Escorted Tour of Italy

[UserX]

... You don't plan it. That's the entire point. You just go and see what kind of trouble you can find.

Exactly. Tours are boring, ask locals what to check out.

[Vertnut]

We went for 10 days, but my daughter was living there (went to school there for her sophomore spring semester), and she took us everywhere. Be sure you hit Florence (The Uffizi museum) and of course a lot of Rome. Mass transit is plentiful there, and relatively cheap. No sense in going on a "tour". If you'd like suggestions, PM me and I'd be more than happy to even call my daughter and ask her on your behalf.

[exlude]

Being a grown up sucks diseased cock. On the flipside, it looks like I'm about to have a whole hell of a lot of free time, so I might get to try out a couple of things I've always wanted to do. Anything in particular you thought was a must see, other than the obvious?

It's one of the more touristy things, but the Sistine Chapel was absolutely mind blowing and possible the only landmark I would call a must see. Looking back, I think I spent a bit TOO much time in museums. I was museum-ed out by the end of the trip.

While it's not all that visually amazing, the beaches of Normandy were a humbling place to stand. You could spend days in The Louvre and still not see it all.

I wasn't a huge fan of the UK, simply because it wasn't what I was there for. I wanted to indulge in foreign cultures and the UK seems just too much like American culture. That and everything costs twice as much.

But my favorite stuff really was the simplest stuff. Espresso and a cigarette while watching a live band in St. Mark's square, laying on the rock beaches in Nice, wine and cheese while laying in the grass in front of the Eiffel tower, getting drunk off beer brewed by monks in a beer garden in Salzberg.

[talisman]

.........

Sounds like a badass time.

[Leah]

I went on a 10 day guided tour to England my senior year of high school. I had a blast and saw a lot of cool stuff, but I never felt like I had enough time where I wanted to spend time because we only had 'x' amount of time here, 'x' amount of time there and didn't have a choice in the matter. That said, I wouldn't have changed it for the world, but if I were to do it again, I would want to do it on my own.

[Vertnut]

I went on a 10 day guided tour to England my senior year of high school. I had a blast and saw a lot of cool stuff, but I never felt like I had enough time where I wanted to spend time because we only had 'x' amount of time here, 'x' amount of time there and didn't have a choice in the matter. That said, I wouldn't have changed it for the world, but if I were to do it again, I would want to do it on my own.

A few years back, huh? Was "Big Ben" still little?

[Leah]

A few years back, huh? Was "Big Ben" still little?

Bitch, you're older than me!

[Vertnut]

Bitch, you're older than me!

Yeah...I'm speaking from experience!

[txsr20de]

Make sure you make your way to the Cinque Terra. It is a group of five towns located on the coast. They are all linked by hiking trails, but there are trains and ferries to take also.

Vernazza is one of these cities and was my favorite town in Italy. This region is the birthplace of Pesto, so keep that in mind when eating. There is a restaurant in Vernazza that is perched high up on a cliff overlooking the water. It is quite a hike up some very old stairs cut into the rocks, but the view is incredible and the pesto was the best I have ever had.

Here is a pic of Vernazza, it is an amazing place. The restaurant is up in that castle looking thing.


I would avoid using a guided trip, it really takes the fun out of it. Eurostar Italia(ultra high speed train, up to 220mph) has service between major cities, and there are smaller, slower commuter trains that offer service to the smaller towns. The high speed Eurostar is something that is worth experiencing since it is so much different than how we travel in the US. Going 150mph+ on a train is an interesting sensation.

[propellerhead]

Guided tours are good if you just want the Cliff Notes version and you plan to see several European cities. They do provide some interesting facts that you might miss if you just explored on your own. For example, on a tour of Bath, England, we drove by this one building that was now the Canadian (spit) Embassy. The guide told us that used to be the place where they sold tickets to the Titanic and people were in line for blocks.

Doing it all yourself is good if you have the time. But you have to dig for the good stuff. With young children, that's not going to be fun.

[TexasDevilDog]

I am always up for exploring. I will have to check with the wife and see if she wants to go adventuring. She is planning an Italy vacation but I want a northern Europe vacation. Maybe two trips next year.

[GrayStangGT]

Tour of Italy is my favorite dish at Olive Garden

Hell yea, I usually take at least half of it home and make a couple meals out of it.

[Treadhead]

Germany, Nurburgring, done.

I have to add Bavaria and the German Alps to the list.

[Racewerx]

I did London and Scotland on my own and had a blast! We did the Ghost tour in London one night and that worked out great. That 2 hour tour showed me a lot of the city quickly and we spent the next few days going back to some of those spots and spent more time and really enjoying them. I also did the same thing in Chicago with a Gangster tour and found things that I missed in my other visits to that city in the past. The 2-3 hour those tours show you a lot of a city fast and give you a "lay of the land" so you can make good decisions on where to spend time.

[Kimmypie]

I went when I was 14 with my dad & we did 7 countries in a month with a tour group.
I have always wished I hadn't missed the stuff I did miss. Italy was my very fav out of all the countries. Southern Italy, Capri, and Nice was pretty damn awesome. Too bad I wasn't older & couldn't get into more trouble than I did!