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Views & Prep: I always resonated with the "back door" perspective and chose this trip to focus on Rome. October seemed the best time, so I grabbed the opportunity when Rick listed some special fall tours. I've seen his show for years; then to see him in person when he visited our local university a few years ago helped refine my plans for my first trip. His talk was impressive (3 hours!). I have no reservations about traveling with this company and look forward to the next one. |
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| This trip is my second Rick Steves tour and so I was a little more prepared. Well, on my last one, I was prepared, but it took the entire summer of gathering info, packing and repacking, printing out maps, lists, schedules, reading the tour guides every night, and trying to pick up a little of the language. I am not an experienced airline travelor, so questioned every move, connecting transportation, and every little thing that TSA might object to. But for this trip, I threw my bag together quickly, made arrangements for the critters (dogs & sheep) and whittled down the hefty notebook I took previously. | ||
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*Regarding
"Experiments"... 
Rather than list tips already provided in Rick's very thorough guides, I'm noting the things that personally helped me. Some
things I want to remember: |
My book is an ongoing project as I gradually add pages, edit more photos and create sequences I want to remember. It's satisfying to blend an inspiring trip such as this one, with a creative project I enjoy. I'm fascinated with pop-ups and "altered" books and I'm experimenting with the various techniques of making this book come alive. Some recent pages:
Check out The Book page for more of the process and the Portfolio for larger images. |
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Views & Preps *Regarding "Experiments" Things
to remember: |
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RE: clothes: the big question on packing for this trip, which was at the cusp of two seasons, was how to take both warm and cold weather clothes? As a fiber artist, I always carry a shawl or two to share with other weavers, which doubles as a good coverup for cool weather, churches, or even a bed cover. On this trip, I found no other weavers, and having no other use for the shawl, it stayed in my bag most of the trip. Instead, a down jacket that rolled into a small ball and stuffed into my daypack was the best thing for changeable weather. Regarding rain, you can bet the vendors in the squares will suddenly switch from selling you a selfie-stick to packaged raincoats if you don't have your own. And raincoats are a better hands-free alternative to an umbrella and can be rolled up into a napkin-sized pouch when the rain ends. |
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RE: Thinking ahead: a pouch strung from my neck for handy notes,
pens, cards, and that all important map is so handy. Also, my small,
digital tablet is a great spacesaver, carrying notes, maps, photos, contacts,
language apps, Rick's audio tours, and a slew of books. WiFi is available
most anywhere for updates and email. Besides the tab's camera, I also
took another one, but this one needed an additional memory stick or flash
drive for the zillions of photos I took. The hotel's computer allowed
me to transfer photos every night and clear more space. Regarding photos,
I knew I wanted to get some "magic hour" shots, especially
of those great golden arches of the Colosseum,
lit against an ultramarine, twilight sky. So preprograming my camera settings
to be ready was such a help whenever the opportunities came. And especially
for that unexpected moment when we snapped our group photo on our last
night. |
*Re: Hotels: On tour, Hotel Lancelot was beautiful and convenient to the Colosseum neighborhood. It provided a bountiful breakfast buffet, and services such as a computer for general use of visitors. It had a small, rooftop terrace, reading rooms, an outdoor courtyard, and a bar.
The room sizes differed, tho, some with terraces, some with full baths, or not. Ours happened to be very small, with two small single beds, a wardrobe, and a half-bath (no tub.) It was comfortable, but price range here is €€€, so unless I was looking for more amenities, I'd probably choose an alternate hotel. |
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Re:
Money: I was not able to exchange for Euros before leaving,
or at any stop along the way, so once in Rome, I needed to find an ATM
(that did not have confusing directions and a long line of people waiting
to use it). We finally found one inside a bank with a clerk who could
help. Roomie, Susan, had the opposite experience, since she was able to
make an exchange at her bank before we ever left home. And large amounts
can be returned, if unused.
*End Note In
putting this scrapbook together, I am learning far
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Pre and post-tour, The Beehive was comfortable, convenient to Termini station, and had a cute courtyard. No computer, but it did have wi-fi, reading rooms, and a small cafe with an organic, natural foods menu. They have various accomodations in other locations, from single rooms to apartments to dorms. They also offer a network of rooms in other cities. Their online blog posts colorful notes and frequent directions about Rome, including finding natural foods & crafts, and daytrips to surrounding towns.
Because
we needed to change our initial reservation, they offered us a small
room in a new site, just around the corner.This was in an older hotel
due for refurbishing, but the room was complete, clean, and small with
two single beds and a wardrobe. It actually gave us the exact same accomodations
as Hotel Lancelot, except the bathroom was a bit smaller.But it was
temporary and economical.
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