You're Going Where, Exactly?

It's been a lifelong dream of mine to travel to Italy, and more specifically, Tuscany. I always thought it'd be the destination I'd choose for my honeymoon, but considering Mr. Man hasn't presented himself yet, I'm going there with my dear friend, Megan.

We've traveled together many times, and it's always seemed to be a nice match, so I don't anticipate any problems. Being able to tell someone, "You're aggrevating me, go away!" has its charms. And we have no problem saying or accepting that, so yeah.

I started researching Italy in 2004 by reading just about anything I could get my hands on -- from professional guidebooks to novels with Italy as a backdrop to travel websites. The book that convinced me that I had to make the journey is "Too Much Tuscan Sun: Confessions of a Chianti Tour Guide" by Dario Castagno. It's filled with stories about tourists who pay this guy, Dario, to take them around Tuscany. Some of the stories are funny, others are sad, but the point is that through Dario's adventures, the reader learns the little nuances of Tuscany.

I'm not sure exactly when or why, but over the past few years, I've developed a love of cooking. Part of me thinks it happened when I began researching Italy. You can't find a book, magazine or website that talks about Italy without talking about the food. It's everywhere! Not that I cook Italian food exclusively, but I would have no idea what the difference between farfalle and fusilli was if I didn't read about it while researching Italy. It is my sincere hope that when I'm in the heart of Tuscany, I can take a cooking class taught by real Italian chefs.

After deciding that I was ready to trot across the globe, I started looking at what the people who'd already been there had to say. After all, writers and editors of guidebooks get paid for what they report. I wanted the cold, hard facts from people like me who yearn to plan a trip of a lifetime by themselves with just some friendly advice from other travelers. My primary source remains the wonderful "Talk" section of Fodor's. There's this guy, Ira, who posted several long trip reviews of his time in Italy. In fact, he's the one who introduced me to B & B Peterson, which is where we'll stay in Florence. Not only did I read hotel reviews on this site, but I also got restaurant recommendations, packing tips and a better understanding of what it means to be an American in Italy. There are two other websites that proved incredibly helpful: Venere and Trip Advisor. The reason I like both of these sites is because they provide customer reviews, star rating, price and other options all on the same page. I had to do a ton of web research, but no other sites topped the three listed above, but there was *one* that proved incredibly useful: XE Universal Currency Converter. Just like I can't think in another language, I sure as hell can't convert Euros to dollars in my head. I bookmarked this site long ago and visit it almost daily.

The most difficult part of planning a trip like this, which again, I consider the trip of a lifetime, is keeping to a budget. It's especially hard considering what the dollar is worth in Europe right now. I couldn't have picked a worse time to visit! Nevertheless, I tried my best to make economical decisions, especially when it came to hotels. I'll talk more about budgeting in a later post. For now, let's move on to the second half of the title of my blog: Scotland.