, Daja.

Speaker 1 (01:07:44):
Grauty merely to Karina for sharing her wisdom, honesty and
signature sparkle with us yet again. I absolutely love how
she brings both a sense of adventure and those practical
tips that make all the difference to a first trip. Oh,
let's face it, any trip to Italy. I hope you
feel a little more prepared and a lot more excited
for your Italian adventures after this episode. If you're hungry

(01:08:07):
for more details, you're in luck. Everything we mentioned today,
all of Karina's handy travel credit card tips, advice for trains, tickets,
passport's accommodation, and those ever important comfortable shoes is waiting
for you In the episode show notes, Plus you'll find
links to Karina's best selling Glam Italia travel guides and
more traveler resources. Head to Untold Italy dot com forward

(01:08:28):
slash two seven six for all of those details.

Speaker 3 (01:08:31):
And deep dives.

Speaker 1 (01:08:33):
And if you haven't checked out our Untold Italy app,
now is the perfect time. With the upgraded version, you'll
get ad free listening of our entire back catalog of
episodes and an easy way to discover content by destination,
topic or trip planning. Need it truly is the easiest
way to keep Italy inspiration at your fingertips. And finally,
if you found today's episode helpful or inspiring, we absolutely

(01:08:55):
love it if you could leave us a quick rating
or review. It only takes a few seconds, but it
genuinely helps so many other Italy lovers and first time
visitors discover our show and the great advice from guests
like Carina. Thanks so much for listening. In our next episode,
we're heading back to another corner of Untold Italy and
you won't want to miss it. But until then, it's

(01:09:16):
chow for now.

Speaker 5 (01:09:18):
The Untold Italy podcast is an independent production podcast editing
audio production and website development by Mark Hatter, production assistance
and content writing by the Are they kJ Clark? Yes,
there are two of us. For more information about Untold Italy,
please visit untold Italy dot com

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