"I didn’t love Italy” said Jenny, the women in the line as we were waiting to check in for our return flights to Australia. “It was busy, there were too many tourists expensive and it was hard work - Just so disappointed” she told me.

I asked her where did she visit and she told me “It was our first time so I did what all those FB groups told me and my friend’s told me that were a must, Amalfi, Cinque Terre, Taormina Sicily (because my daughter saw it on Insta) and of course Venice, Florence, Pisa and Rome” 

I had worked out Rome as we were standing at the checkin at Rome airport and then I asked did you travel in that order? “Yes except we flew into Rome” .

How long was your trip? “Just over 3 weeks” 

So you spent most of your time travelling “Yes and I am over it - no holiday, hard work and simply too many people - Amalfi I hated the most !”

Sadly this is a common story and it is not that Italy is not amazing - more that planning a trip to Italy you need a specialist to guide you - You simply do not know what you don’t know yet ! 

Common mistakes made by travellers to Italy like Jenny and her family 

1. Doing too much - Jenny had 22 nights in Italy her average stay was 3 nights but she did a few 1 night stays too
2. Distance - Jenny and her family travelled south, then north then south again and backtracked all over Italy. They actually did double the amount of kilometres than they needed too. This makes the trip more expensive more tiring and not time efficient. They spend most of their time travelling rather than enjoying.
3. Type of transport - Jenny booked hire car’s and caught planes rather than using trains. What many Australian’s don’t understand is that trains are faster and more economical. Going city centre to city centre rather than paying big money for taxi or for parking your car (Jenny told me that parking their car could be almost as expensive as the hotel room in some places)
4. Information on social media - Just because you have read it doesn’t make it true ….if you want to go into overwhelm hang out in a facebook group travelling to Italy ! There Is so much conflicting information many of it wrong. Instagram similar - people are going to places because they are good at Instagram not because they are a great service or place to visit.
5. Tourist Traps - While I get people want to go to the popular spots in Italy STOP as tourists act like sheep when it comes to the MUST GO places. Taormina is a nightmare as it’s a small town flooded by Tourists since the series White Lotus. All of the things that made it amazing suddenly disappear when half of the world is squashed into is small town. Same with Amalfi - in fact Jenny hated Amalfi because of the tourists and how hard it was to move around and to get into a restaurant.
6. Blockbusters - While there are a few places you might need to deal with tourists and are a must see like Rome Florence & Venice, they are all larger places than your small places Being small was what made them so appealing ie Cinque Terre Amalfi & Taormina.
7. Amazing non tourist places: Think about it Italy is a country of coast lines and there are many places that tourists haven’t discovered yet ….If your thinking coastal Trieste, Rimini, Ancona, Messina (Sicily) Ischia, (Italian Island) which have few tourists and offer amazing experiences

The reason I do what I do is that I hate to hear what Jenny told me - It’s not Italy but the fact that Jenny’s expectations were not meet and that she didn’t seek a specialist to help her and her family plan a holiday to Italy that they would LOVE ! 

Buoni Viaggi