Preparation for this months trip to Rome, Italy

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We are still prepping for our trip to Rome. As of now my wife Lynda and I are scheduled to meet at Fiumicino (Da Vinci) airport on the morning of March 26th. Oddly enough we are traveling to Europe via different flights. My Lufthansa flight heads from Chicago to Frankfurt and then down to Rome and Lynda is flying United from St. Louis through Philly and then over to Rome. She's actually arriving a few hours before me so it'll be interesting finding each other in a foreign airport without phones that work.

Which brings me to phones: unfortunately none of my cell phones are GSM enabled (so they don't work in Europe or most other foreign countries). I've been researching options and found a large number of websites that will sell unlocked Quadband GSM phones and SIM cards with various options. One of the ones I'm currently leaning towards is Telestial.com. They seem to have some reasonably priced packages that would work in Italy and actually give us free incoming calls. With 3 little girls back in Missouri getting passed from babysitter to babysitter the only way to keep my wife sane is to have the ability for them to call us.

As to Rome itself, we've been stocking up on guide books and advice from friends as to where to go and what to do. It's a destination we've both wanted to see for awhile but, not that it is almost here, my wife is a bit hesitant due to all the stories from her friends and peers regarding pickpockets and thefts. Today, another mom at school presented my wife a lanyard wallet (worn around the neck and under your shirt). This lady was so concerned for us she decided to take it upon herself to get us one. What does that say?

As we are staying at a B&B near Termini station we are hoping that our location will put us near enough to everything that we can spend 4 or 5 days walking from place to place or, at worst, using the train only when needed. So, to this end, we have started putting together a small list of the places we MUST see and then everything else will fall into place if we just happen to pass it by. As we get our list finalized I'll blog about what our intentions are. Then, I'll post pictures and updates once we see them.

I'm planning on taking a couple camera's and getting more pictures than you can imagine. Out on the Cape in Massechusett's last fall we took nearly 500 pictures in 4 days. It's amazing how many pictures of whales and sailboats you can take but I still miss the place every time I look at them.

I'm actually heading to Las Vegas for the week prior to Rome which is a little difficult as I know how expensive Europe can be due to the Euro exchange rate...so I'm really trying to watch our budget prior to Rome. So what better way to watch your budget than to spend the week prior to your vacation in Vegas for work. I have a feeling I'll be in debt up to my ears in a few months but, you only live once, so live well 😊

Anyway, that's the only update for now. I'll post again prior to our trip.

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