What I Will Do Differently on my Next Trip to Italy

I learned much from this trip in terms of bringing a dog and how to pack. I would definitely bring Seymour with me again. His company was worth the time and effort to get him there.

Things I would do differently related to bringing Seymour with me:

1. I would have brought his toothbrush and toothpaste. Seriously! Because we couldn't find good food for him, his breath quickly got to smelling awful. I did see that Vets had the higher quality food for sale but there was no way I was going to carry a sack of dry food with me, along with tins of dog food. My shoulders are still recovering from the heavy back pack and Seymour in his sling.

2. I would have brought (or tried to bring) a big bag of his favorite treats, Chicken Tenders, with us. They are all meat and crunchy so they are good for this teeth and breath. When we came home, he could not get enough of those treats.

3. I might look for a different carrier instead of the sling. Although the sling was wonderful and easy to carry, Seymour would not stay hidden in it - he always had to see what was going on or if someone was going to fawn over him. Because of that, it was harder to sneak him into places that didn't allow dogs - like the churches. I just found a purse that would keep him totally hidden but I'm not sure it will fold up enough to carry it for travel. I think we could get in to more places with him in the purse than with him in the sling.

4. I will use "google translate" to carry around the following statements:
"Can you clip my dog's nails?" "How much will it cost to clip his nails", and "No, I don't have a dog in my purse."

5. I am glad I brought his muzzle, a copy of his health records, and a picture of him - they took up little space and although none were needed, I had them - just in case.

6. I am glad I brought Seymour's squirt bottle to stop him from barking at other dogs. It was just a small spray bottle that I filled with water and carried in my purse, so again it took up little room but was there if I needed it.

7. I brought 2 sweaters for him and I think that was probably all we needed - 3 might have been good, just for variety, but only if I had extra room.

8. After losing Seymour's crate on the train, I was lucky to find another crate that folded into a bag to use coming home. A folding crate was much easier to carry - and not lose.

For my own packing, next time I will:

1. Bring something to sleep in that I can also wear out, if needed. I need things that have double duty.

2. Bring underwear but only one change of clothes. I found so many markets where I could buy inexpensive clothes that I loved. I ended up having to leave clothes behind because I bought some clothes there that were better suited to my travel.

3. I might think twice about traveling through 2 different seasons because I carried summer clothes and sandals around in November and carried a winter coat and sweater all through September. It is not easy to pack light when you are traveling during summer and a cold fall.

4. I would definitely bring my own medicine next time; plenty of Advil, allergy medication, cold medicine and antacids. I cringe thinking about paying from 5 to 8 euro for 20 aspirin!

5. I would bring less travel books and see if I could download some on my iPad instead. Those books are HEAVY! Of course, I also had stacks of papers from my Italian class. It took me weeks to copy the important info from those papers into a notebook. That is one reason I had to buy a back pack.

6. I loved going over with just a carry on suitcase and Seymour but I found I just didn't have the room I needed for everything I either purchased or gathered along the way. I still hate checking a bag and going through the hassle of trying to find it at the baggage claim (or not). When you have a dog, you are only allowed one additional carry on, which is difficult. I haven't figured out the solution to this yet. If you don't have a dog, you can have a purse and a carry on, which would work much better.

7. I am very glad I had my iPad and could use Vodafone when I didn't have wifi. My Italian cell phone was also useful. In fact, the airbnb website required a phone number that could be verified, so I needed that phone number. I also liked having a Skype phone number. I could call people on their home phones for free. The phone number only cost about $10.00 and included minutes used when calling someone's cell phone.

8. It would have been nice to have had less electrical cords for all of my electronics. I don't know if there is a way to buy one cord that has interchangeable connections to the various devices, but that would have saved some space. I did find that my camera cord would work with my cell phone, so I would check next time to see which cords I wouldn't need to bring. I also brough a converter, that I didn't need. I only needed the electrical adapter.

9. My GPS was useless. I think it would be easier to just go online to google maps and write down directions instead of having to impatiently wait for the GPS to find a satellite and then still direct you the wrong way.

10. What I did bring that I would bring again included: small folding umbrella, inflatable neck pillow that doubled as a regular pillow when needed, folding slippers, thin gloves, quick dry bath towel and quick dry underwear.

11. What I did bring that I would NOT bring again included: silk sac which was a silk sheet in a bag (never used), pillow case (used it once and put it only neck pillow, but really didn't need it), folding shoes (never even took them out of the bag), hat (I ended up buying some scarves there and a few times put one over my head when it got cold), and 'Italian for Travelers" book. It was an interesting read but I ended up getting a small travel dictionary I used more. Maybe an electronic Italian Translator would have been a better choice - easy to use and lightweight.

12. I did carry a small map of Italy (as big as a 9 1/2 x 11 piece of paper) with me to help me decide where to go next. I used that all the time. It was especially useful when I would try to find a place to stay and they would show cities that were not my target city. I wish the map had more cities listed but I did not want to carry a real large map.

Lots of lessons learned - but I still had much more to learn. Next time!

Sunday In Matera and Other Thoughts - Updated Already!

I went looking for a place to buy my bus ticket to Napoli - no luck again. There are a few travel agencies that are supposed to be open at 10 am tomorrow - unless they close on Monday - so I will give it one more try. The bus leaves here at 11:30 am and my experience with Marina Bus lines is that they won't be friendly or help me if I don't have a ticket. I also decided that if I do find a place to buy a ticket, I will buy 2 so I don't get into that mess again. I hate spending that much money but I want to make sure I can get back to Napoli tomorrow!

As I was walking around town I thought of House Hunters International. You always see people buying total wrecks and working on them. Would this count as a "fixer upper"? You can move in while you're working on it if you aren't afraid of heights, don't sleep walk, and aren't modest! There is a good roof and even tile on the ceilings:





Also, they usually do take their kitchens with them when they move. I see places that sell "kitchens" starting at 1,995 euro and that doesn't include the appliances. Those starter kits are probably 8 feet long with a kitchen sink. Probably similar to what is in my apartment here. I was looking at real estate books at houses for sale or rent and even some of the rental houses come without kitchens. They do leave their bathrooms :)

With the changes in the government here, things were pretty lively at the town center. As usual, there were almost all men hanging around and talking loudly while holding their newspapers. It looked like there was one table set up with a petition having something to do with the region. This is what the town center looked like today:





You don't see men with other large groups of men friends in the USA - except at sports events - but here is it very common. And the men, especially the older ones, are always dressed up. I am assuming that the women are home cleaning. I need to find out. Here are 3 men I was following that are typically dressed - how cute are they :)





I saw this statue and it looked a bit like the Prime Minister who just resigned. There was no plaque, so I'm just making this up.





It has gotten pretty chilly here. I finally figured out how to calculate the temperature from C to F. You divide by 5, then multiply by 9 then add 32. So today it was about 58 degrees.

I need to pack tonight so I can walk Seymour in the morning, have a leisurely breakfast of espresso and bread with cherry jelly, then walk into town to try to buy a bus ticket - and be ready to leave by 10:30 t0 10:45 am.

A lesson for anyone coming to Matera on the bus - buy ROUND TRIP bus tickets in Napoli.

UPDATE - As I was going out to walk Seymour for the last time, my hostess stopped me and we talked about her boyfriend Luigi taking me to the bus stop tomorrow. I told her I still hadn't found a place to buy my ticket so she bought it online for me - unfortunately only one ticket! I will try to hide Seymour somehow when I get on the bus. I had also asked her if she could print the health form I may need filled out to get Seymour on the plane and she printed 2 copies for me. What a relief. She also gave me a jar of jam that her mother-in-law made. I'm not sure what kind it is but she said it was grown locally. It has the texture of tomato puree or a jar of pimentos but I am hoping that it is some kind of fruit. I will try it in Napoli - If they let me on the bus! What great people they are!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

European Microchip and Health Record

Today Seymour got his microchip for Italy put in. He's now a two chip dog! The opening on the needle is a bit bigger than for a regular immunization but the vet and his assistant did a great job of keeping Seymour's attention while they did it and he didn't even flinch - of course I did!

What I learned about the European microchip is that it is probably cheaper to get it from the vet, even if they have to order it, than it is to order it from one of the pet travel companies. I had thought about ordering it for $49.95 (plus shipping) but decided to just get it through the vet. It ended up costing me about $36.00, including the vet visit. So, I would recommend checking on which is less expensive.

I had also ordered the Pet Passport, which was supposed to include some passport carrier as well as the forms that were supposed to be emailed and sent to me. I only received the email and even after writing to them to tell them I did not receive the mailing, I got no response. I could have downloaded all of those forms - for free. They did email me the info on what needs to be done for Italy, but again I could have found that myself. Another lesson learned.

While reviewing the AirFrance website, it did not say that we need to have a Pet Health Certificate for the plane, although other airlines require it. While I was at the vets, they told me about a woman who didn't have a Pet Health Certificate when she went to the airport (probably because she read the same info I read) and she found out that she did need it, and they couldn't board the plane. I recommend that everyone get a Pet Health Certificate completed and have it with them, along with the other necessary paperwork. In this case, more is better.

It is still my fear that I won't have all of Seymour's paperwork together and we won't be able to get on the plane. I'm sure I'll worry about that until I'm actually sitting on the plane - or maybe until I go through customs in Rome!