Italy: What to Pack for the Trip of a Lifetime! Part 1
So, you've decided to embark on a grand adventure to Italy, the land of pasta, gelato, and ancient ruins. But before you embark on a luxurious journey, you need to make sure you've got all your essentials packed and ready to go. Here's a rundown of the must-have items for your Italian escapade:
Passport, Please!
First things first, don't forget your passport! Make sure it's valid for at least 6 months from your departure date. And hey, why not save a digital copy in the cloud just in case? You never know when you might need it (like when you accidentally drop your passport in a Venetian canal).
Visa Vibes
Visas, visas, visas. It's not the most exciting topic, but it's crucial for your Italian adventure. If you're from the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico or the UK, you're in luck – you can get a 3-month visitor visa on arrival. But if you're from China or India, you'll need to sort out your visa before you go. Don't get caught out at customs – check the requirements for your country before you hop on that plane!
Insurance, Baby!
Insurance might not be the most glamorous item on your packing list, but it's essential. You never know when you might need medical attention or if your luggage decides to take a detour to Timbuktu. Stay safe, stay covered, and enjoy your Italian adventure with peace of mind.
- National Bank World Elite Mastercard: Best travel insurance credit card overall. Emergency medical coverage for trips of up to 60 days (15 days for seniors over 65), plus solid trip cancellation and car rental insurance, and more. Annual fee: $150.
- ScotiaBank Passport Visa Infinite: Best card with an annual fee (honourable mention). Emergency medical coverage for up to 21 days—on unlimited trips per year. Annual fee: $150.
- BMO Cashback World Elite Mastercard: Best card with an annual fee (honourable mention). BMO Roadside Assistance Program benefits through a free, basic membership in the Dominion Automobile Association. Annual fee: $120.
- Rogers Red World Elite Mastercard: Best travel insurance credit card with no annual fee. Get six types of travel insurance coverage without committing to an annual fee.
Tickets and documents!
I prefer to store most of my travel information digitally. I organize my itinerary and save copies of documents on my phone. Additionally, I back them up in a dedicated email folder for the trip. Oh, and don't forget to keep those medical prescriptions safe and sound tool.
Did you book your train tickets and tours? It’s not too late! Book train tickets on Omio.com and find tours on GetYourGuide.com
Money!
Use your Visa or Mastercard in Italy without issue. Paying by card makes traveling much easier, however, it is important to remember that it might not be available in some destinations.
During our last week in Italy, the Global tech outage occurred. The only inconvenient we faced, the toll booths on the way from Rome to Naples did not take credit cards. Good thing we had cash handy to keep our vacation vibes going strong!
SIM card!
After some researches we decided to get a SIM card right outside Marco Polo Airport, in our first destination: Padua. Thankfully, we navigated there smoothly, using a paper map from National Geographic. Once in Padua, locals kept advising us towards WindTre store.
Windtre prepaid SIM cards don’t require registration making them very convenient for foreign visitors.
- Price: $15.50/month
- Valid for 30 days upon activation with no contracts
- Includes 70GB of 5G data with speeds up to 1Gbps
- Unlimited calls to Italian numbers (And believe me, you are going to need to call some customer service numbers in Italy just to validate some tickets)
- 100 minutes to call 53 countries internationally
- One-time $10.50 SIM activation fee
Purchase is simple at any WINDTRE store by showing your passport. Considering the data, call minutes and reliability of WINDTRE’s network, it offers reliable connectivity at a reasonable price throughout a visitor’s trip to Italy and potentially parts of Europe.
Note: You should check the updated price and plan on Windtre’s website.
Your Italian Guide!
Italy Audio Tours - This app organizes the vast and varied library of Rick Steves’ audio content into geographic-specific playlists so that travelers can enjoy ready access to the information that relates specifically to their travel plans. Many tracks provide general cultural and sightseeing information gleaned from his public radio program, Travel with Rick Steves. Other tracks are self-guided tours to great sights and historic walks. While we travel there’s lots of down time, and this application can both entertain and teach. Rick Steves Audio Europe will hopefully make your European travels more meaningful and more fun.
Features:
• The app downloads and stores audio files on your device. No Wi-Fi or cellphone connection is required to listen. (You will need a connection if you choose to add audio tracks later.)
• Handy maps (PDF) that complement the self-guided audio tours can be viewed on your device.
• The audio content originates from Rick Steves guidebooks and the Travel with Rick Steves public radio program. Self-guided tours are excerpted from Rick Steves country and city guidebooks.
• Rick Steves Audio Europe is a work in progress. New audio tracks will be added and existing tracks updated as necessary. Be sure to enable Notifications for this app to get the latest updates.
Private Tours - Discover the best of Italy as you embark on the tour of a lifetime. Private tours can be designed to bring your dream trip to life, discover authentic Italian spots and see breath-taking sights for lifelong memories that you can cherish for many more years to come.
When you book Italy tour packages, your itinerary is completely up to you, and they work with you to tick all of the right boxes. Whether you’d prefer a Italy hiking tour, archeological tour, art history tour of Italy or a mix of them all, you have full freedom to decide exactly how you want to spend your private tours of Italy.
Here I leave you some options to get your tour guide.