Energy saving Tips

I received a message from a reader of this blog, who wants to know if it's not tiring to visit so many countries on my own. I've never found it tiring at all, quite the opposite, I feel invigorated.

I did find it tiring once, when I visited New Zealand. I was there for a family wedding, and had limited time, so I booked for a tour, thinking this would be easier. I loathed it and it turned me off organised tours. It was tiring because we rushed from place to place, without the time to really look at places and things. This might suit some people, but not me.

Since that experience, I have planned and booked my own trips. I don't believe that one can truely appreciate another country rushing from place to place; you need time to stop and look, to talk to the locals, to really 'see' what life is like in that place.

I usually pick somewhere fairly central to what I want to see and do, and book for a long stay. Of course, there are times when one can only spend a night or two, but as long as I have a plan that allows for 'quality' rather than 'quantity' it works for me. The internet allows you to explore from your armchair before you go so that you have a better idea when planning.

For my upcoming trip to the UK, we will be staying for one or two nights only in most places. This is because we have a 'family' trail to follow, visiting those places our family came from when they emigrated to Australia the early 1900s. I have been there before and know exactly where I will be taking my sister, and what we will see.

In Italy, we will be staying in Venice for 4 nights; in Florence for 3 weeks; in Rome for 3 nights, followed by our one and only 'organised tour' (for my sister) of the south, then a final night in Rome before we fly home. During our 'long stay' in Florence, we will spend every second day (a full day) exploring the galleries and streets of the old city, or taking the bus to different places in Tuscany. I don't want to drive in Italy - that would be tiring - and I prefer the bus to the train because it travels slower and we can see more of the places we travel through. Of course, there are some places one cannot get to without a car, but there are people who take small groups in cars to those places. We'll consider that when we are there. Every other day will be spent 'at home', with maybe a visit to a nearby market, but mainly to rest and recover, and to write up our journals, organise our photos, send email home etc.

Good luck with your travels Great Journeys; I'll look for your blog and will read it with interest.

More of our To Do List

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.

Travel Planning

In six months, one of my sisters and I will travel to the UK and then on to Italy. Our trip has already been 3 months in the planning, which can be almost as exciting as the travel itself! Lindy lives a 3 hour drive away from me but with the advantage of email, we can ‘discuss’ our options and agree on plans. The internet makes it all so easy; our air travel is booked and paid for and we’re now onto the stage of researching a hire car in the UK and accommodation in both countries.

In 2006-2007 I spent 3 months in the UK, researching our family history. That took me through Wales to Ireland and back to Scotland. I stayed for a month in a cottage attached to a farm in Lancashire (pictured below) and then taught English at a summer school in Chester.

In 1996 I had spent 2 weeks in Italy (part of a 2 month backpacking trip through Europe) and loved it so much that I had always wanted to go back. So I flew from the UK in 2007 to Italy, where I lived with an Italian family in a medieval village in Tuscany for a month’s intensive language course, which included the culture and food. The photo below the one of the school door plate is of me learning to cook Italian style!

I followed this up with another month living in a little cottage attached to a large villa, surrounded by olive groves and acres of grape vines. 

I ended my 3-month long Italian holiday with a 4 week stay in a little apartment in Florence. It was at the top of the building, a total of 50 stairs to climb, but worth it for the view of the famous red roofs.

I was withing walking distance of everything I wanted to see and do, and I soaked up the art and the history. I took buses (and sometimes the train) to other places. I spent days in the Boboli Gardens and still didn't see it all.

A year or so later, I returned to Italy. On that visit, I stayed with a young couple I met on the internet (she wanted to learn English and I wanted to improve my Italian) in their home in a little village outside Bologna. I lived with them as one of the family, met their extended family and friends, and saw life as an Italian as opposed to a tourist.

Since the late 1990s, all of my travels have been researched by me, using the internet. I pay for everything possible before I leave Australia, and – touch wood – I have never had any problems. This blog will follow us as we plan and then as we travel.