[Idyllchat] ? for tenured travelers

[Russ Crum]

Marcia,

We have been on one Untour (Umbria) in Italy. In addition we have  
traveled there on our own as well as with a Rick Steves tour.

If you are considering Tuscany or Umbria, you have to have a car to  
get around since these are rural areas. Driving the roads is easy and  
Untours provides you with a good road map. Yes, you can get lost or  
"temporarily not sure where you are".  Between the map and a compass,  
or GPS,  or friendly locals, you will find your way home. Gas  
stations are abundant. If you are considering Rome or Venice, you  
will use public transportation.

I cannot speak to the hiring of local guides since we have not done  
that in Italy. Other Untourists can probably offer advice on that.  
Travel guidebooks usually also have advice.

We have not found the language to be an issue. We have quite limited  
Italian capability (~100-120 words?) and got along well. If you  
frequent Italian restaurants you will already be familiar with much  
of that vocabulary. We only encountered one restaurant in Umbria  
where no one spoke any English.


Russ Crum
rrcrum at sbcglobal.net

On Mar 17, 2007, at 6:42, Marcia Waffner wrote:

> Hi
> We're planning our first trip to Italy in the fall. Untours sounds  
> just 'up our alley' since we don't want to be with large groups and  
> on tour buses, however we were wondering if we can hire guides or  
> ask for recommendations from this group on the 'who, what, where  
> and when' of getting around.  Some questions: 1.  is getting from  
> place to place reasonably straightforward   2. are gas stations  
> easy to find  3.  can we hire tour guides on our own and if so, how  
> 4.  is language a huge barrier if our Italian is limited.
>
> Thanks for any help...
> Marcia
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