HOME TO ITALY!
Storyteller, traveler A travel photo blog NOT a travel guide.
Sharing what I discover on trips Home to Italy that most tourists never see
Be a traveler NOT a tourist!
Have you seen the shows where someone is selected off the street for a "make over" ?
How bad do you have to look to be selected from a crowd in a city of millions?
My 2012 adventure home to Italy this November had a stop in Great Britain. The Queen Mary took me from NYC to Southampton, so I planned 2 days in London. The city is always changing but it has been many years since I visited.
While watching a street performer yell at a tourist about not saying thank you a young man approached me.
One, I am always invisible when I travel. I travel with a low profile but it sometimes amazes me that I can go unnoticed most times. The only time this is annoying is when you want to order a meal or pay for something in a shop or an outdoor market. But it all works.
So when I was asked if I would like a "free" hair cut make over I was surprised I was noticed by the employee assigned to go out into the street and find someone AND then I was a little annoyed that I must have looked so bad I looked like I needed a make over!
I shared this with my hair stylist as soon as I returned. She now has the mission to fix me so that I am invisible again.
After many trips to Italy I decided to explore some of the "secret" areas of Italy that I know nothing about.
Sicily and the area north of Venice have been on my list for a long time but then I met Yle.
I believe I "stumbled" on Ylena on Face Book, or she found me at HometoItaly.com but it was a fortunate encounter! info@yltourcongressi.com
Yle encouraged me to come and visit Puglia. I had a last minute opportunity to sail on the Queen Mary II in October. With a connection to Firenze (and a number of adventures in London) I was on a train to Bologna and then along the eastern coast of Italy on my way to Puglia. This is the south eastern part of Italy, most noted for the connections by ferry to Greece. But what a surprise.
It is not Tuscany, does not look like Umbria and does not have cities as large as Rome or Florence. But I did find some hidden treasures that proved a week was NOT long enough to explore the small towns, the coastal routes and the slow wonderful way of life.
From Bologna I stopped at Barletta, about a 6 hr train ride. Some of the ride was actually along the coast and it was a very stormy day so you could see the waves crashing on the shore. I chose Barletta for several reasons. I needed a town with a connection to my next stop, Bari and being off season I needed a hotel with a restaurant. Why? Traveling solo it is always a challenge to find a place to eat that is comfortable for a solo. This was a Sunday which means some of the restaurants would be closed. Finally Foggia (the biggest town on my route) had no hotels (in my 100E a day budget) so I selected Barletta and a hotel on the beach. That is another story. How kind the staff was from picking me up at the train station in the middle of the storm to saving me some lunch when I arrived after the restaurant closed. This was a life saver because there was 4 or more inches of rain in the street and NOTHING OPEN. So now I know to look for hotel restaurants when I travel.
After 3 days I arrived in Lecce and met Yle. Let her tell you about her wonderful company that can help you design a vacation or adventure that is what you have dreamed of doing in Italy.
Email Yle at info@yltourcongressi.com and tell her what you have always wanted to do in Itlay:
cooking instructions, wine tasting, search for your family village, art, culture, history the opportunities are endless.
Do you drag too much luggage with you on vacation or trips? After you purchase all those wonderful treasures, do you find there is no space in your bag to bring them home? And the fees to fly with an additonal bag can be very costly. I was recently told if my bag was over the weight limit it was 100 euros to bring the second bag!
So, in addtion to traveling with throw away clothing (items I no longer need I leave in the charity boxes in Italy at the end of the trip) I discovered the wonderful people at Mail Box Etc in Florence Italy.
The location I use is a few blocks from the train station on Via della Scala 13. I can leave my bag there while I travel all over Italy, I have had them ship my bag to my next city destination so that I could stop in small towns (that do not usually have luggage storage) and when I arrived at my hotel, my bag would be waiting for me! And when i finish my trip in Florence I have MBetc mail my extra items to my home in the USA.
My package arrives the week I ask for and has never had any damage or loss. A very easy way to avoid the excess baggage fees AND dragging that heavy bag through the airport.
Oh and they store your luggage while you travel around Italy or Europe.
Visit my friends at Mail Box etc they will make traveling a breeze.
