Today, I organised our 'to do' list. I cannot work efficiently without lists to keep me on track so I have lists of what needs to be done, with deadlines for each. I also have lists of what to take, what to pack, what to carry and so on. This all might seem a bit over the top, but it's the way I work best. It's 4 months until we leave but I know how quickly time passes and how anxious I would be if I left all these things until the last moment. Besides, a lot of the fun of travel is in the planning.
I've begun an accommodation 'wish list' on www.airbnb.com.au that my sister can add to and I will monitor that site for a few weeks before we make our reservations. This is where my carefully plotted itinerary will be needed because I've planned where we will be on which days so we don't have to worry about a bed on any of the nights we will be in the UK. Italy is a little easier, because we will be staying for the bulk of our time in Florence.
While I continue to look at accommodation, my sister is undertaking some research for our power needs. I generally don't travel with any applicances that need power, but we will both be taking our iPads, which need charging every day, and she has a digital camera, so we need power plugs that will accomodate USB charging in both countries, as well as a plug for her camera.
Do we need a phone while we are away? It would be a good idea to have one, for emergencies, but for contact with family while we are away, face-time and email should suffice. Using a phone out of Australia can incur high costs. I remember my first trip to Paris, back in the 90s when mobile phones were new. Someone called me from Australia and we had a lovely long chat. It wasn't until I returned home that I discovered that even though they had called me, I paid for the cost of the call from Australia to France! Later, for my long stays in the UK and Italy I purchased a cheap mobile phone in the UK, sent my UK mobile phone number to my family and friends, and used that phone while I was away. I ditched the phone when I returned home.
That was some years ago and things may have changed, so my sister is going to research this as well, along with the best way to use our iPads. We will need to be able to access the internet from wherever we are and while I will only book accommodation in places that have wireless internet available, there will be times when we are out and about that we will want or need access.
Accessing funds is another area that needs some research. I used a mix of options for my last time away, and I'd like to know if that is still the best way to go. Will it be more economical to use ATMs to withdraw from savings, or would debit or credit cards be better. Each option has some charges and I want to be clear about what these are, and how much extra we can expect to pay. We will also need to decide how much cash we want to take with us.
