A lot of credit goes to the patience of Elisabeth at Italy Hotline Custom and Gourmet Tours. As of today, our Historical Neapolitan Pizza Tour is booked and paid for. Finally! A driver will pick us up at our hotel in Sorrento, drive us to Naples to meet our pizza tour guide, remain at our disposal during our 4+ hours in Naples and then return us safely to our hotel in Sorrento early that evening. After hearing a few too many horror stories about how unsafe Naples is, and knowing how I need to be the "brave one" whenever we're taking public transportation in New York where Lou thinks it's so dangerous and I feel it's relatively safe, I figured that having a hired driver and car will be a lot less stressful for both of us. (Not to mention that when we were in Italy in 2010, one of our very best days was the day we had a driver and car.)
Item #2: Order SD cards for photo taking
After much thought, I decided to go with 4 32-gig SD cards for our trip. I think that 32-gig should be more than ample for all the photos I plan to take in a given week. I hope! I plan to take a lot of photos! 32-gig is the max that my iPad card reader can handle. I always worry about cards going bad and me losing all my photos. We had a deal from Tiger Direct so I ordered the cards from there today and they should arrive by the end of the week.
Item #3: Figure out what kind of jacket I'll need - and buy it!
This isn't done yet. I'm really not sure what to get. Since we are traveling from north to south, the temperature highs and lows should remain fairly constant throughout our trip, with highs in the upper 60s to low 70s and overnight lows in the mid 40s to upper 50s. I need a jacket, I need something that's not bulky to carry, and I want it to look a whole lot nicer than the oversized Lands End fleece that I wear at home when we have temperatures like that. Would one of those jackets that rolls up to fit in a pocket - that's good for really low temperatures - make sense? The jury is out on that one.
Item #4: Buy several solid color tops
Also not done yet. I'm really trying to pack light this time so everything I take should be completely mix and match. Where should I purchase them from? I'm very particular. I like v-necks, I'd prefer tunic length. Looking around online, I haven't found anything I like.
Item #5: Figure out how to amass the amount of Euros needed for the one hotel that requires cash payment at the end of our stay
I emailed the agriturismo this morning asking how most travelers from the U.S. handle this. Lou and I looked at purchasing Euros online through Bank of America. Not a bad deal... but do we really want to be carrying around that amount of cash for the first 10 days of our trip? I think not. I will await a response from the agriturismo and then try to come up with a plan.
Item #6: Notify our credit cards that we'll be in Italy
Lou alerted his two credit card companies and I'll contact mine perhaps as soon as when I publish this post.
Item #7: Develop a packing list
Look for this in a blog post to come.
Item #8: Clear my iPhone of unnecessary photos
My iPhone is going to be my "point and shoot" camera for this trip
Item #9: Add an international plan to Lou's cell phone
We probably should do this sooner rather than later, but I'd kind of like to wait and hear Apple's announcements on the new iPhones (6s and 6s+) that are being made at the end of the week. Not likely that I'd be able to get my hands on one so quickly but... I am dying of curiosity. Plus I'd love a phone that holds a charge longer than half a day and has room for plenty more photos! (Yes, I plan to take a lot of photos.)
Item #10: Schedule bills to be paid in our absence
We've been working on that already and seem to be in a good place
Item #11: Figure out what I'm missing from my To Do List!
I suppose it's too late to start a diet to lose all the weight I'm at risk of gaining while in Italy. <sigh>
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