Getting There
Benvenuto! Welcome to our scrapbook.
The voice in the pages of this site is a combination of Maryann and myself as we each contributed to the text. Occasionally, specific quotes will be pulled out like this one if one of us had something specific to say.The menu at the top of the page is broken down by places we spent two nights. Day trips are included where they fell on the itinerary. Enjoy! -Kerry
Italy had never been on my bucket list. As far as I knew, I had no familial connections to Italy and while I had heard it was beautiful, I assumed I would end up in Ireland or England first. When Maryann told me of her dream to go to Italy (all of her grandparents were born there) I thought ‘yeah someday perhaps’.
Fast forward to the Spring of 2015 and we were again talking about going to Italy. We wondered aloud if we should go on our own or with a tour. Maryann had been to Europe (I had not), but never to Italy. I mentioned that I knew someone who had taken a Rick Steves tour and she LOVED it, though I couldn’t remember which one. Within a few days I received a text message about a ‘Best of Italy’ tour. When I looked at the length I balked. 17 days! I had never taken that much time off work and I wasn’t sure either of us were up to a tour that long our first time out. She really wanted to go and I warmed to the idea, though I still had my reservations. Before I knew it we were making plans.
Being the techno-geek of the family, I started doing research online. I looked at the Rick Steves site, Googled till my fingers cramped and started taking notes. I would HAVE to have a working cell phone with data for the maps. After the phones were unlocked and the SIM card purchased, we were ready to go. In Italy you must produce your passport to pick up the SIM card so installing it would have to wait.
The remaining weeks were filled with anticipation and more research. The package from the Rick Steves office came with the huge Italy 2015 book, Italian phrase book, ear plugs, the night mask, AND the all-important (required!) money belt! The big book was a wealth of information. I wish I could say I read the whole thing, but I ended up reading about the places were were going to visit, getting a phone working, and other vital bits of information. In addition to the reading, We watched videos, both at the RS site and on YouTube, about how to pack light, getting the most into your suitcase and how to get by only using a carry on suitcase. We both had decided that we were going to limit ourselves to a carry on and a small backpack. It was a good decision.
Maryann & Kerry
Before we knew it, the day had arrived. Our bags were packed and we were GOING TO ITALY!!! We flew from Seattle to Paris, then on to Milan. After a little confusion about the train schedule (we were looking at arrival times, not departures) we were on the train to Varenna on Lake Como. All in all, door to door our journey was about 24 hours. We were exhausted and exhilarated when we arrived in Varenna on the Friday before the Sunday evening start to our tour.