Some Italians will be more friendly to you if they think you took the effort to speak their language, but others won’t give a shit. Everyone in tourist areas speaks multiple languages. The only place in Italy we had trouble was Sicily.
In my experience it is worth it. Even in the touristy areas where the locals can speak a lot of English, you will generally get better and friendlier service if you have tried to learn some of their language. People on the street will will be more patient when asking for directions. In the areas where English isn’t widely spoken and when communicating with older Italians it definitely can come in handy. Like when the gas pump doesn’t work right and you ask the employees for help. Also, when you enter a coffee shop, bakery, bar or any other business immediately glance around the room and politely say Buongiorno or Buona Sera with a smile. It breaks the ice.
I think so. Got hooked up a bunch at places for speaking basic shitty Italian. I'm still learning it now like 560 days later and it's a fun language. At the very least learn basic greetings and directions.
Agreed. It isn't necessary but helpful to at least learn the basic phrases. We didn't go south of Rome but have been told that's where there are fewer English speakers.
Similar path. I had hit Duolingo and Coffebreak Italian pretty hard prior to our trip in late 2019. That Christmas I attended the Salt Lake Italian Society’s celebration in order to meet people. I met a professor of Italian from the University of Utah. He said that I spoke better than many of his intermediate level Italian majors (ie, Duolingo, etc…are good learning platforms) and encouraged me to enroll in an intermediate level class. I did and was really enjoying it until Covid hit and the university went to remote classes. I stopped studying for over a year. I resumed in October 2001 and last week I achieved the Duolingo 2 year streak. I’ve added Memrise as a resource. If I may ask, what resources other than Duolingo do you use?
Just that actually. I can actually read and speak it pretty well. Still getting into more complex sentence structure really is hard. The adjectives jumping before and after nouns fucks with me.
I'm addicted to duo. I know significantly more (spanish) today than I ever did taking the requisite classes in HS & College after less than a year of use.
The Coffeebreak series is better on grammar, but limited to the present tense, which is really all beginners need. I had to buy an Italian Grammar book and it’s been absolutely necessary.
Next 35 days 5 days/4 nights in Vancouver 4 days/3 nights in Seattle 21 days in New Orleans Home with the parents for a week (Thanksgiving) Buenos Aires/begin a Patagonia adventure
If you speak some Spanish you can get by in Italy with English, Spanish nouns, and pointing, in my experience.
Like Lawnole23 mentioned, as a general rule, I would always suggest learning some words and phrases of the local language. Beyond that, I have had good luck with downloading the language on Google Translate and using that when necessary.
Everyone is talking about Duolingo, is it that much better than Rosetta Stone?* *Asking as someone who got a great deal on Rosetta Stone a number of years ago, but haven't used it in a long while.
http://www.villamonteoriolo.com/ You probably have to book it out a little in advance but did a cooking class here today and it was one of the highlights of our trip. About 25 minutes from Florence towards Chianti area. It was 145 eu per person which was comically cheap. Ours was private just me and my wife at this olive oil producing villa. The owner and her daughter run the class and gave you some options on what you prepared. We made fresh ravioli and fettuccine, chicken cacciatore and tiramisu. They tell you what you do, let you do some things but they do the heavy lifting. Wine is poured all throughout. You sit down and have a private lunch with the food you made at the end.
Just did one in Bali and also did one in Cinque Terre. Great way to spend a couple hours on a couples trip
Do you have to book cooking classes way in advance or can you do it last minute? I imagine they fill up somewhat quick.
Kinda wild, Marriott got hacked. Someone booked a night at the AC Hotel in Grand Rapids under my account and added her name as a guest on the reservation. Google the name and what do you know there's a mugshot from two years ago when she was 18 being arrested by the Saginaw tribal police. Just told Marriott, Idk what they're going to do. Assume she's there right now doing god knows what
I had that happen a couple years ago with Hilton. I had over half a million worth of stays booked and my account was hacked. They cancelled all my bookings to get the points back and bought gift cards with them. I noticed immediately because of the booking cancellation emails and called Hilton and they cancelled the orders before they went through completely. It sucked though because the hotels wouldn’t honor the cheaper prices I had booked at previously.
My Hilton got hacked a year or two ago. Somebody booked a room in China. Must’ve been a pretty cheap room because I’ve never stayed at Hiltons frequently enough to accumulate much and Amex fucked me over on a sign up bonus.
My account got hacked as far as I know Edit: I see what you're pointing out, must have been typing fast. Marriott account got hacked
Took me 9 months to get conditionally approved but took my wife about 3 days. She was then able to schedule her interview where I couldn’t find one within the time needed before our trip. I joined her for her interview and luckily the guy did both of us at once.
Just spent 4 days in Malta. Interesting place that's left me with very mixed opinions. If anyone is thinking about going, I'm happy to give more detail! Good: - Valetta (the capital) is a vibe at night. Dining/drinking in the street. Amazing lighting. Live music. Wish I spent more time here in the evenings - Seeing the island(s) by sea was the best part. Amazing sea caves, crazy blue water, etc - Incredible history w/ the oldest buildings in the world, beautiful castles & old fortresses. Bad: - Everything is touristy. Every small town or site is overrun & filled with shitty shops selling crap. Tons of old cruise passengers during the day - Endless construction. Our hotel was brand new & nice but there are two others being built next door so always noise & cranes everywhere. - Traffic is a nightmare - Food is bad for the most part. A few bright spots
Any Amsterdam recs? Heading there for long layover (2 nights) tomorrow. Staying at INK, going to Anne Frank and Van Gogh. Have a cocktail class lined up at Flying Dutchmen. My wife is obsessed with French toast/pancakes and that seems to be a thing there. Been in Italy for almost two weeks so I’m almost content never eating a meal again at this point but open to restaurant recs and would really like to check out some cool breweries. also may rain the whole time so inside breweries are ideal.
Pancakes = https://upstairspannenkoeken.nl/the-menu/ Brewery = https://www.brouwerijhetij.nl/ Dinner = https://cafedeklepel.nl/ https://www.cafeparhasard.nl/ https://rongastrobar.nl/en https://restaurant.lowlander.nl/pages/menu https://hangar.amsterdam/ Food Hall = https://foodhallen.nl/
proeflokaal arensdsnest (i did not check the spelling so good luck) is a great beer bar with seating inside and along canal Winkel 43 for apple cake is the GOAT breakfast food in amsterdam is decent but nothing special. get some kebabs. seafood bar is good, perla pizzeria good although you might have crushed pizza in italy.
Just did 8 days in AMS, it's the best. Probably moving there for a few months next year. Couple food/drink spots I love below EAT Flo's Appetizing and/or Breadwinner - Best bagels in Amsterdam. Flo's has a few locations & is great. Breadwinner is in Jordaan & FUCKS Parakeet - Legit American style nacho & cocktail bar. Great queso Soup En Zo - Easy lunch with multiple locations around Centrum. Soups, Salads, and great bread. Good for cold rainy days Lumbini - Bomb Nepalese / Indian spot right on the Amstel. Seems like bad spot for good food but it was great Dignita Hoftuin - Great coffee/brunch spot. A few locations in the city. Money goes to charity so it's nice story Box Sociaal - Fantastic Breakfast/Lunch spot near the Botanical Gardens. Highly recommend Zero Zero - V good sandwich spot in center of canals Miri Mary - Great indian place that all our Dutch friends love. It's in De Pijp which is a great neighborhood to get away from tourists SORA Sapporo Ramen - Very good Ramen for cold/rainy day D&A Hummus Bistro- Two locations in the city. One of our favorite easy lunch/dinner spots. Amazing hummus, chicken, pita, etc Nnea - Best pizza in the Dam Foodhallen - Massive foodhall with tons of options and lively atmosphere Drink Door 74- One of the best speakeasy cocktail bars in the city. Make a reservation Hiding in Plain Sight - similar
Stay here if you wanna get laid, lol http://www.theviewatthespanishsteps.com/ Train from Rome to Naples, driver from Naples to the coast. You can even find a Pompeo tour guide who will do the whole trip.
Will be in Amsterdam in January. Interested in doing the Gassan diamond factory tour but I don't want them trying to sell me shit at the end like it's some timeshare presentation
We stayed here in October 2018. Fucking seagulls woke us up every morning at 4:30 https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/785282272022753344
Trying to find a "get laid" and "Big 10" joke in response to this post but it's just out of my reach.
When booking through a portal like Chase, and a ticket says “3 fares left” or “3 seats left” under X price, is that legit? Or is it just a scarcity tactic?
Yea. I mean, it's both legit and a scare tactic designed to get you to jump. For a given flight there's dozens of fare buckets and this is just their way of signaling that they are running out of one and moving on to the next (which most of the time means the price is set to increase by some amount)