Ticket to Italy

MAKE WAY EVERYONE! MAKE WAY!
I AM TRAVELING TO ITALY. OFFICIALLY.


This is crazy. A little 9 days separate me from the Europe, more specifically England. Then 6 days after my arrival to England, I'm flying out (with Becky of course!) to Italy.


So many adventures will happen!


We are flying out June 6th to Ciampino, Italy and staying in Rome for 4 nights and then heading up to Florence and Pisa for 3 and then we are back to England!


Crazy huh?


We were able to get cheap tickets from ryanair.com for about $150, other travel sites had prices listed on average for $200.  If you like planning ahead (like I do!) RyanAir is the cheap way to go. There are of course restrictions to what you can bring but I'm sure I can get by with a little bag for a week! WHICH REMINDS ME I HAVE TO PACK! Oh dear, 1 piece of luggage will be the death of me...

Not mine but I fear it will be..

Getting the plane ticket, in my opinion, is the easiest part of the trip. Next came hostel booking. I searched for weeks comparing hostels (ughhh so many) prices, ratings and so on and so forth on hostelworld.com. The final decision came to Ottimista - Furio Camillio for Rome and Hotel Marcella for Florence. While we were planning on staying in hostels, these bed and breakfasts were a lot cheaper (and were less likely to put me into an anxiety attack!).

Rome

But how do you get from Rome to Florence with no car? Take the train! Italiarail.com was the place to go. The train tickets were fairly cheap, around $67 roundtrip. It also wasn't too bad working around the plane ticket (we have to be back in Ciampino by 4 on the 13th). 


All that is left is to get bus passes for Rome, plan out what we are going to see there, bus tickets for Florence (around the city), and a bus to and from Florence to Pisa (cliche picture of me holding up the leaning tower her I come!)

Pretend I'm holding it up! 

Also, as a last note, I know I haven't been great keeping up with blogging, these last few weeks have been absolutely nuts!

The Costs They Forgot to Tell You About

I'm super excited to study abroad in East Sussex, England but there are a lot more costs that cropped up after I decided to go officially. It comes in that 80 page book they expect you to read...okay okay I may have read most of it!

Some of them may be pretty simple and you may think"well, duh..." but here is what I found going through the process.

1) Passport

As you may have guessed, I didn't have a passport before November and I needed to go and get one (can't fly to England with an enhanced driver's license!). I had to get the works. First you pay for the passport, $140.  Then the execution fee, another $25.  The picture, $10. And finally, the money order to be able to send the money to the government, I think this was about $5. This brings the grand total to $180.00. Wow.

Renewing it alone is $140!

2) Luggage

A good set of 3 piece luggage for a new traveler is around $90 from JCPenny (which is rebranded itself! I'm loving their new logo). Be careful about your allowed size for your flight too! I have a piece of luggage that came in the set that is too large!

3) Cell Phone

Don't EVER bring your own cell phone over. I thought I would just add the international plan and be done with it. NOPE. It was about $30 per month ON TOP of my regular bill and then add 99 cents per minute. How about just getting data? THINK AGAIN! That was an additional $20 to the data plan you are currently paying for and you only have access to about a megabyte.  Go for a disposable phone when you get overseas for emergency purposes only . Much cheaper, $20 - $50.

4) How much your University will actually pay for the program / Deposit
My study abroad program is through Queens University, RIT didn't offer a program that allowed me to stay in England for the amount of time I desired or at the right time.  I thought cool, going through a Canadian University will be a bit cheaper because of the conversion. I also looked at what my University gave me in scholarships and the scholarships themselves could pay for it.  When I was going through the whole business with Financial Aid however, they told me they could only pay for a percentage of my scholarships. Even if I went on co-op during the Spring.  (The Financial Aid is different than the academic year, beginning in the summer and ending in the Spring).  I had to pay the $1000 deposit by myself and then they added another kicker to the equation... they would only pay for tuition, not room and board.  So it was an uphill battle to get the money.  I ended up taking out my government loan for the Spring so I could pay my room and board and the remainder of my tuition for England. Total cost out of pocket: $1000 and applying to as many scholarships as I possibly can.

5) ATM fees. Obviously, overseas will not have the same banks as we do, so there will be withdrawal fees. Take out large amounts of money if you are taking out of the ATM to avoid paying the fee each time. HSBC is in England but they just sold all of their banks in NY and CT off (just my luck) to First Niagara...Yes, HSBC they defiantly have the same services, thanks for screwing over your customers. Watch out for foreign transaction fees on credit cards too!

This is just to name a few. There are a ton more.

My advice?  Always plan to spend more than you do and look for little money savers.  Though it may be stressful now, get as many jobs or work as many hours as you can to help pay for the extra costs.

Remember to pack lightly!

19 more days and I am so terrified and excited!

Tanning

Is it really that bad?

I just went tanning for the first time in my life and I was scared.
1. Because I am a hypochondriac and 2. I fear I will burn to death

But the second and third times (with no color change I must add) I finally was able to relax like I would in the sun.

Why am I tanning?

I have been pale all of my life and I am traveling to Europe (Italy and Spain) this summer. It's really hot over there and really sunny.

I personally do not want to get skin cancer in Europe because I am not used to a higher exposure of sun, nor am I willing to go through any amounts of sunburn pain while on vacation which brings me to the question, is tanning bad? How much is too much?

I think if you are getting a base tan (like I am) it is completely fine but if you are going everyday for a year and turning into leather, that is bad. A base tan can provide a small layer of protection against a nasty sunburn when the sunscreen unknowingly wears off.

I have personally see a mixture people who say one or the other.  Here is one that says all tanning is bad news while this one says that  talks about both.

I have seen versions where the final picture is a leather couch

There are always going to be positives and there will always be negatives.  Like everything... It's okay in moderation.

What do you think?

Countries I Hope to Visit this Summer

A 86 days until England! I CAN'T WAIT!

Here are the countries that I hope to visit this summer!

England 
duh.  It would be pretty hard to not go here seeing as how my study abroad is located in East Sussex and I'm staying with my family..

London, England

France
Mostly Paris. :-D  Another easy one to get to because it is so close to England

Paris, France

Ireland
It's so close, why not?

Spain
I have a friend who is studying abroad in Spain and we agreed that we were going to come and visit each other!

Barcelona, Spain

Italy
How can anyone go to Europe and not visit Italy? I mean come on.  The Colosseum, the Vatican, the art, the architecture?  A must see.

Trevi Fountain, Rome, Italy

Germany
Germany has so much history involved it would be hard to pass up a trip here.

Greece
How beautiful Greece is!! Just by looking at the pictures it is to die for! Not to mention all of the Greek temples like the Parthenon.

Parthenon, Acropolis

Egypt 
This one may be a long shot this summer but I defiantly want to go here at some point in my life. I would love to see all of the pyramids and I absolutely love Egyptian culture.

Now, I'm realistic enough to understand that I probably won't make all 8 countries in 10 weeks (it could be possible though!). But I will see where I end up and make the most of it no matter what and whatever I don't get to see will just be added to the travel wish list!