I am finally Home to Italy!

I have been in Italy for 2 1/2 days and this is the first wifi spot i have found so that I may use my own computer!
I must add photos to this spot since it is close to heaven, literally, i am on a cliff side on Capri in a delightful albergo piccolo.   More on that today.

Truely as I sit overlooking the ocean, rock cliffs and the many houses perched on the hill side I wonder how it becomes any better than this........

But today my computer is speaking Italian!!! when i signed on the screen was all in Italain!   Just guessing at the proper prompts and we will see where it takes us.

More later.

Italy on 100 a day, Ha!

Do you mean $100.00 a day or 100 Euros a day?
Remember the Frommer travel books that showed you on the summer before or after college graduation, how to travel for 3 weeks to all the countries in Western Europe for $50.00 a day?  
I took that trip my junior year with two other girls and we ate where Arthur told us, booked b&b's where he suggested and did the trip on little money.
We were not back packers.  I had worked two jobs the previous summer to pay for the adventure. 
 If you can believe this, jeans were just becoming popular,  yes there was a time before jeans.   You will see the 3 of us in our photos in Izod look alike dresses, our practical rain coats and luggage before they came with wheels.

So now i am returning to Italy (my 8th or 9th trip) solo, seeing if the 30 day trip can be done for 100Euros a day.  I gave up on the idea of $100 a day when I found prices up about 20E from my last trip 18 months ago.

I will not be sleeping in hostels, couch surfing or in train stations.   My trip includes a week in a large apartment in Spoleto in Umbria and several guest houses/hotels run by convents in Rome and Florence. 

I leave in 4 days and of course I am not packed and do not have hotels booked for 1/4th of the trip!   But that is part of the adventure.

See you next in Italia!    All my Italian American amici write and tell me your favorite town/city in Italia.

Ciao

Solo Travel To Rome: where to eat solo????

As I prepare for my 8th solo Trip Home to Italy I asked a colleague where would she recommend to eat, solo, in Rome
I think I shall try at least one of them next week when I am home in Italia!!!

Here are some restaurants for a solo dinner:

1 - "Le Finestre” in via Chiana 80, Tel.: 06-8551076, http://roma.2night.it/locali/cena/pizzeria/1946/le-finestre.html. This is an informal restaurant for every age that serves pizza, meat and salads. Outdoor space. The area is Trieste near Parioli (villa Borghese)

2 - Always in Trieste is "Napolitanos", an Italian Steak House, there is another one in NYC, that also serves pasta and salads in viale Regina Margherita 72, Tel.: 06-8844684, http://www.oltreillimite.com/aziende.asp?id=180 
slightly dim, relaxing atmosphere inside and an outdoor space in spring/summer, casual, also for solo people who are in Rome for work

3 - In the historic centre in a side street off  piazza del Popolo there is "Gusto" which is restaurant, pizzeria, bar. There is always a lot going on, casual and mixed customers. http://www.gusto.it


Where do you suggest a solo traveler to eat in Rome???

No more Beach Vacations

Now that I don't spend every waking hour tanning or sitting on the beach (even if i did spend the time reading a book) it opens up far more time and opportunity on where I can travel, solo.
The beach is wonderful and the view of the sea or ocean one of the joys of life, but if you add up all the hours from age 16 to 35 (approx) you could travel the world in that amount. And your tan fades, and you freckle and have brown spots later on. Yes it is true.

However, i watched Italians sun every possible moment while I was in Sorrento, and show no wear and tear on them as you looked at older sun worshipers. Who can stay indoors with a view of the sea, the islands, or just a walk along the coast??

Now what to do with all this time?

Traveling solo and on a budget (because of the dreaded single supplements) often requires that I have to travel off season: Europe in the fall or spring, the USA the reverse of the vacationers:

beach trips in the winter, ski areas or Montana, Utah in the early summer. Forget about seeing the leaves change in the fall, two many couples to be able to find a room.

There is an art to solo travel and I am still exploring all the possibilities.

how do you handle the cost of solo travel during the "best" travel times