Well, this is something we never imagined we'd do, but we're starting a blog! Mona has always kept a journal of our trips, but never actually published one. One of our friends is doing this so his family and friends can see what he's up to while traveling abroad, and it gave us the idea to do it as well. So here we go: our blog about our trip to Italy.
We're finally going to Italy! After years of talking about it, we decided to just do it! And we're diligently preparing ourselves. We interviewed friends who have already made the trip, taking recommendations of places to see and stay, what to do there, how to get around, and every other advice that they could give. We checked out all the recommended hotels online, and then chose what looked best to us in each city. The only city we're going into blindly (that is, making our own choice) is Monterosso, one of the Cinque Terre. We couldn't book any of the recommended places there, so we selected one we felt comfortable with after looking at the many on the web.
We're also heavily relying on Rick Steves and got his 2011 Italy book, marking pages, and highlighting significant passages. Also writing out daily schedules, according to his favorite way of seeing the sights. Of course, we may or may not follow his every direction, but we did download his podcasts for each of the attractions we'll be visiting so that we won't have to pay a tour guide or get those yucky headsets. We'll already have our guide in our little ear buds. Sometimes technology is good.