The Next Hurdle

I once read that to establish a habit, one has to do it consistently for at least twenty-one days so I'm going to try to write something every day until we actually leave on the trip. Before I continue to write the "catch-up" though I will say yesterday I worked on getting in the spirit of Italy by practicing my Italian while eating quiche ( I realize that's French but the countries are neighbors so I decided quiche counts. Besides I had all the ingredients for quiche and I think it might be healthier than pasta.) I also drank wine out of a small tumbler. I seem to remember that in the more rustic cafes or tavola caldas, wine is served in tumblers rather than stemmed glasses but that may have been in Greece or France.


The next order of business after securing accommodations was to tackle transportation in Italy. Normally I would have used public transportation while in country. My husband Paul and I have driven in Europe but we more often rely on the public systems and find them pleasant and totally reliable. However, the villa is located about 10 minutes by car from the closest town and there is no public transportation. 


Since I had immediately purchased Rick Steve's Italy 2011 when we had started thinking about the trip, I read his section and found he recommended leasing a car if one is staying over 21 days. Of course, I didn't take that at face value so I used the internet extensively to investigate renting from European and American companies. I even checked out what Costco had to offer through their travel site and from sites I utilize for domestic travel. The conclusion was that it is truly less expensive to lease and both Renault and Citreon offer brand new cars delivered to Italy (at an additional charge) as well as to France. The cars come complete with all the extensive insurance one needs and 24 hour roadside assistance. After reading the horror stories on Rick Steve's Graffiti Wall of driving in Italy and hearing the same from friends and total strangers, I elected to book a car through Renault. This would seem to be fairly simple but again the baby came into play. In the past, I would have leased a fairly small car to avoid the big bills for fuel and to be able to scoot into the miniscule parking places that abound in Europe. With Rider in tow, we'll have more luggage and a car seat. One can rent a car seat from Renault but Rider has grown so quickly he has outgrown his infant seat and needs a new car seat. It seemed economical to purchase a new seat and take it to Italy. After all, Betsy still has to bring a seat to Atlanta anyway.


To digress, we decided it would be best if she and the baby flew to Atlanta and we all flew to Europe together. Besides, she wanted to come for a friend's wedding in North Carolina the weekend before we leave on the trip. Therefore, I investigated the best car seats and decided on Britax. Then I checked out the car seat laws in Italy and the car seat that Renault rents. I tried to ascertain which European models compared to models at Britax USA. Interestingly enough, neither Britax USA nor the European counterpart could tell me the equivalent models. My main concern was that the one purchased here could be installed in the Renault and her current car, a Honda Element. All this research took several days of emails and phone calls and,in the end, I decided on a model that says it'll hold the boy until he weighs 50 lbs.( He is already 32 inches tall and weighs over 27 lbs. at eight months!) The seat was ordered and sent to Betsy so she could use it until June. Reading blogs of parents who had traveled in Europe were helpful in deciding on the particular model. It appears that all the newest car seats install with the same ISOFIX system which is called LATCH in the US but the car has to be fairly new to have this type of system.


After purchasing a travel bag (with wheels) for the car seat, I feel we are ready to take the little fellow to Italy. Thankfully, Delta ships the car seat for free and it doesn't count toward our luggage allowance! This probably didn't have to be so complicated but it was troublesome. I also found out Betsy and I will have to have International Driver's Licenses to avoid fines in Italy. You can drive with an American license but will incur a big fine if the police do stop you so why take a chance when they can be purchased at AAA?


So we now thought we had a place to stay in Borgo San Lorenzo and I had signed for a leased car. It was time to move on to transportation from Atlanta to somewhere in Italy.