Getting it ready for us

There was an interfaith gathering in Assisi today (see story here), including prayer at the tomb of St. Francis. That's where we will be celebrating our first mass of the pilgrimage next Saturday!

Have a little fun!

It's just one week until take-off....  please enjoy this bit of travel-based humor!

Early Voting Begins Today

We will be away during the November 8 elections.

The early voting site for Wake County is in downtown Raleigh:

Wake County Board of Elections
337 S. Salisbury St
Raleigh

Varia....

I have lots of things to throw at you today!

1. Italian Lessons part two: Joe, our intrepid teacher has agreed to come back and give you another lesson (and on his birthday, no less!)  That will be this Sunday, October 23 after the 11:30am Mass (so- about 12:40-1:40?). It will be in the Living Room of the CARE Center, and a couple people have already volunteered to bring some food. 

2. Interesting links on the US Airways website: Just looking around there today, I found "Tips for healthy travel", a list of movies (Video on Demand) offered in November and sample menus offered on the transatlantic flights.

3. Headsets: it took a lot of searching the US Airways website to find that there is a $5 charge for headsets - which are helpful if you actually want to hear the movie you are watching! However, I'm fairly certain that you can bring your own earbuds/headset along and plug it in. If any of you frequent travelers know that I am wrong, please correct me! And if you end up purchasing them, keep them for the return (and future) trip(s).

Another test

If you only see a blank space here...
Sorry: Blogger turns the video that was created on an iPad into a format that can't be viewed on an iPad or iPhone. Go figure.

Come, flu away!!

I got my flu shot today. Have you gotten yours yet?

Considering all those hours on a plane with all that recirculating air, I'm taking every precaution I can to stay healthy for our pilgrimage.

Alerting your bank and credit card company

Before you leave for Italy, please be sure to contact your bank and credit card companies to let them know your will be out of the country. Otherwise, they might see attempted spending coming from a place they know you don't live and suspend or cancel your account!

That's generally a good thing, a safety measure to guard against someone running up huge bills on your card without your knowledge. But if it happens while you are away, and you don't have alternate options for money. Well.... that could get tricky!

So please, sometime BEFORE November 3, call the customer service number for your ATM and Credit Cards, and tell them when and where you will be away. (Don't bother bringing your DISCOVER Card, that's hardly accepted at all in Europe).

As a guide, here is a list you can tell the customer service rep:
November 3: Philadelphia
Generally, November 4-12: Italy (Rome, Assisi, Spello, (and if you choose a tour: Florence/Pompeii)
November 12: Rome, Philadelphia, return home.

If they want your list more detailed:
November 4: Italy: Rome, Assisi and points in between.
November 5-7: Assisi (Spello, Montefalco, perhaps-- near Assisi)
Nov 7-12: Rome
Nov 10: Rome and if you choose an optional tour, either Florence or Naples and Pompeii

Let me also encourage you to review the items listed as blog topic "get ready" (list at right), as you continue to prepare for our adventure!

More Italian Lessons?

If you would like to meet with Joe again to learn a little more Italian before our trip, our professor is up for it! I saw him this morning, and he'd be happy to meet, as long as there are 5-6 interested people. I bet timing is somewhat flexible, so if you are interested , please either comment here or email me, with your preferred time to meet (Saturday evening? Sunday after the 11:30 mass... )

And a question: I had posted a short test video a few days ago, but tonight I don't see it here (under the 'just for fun' title)... Can you see it?

Just for fun!

This video is apparently not visible on iPads or similar mobile devices. I'll see if that can be fixed.

Tips

Your fellow pilgrims are weighing in with ideas to help us all get ready!

Gary reports that:

I was at Bed Bath and Beyond (Crossroads) today and noticed that they have an excellent selection of travel items including toiletries and the "travel adapters for electric outlets" that were mentioned at the meeting.   The adapters cost about $20.
(Note: BB&B always has coupons in the mail, don't forget to use them!)

And Don has checked out AAA:

I checked into purchasing Euros at AAA since we are members, and there is no fee if fellow travelers are AAA members.  AAA also has passport and credit card safety holders for purchase – so our information cannot be detected by someone directing an electronic device toward us and scanning them.

In case you aren't sure about the 'scanning' part, new passports and some credit cards now have chips in them that could be scanned within a few feet, if someone with bad intention and the right equipment passes near you.  Have you ever stayed in a hotel with card entry and your door key stopped working? It was probably because you stored it in your wallet next to one of those credit cards with a smart chip and it messed up the code (I get the concept; I don't know all the technical words... oh: "RFID readers"). Anyway, there are now safety wallets that block those signals from being read. AAA, Bed Bath and Beyond, travel catalogs like Magellan's or TravelSmith have them, and I'm sure many other places!

A necessity? No. Just for your information.

While looking at the Magellan's website, I found this page on safe travel tips. Now, there is no need to get paranoid and uber-cautious, but a read-through wouldn't hurt, either!

Feast of St. Francis of Assisi

illustration by Sue Todd

Today is the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, at whose tomb we will celebrate the first mass of our pilgrimage in a little over a month!

Please click here for some background information on him.

Getting to and from the airport

Have you thought about how you are getting to and from RDU yet? 

• Maybe you are lucky and have a family member or friend who will drop you off and pick you up!
• Or maybe you plan to drive yourself and pay for parking?
• Or maybe you are considering a taxi service?

If you are considering one of those last two options, I'll make a couple suggestions here, but would also like to hear from you, if you know of better ways to do this economically. Now- by mentioning specific companies, I am not necessarily endorsing those companies - they are simply options I am familiar with, to get you thinking on your own!

Drive and park yourself.

• You COULD use any of the airport parking lots, and of course, the further from the terminal you park, the cheaper per day it is. The cheapest rate is $6 per day. I used to do this, but got frustrated by how infrequently the shuttles seemed to run. That's an inconvenience on the way home, but if you are running a little late arriving at RDU, it can make anticipating checking in on-time a nail-biting experience.
• There are now a few companies that have private lots near the airport and operate frequent shuttle service, picking you and your luggage up at your vehicle, and delivering you back to it upon your return. Most also have a 'rewards' program, that give you a free day for every 8 or 10 days paid, and average about $5/day. Pre-flight charges a slightly cheaper rate if you do not use covered parking, Fast Park has all covered parking and offers a free car wash upon your return. Both often have coupons in the newspaper or in those coupon mailings.

Use a taxi/limo service.

Admittedly, I have little experience with this, but when I went to Italy 6 years ago, 6 or 7 of us parked at one couple's house and we all rode one van to and from the airport together. We used White Horse limo company and my foggy memory has it costing each person about $15, roundtrip. Their website has a place to punch in details and get a price quote. Of course, there are other taxi companies and rates vary depending on distance.

Calling you frequent travelers: what are your tips for getting to and from RDU economically?!

Tips

What a fun evening tonight! It was so nice to put faces to names, and have a little time together in anticipation of our trip.

If any of you would like a follow-up session with Joe in order to practice some more Italian, please just email me.

Here's a packing tip I forgot to mention: bring along a small flashlight (or a book light, or one of those lights on a headband thingies, or whatever). In case the power goes off in the hotel, you won't be stuck in total darkness. I don't anticipate this to be a problem specific to Italy - I just usually do this whenever I travel.

Don't pack a hair dryer. Your hotel room will have one, and you'd need an adapter/converter in order to use yours, anyway.

You can save some space by not packing a pair of socks for every day of the trip. You can wash them out at night and wear them another day.

For other tips, please click on the "packing ideas" label in the right column.