Travel Addicts/Advice Thread

LFS · July 30, 2022, 3:02pm

Europe trip report

Rome: I don’t think I have anything to say about Rome that somebody else hasn’t already said better. Guided tours of the Colosseum and Vatican were grueling but felt necessary. We stayed near Palazzo Navona in the Centro Storico neighborhood, which was a great launching spot. A running theme for my family is that we enjoy random side excursions much more than planned events. In Rome’s case it was a day trip to Bracciano, where we toured the castle and wandered down to a little beach club by the lake and just relaxed for a few hours. Navigation and getting around were in general much easier than I expected.

Florence: Super, super hot when we were there. Crowded and more touristy than Rome, but to see the Duomo is to understand why. Our wandering led us to the Statuto neighborhood, where I could envision spending a lot of time. Our “big” day trip was to Cinque Terre. Given the heat it is no surprise that it was CROWDED. Glad we went, my kids got to swim in the Mediterranean, but I don’t need to go again.

Lucerne: We cannot say enough about how much we loved Lucerne. It is truly The Future the Liberals Want. Everybody riding bikes/electric bikes/scooter, everything just makes sense, feels very progressive. It is also probably a place where MAGAs would be very comfortable because almost literally everyone is white, and the overlap is a little disconcerting. Day trip was to Mt. Pilatus, where we took the gondola to the top (exploring at a few of the stops along the way), the world’s steepest cogwheel train down the other side to the bottom, and then a boat across Lake Lucerne from Alpnach back to Lucerne. Switzerland is ludicrously indescribably beautiful. Just the train from Florence to Lucerne was mind blowing. It is also crazy expensive. Like, $25 hamburgers at a normal restaurant expensive. I have not quite figured out how non-rich people live there.

Geneva: Took the Golden Pass route from Lucerne to Geneva (Lucerne-Interlaken-Spiez-Zweisimmen-Montreaux-Geneva). Cannot begin to describe how beautiful. Geneva itself is fine, after Lucerne it was going to be impossible to really love it. Saw the UN and then wandered into France for lunch - took a bus to the border (half an hour), walked across into Gaillard, and wandered to a very small restaurant in a very quiet area. They spoke almost no English, I speak almost no French, and we all happily made it work. One of the highlights of our trip.

Overall impressions: it is so stupid that we don’t have a Europe-style train network in the US. So, so, so, dumb. Being able to get everywhere on trains was very awesome. Also, everywhere you go there’s publicly accessible drinking water, you just fill your reusable bottle. In Florence there was public refrigerated sparkling water! The socialism tasted so wonderful. I know that every place feels better when on vacation, but man it does feel like life is better over there in many ways.

superuberbob · July 30, 2022, 4:44pm

Ask any Italian about how much they love Italy and you won’t get such a positive answer.

Shit, feel like I’m seeing more Italians moving to Prague everyday.

Melkerson · July 30, 2022, 5:16pm

What do they not like about it?

ChrisV · July 30, 2022, 5:22pm

It’s corrupt, organised crime ridden, perpetually close to bankrupt and everything is broken.

LFS · July 30, 2022, 7:02pm

A video from the Lucerne to Geneva train, somewhere in the vicinity of Gstaad:

grue · July 30, 2022, 10:28pm

All inclusive for a week for us in september in the dom. republic. Don’t need cat sitters any more =/ 6 am flight out lol.

Tilted · July 30, 2022, 10:39pm

Good on you, but you couldn’t pay me to take a 6 am flight.

Spinetta · July 30, 2022, 11:08pm

My wife and I are taking a 6am flight to Costa Rica in September. We normally wouldn’t leave that early but it was the only way to get to the hot springs resort we’re staying at a decent time. We’ll take it, but are not excited about waking up at 3am to catch the flight.

Bobnewton · July 31, 2022, 5:13pm

Wrapping up a July in Italy.
Rome, tuscany, amalfi coast, sicily. Lax.

2 kids 6 and 9. Plus a large extended family of 20 total, ages 0 to 85, in various clusters.

Flew from west coast to rome. Arrived at 8am. Plan is to whirlwind through Rome for 2 days and drive to tuscany on day 3.

Hotel near pantheon, walked around bleary eyed pretty close to there. Cafe granite at tazzo de oro will keep you moving. Crashed out for a few hours and woke up for pasta at osteria da Fortuna. Its a bit of family chain but solid. Amatriciana strozzapreti was a highlight. Another osteria on Piazza Argentina was even better the next night.

Rome on jet lag with kids is kinda elite. Everyone up at 3 am? Perfect. Walk to Spanish steps, bring sketchbooks to trevi and soak it in with relative peace. Walk around the coliseum at sunrise. Stop at every public fountain, cup your hand under the spout and make a sprinkler to run through. Espresso vending machines never close. Giolitti gelato is rated appropriately and the ordering process is wild.

Skipped the tours although we saw a light show at Augustus forum at night that was pretty cool. Narrated history of the forums projected against the ruins of the Augustus forum walls.

The culmination of 48 hours in Rome is an Uber convoy the to the loltrain station to pick up lolrental cars to drive through lolrome traffic and beyond towards tuscany. Lol, avoid this.

Tilted · July 31, 2022, 5:35pm

Invited to a wedding in Nuevo Vallarta. Anyone been around the area? Seems like a typical resort town from a quick search.

I might go a couple days earlier and visit Mexico City for 2-3 days then fly directly from there. It’s like $100 and a 1.5 hour flight.

Fossilkid93 · July 31, 2022, 5:44pm

I lived in Puerto Vallarta for 6 months near el centro in the neighborhood called zona romántica, but only spent about a half day in Nuevo, so don’t really know it well. I would definitely recommend visiting that part of PV if you get the chance.

And would highly recommend Mexico City if you can work that in. Flight from there to Vallarta will be quick and the airport is located right between NV and PV, so fairly quick taxi into the city.

LFS · July 31, 2022, 5:49pm

My family and I commented several times in Rome that it was hilarious that I considered renting a car. I’m sure I could handle driving in Florence and Tuscany, but lol driving in Rome.

Riverman · July 31, 2022, 7:13pm

Truly insane things happening in Rome on the roads. Legitimately Terrifying!

ChrisV · July 31, 2022, 7:31pm

My entry in the worst driving in the world power rankings is Beijing. My cab driver missed the exit on a freeway so he just reversed back down the freeway to get to it. Rome is bad by European standards but can’t compete with SEA.

Bobnewton · July 31, 2022, 8:32pm

Gotta be. I was joking with my wife about next years planned Beijing to Shanghai rally.

Honestly rome traffic does seem to work. It’s just a little wild. Getting from the car pickup back to the train station to load bags during prayer was the hardest part.

The amalfi coast in 9 passenger vans without navigation is no joke. My bil lost both mirrors and got some 2 wheeled 20-point turn practice.

Tilted · July 31, 2022, 9:09pm

I can’t imagine going on vacation with 20 relatives.

Melkerson · July 31, 2022, 9:10pm

I don’t know if there is a word for the opposite of “vacation”, but that’s how I’d feel about the whole thing.

Tilted · July 31, 2022, 9:14pm

Torture.

Melkerson · July 31, 2022, 9:16pm

Yeah, that works.

Bobnewton · July 31, 2022, 9:35pm

We drive straight to a villa about 40 minutes southeast of Florence.

Everything here is pretty much centered around food. And we’re realizing our large group is cumbersome so we’re pairing down the itinerary as we go. Like theoretically each small group could go and do stuff solo but fomo gets in the way and paralyses everyone.

It’s all good though, we stayed in this ridiculous 14th century farmhouse amongst the olives and grapes. We had a chef come and make pizza the first night. She was great, her daughter is also a chef and came the next day to make us breakfast. They also teamed up and did a pasta making class with us. And another couple meals throughout the week.

We did a couple trips into Florence by car and by train. This place is mobbed and would be great to do late late night. There’s so much to see that’s just integrated into the buildings and public art. We barely scratched the surface here.

Prior to leaving, my wife and I watched the Netflix medici series. Pretty much everywhere we were there was some relevant thing to one generation or another.

Day tripped to pisa with a stop at da delfina restaurant. Seems to just be infinite incredible views and little hillside eateries. So hard to say if we had good recommendations, got lucky, or everywhere is pretty great.

We a day trip to Modena to tour leonardi balsamic. If you’re into it, it’s pretty great. 150 year old grape juice is delicious. But a 15 year will do just fine.

And we toured frescobaldi winery. Really we’re all fans of their olive oil, laudemio. I don’t think we realized that it’s just this massive wine producer that does olives on the side. The family are descendants of the Albizzi, the Medici nemesis that were exiled to France and a century later returned to reclaim the feudal empire they still lord over today. Kinda gross really.

Next is a train trip to naples. But after the rome baggage mess, it was decided that I’d rent a wagon and drive the luggage down to lighten the load. Highlights include a stop at the autogrille, legit good paninis and a quick stop at tivoli to see the fountains which are amazing. I rate each of these spots equally.

On the way out of Florence, stepped into a Cafe next to the rental car lot for a quick bite. A guy in his 50s greets us smiling with the longest buongiorno. And after each selection of food and beverage he says very slowly and earnestly "good choice, good choice. " this will be a part of my lexicon for rest of my life. And my goal is to be as happy as that guy.