Travel Blog

If you live in the United States and plan on traveling internationally and bringing electronics, you need to do some research. Most countries outside of the United States use 220/240 volt electricity. The U.S. uses 110 volt electricity. This may mean that your electronics won’t work in far away places. But, that is not entirely true. Many electronic devices sold today are dual voltage, which means that they will work under 110/120 volts and also 220/240 volts. To determine this, real the label and see the section for input. If it had 220 or 240 volts, then it will work just fine with a plug adapter. If it only has 110 or 120 volts, then you will need a converter.

International Travel Electricity Requirements:

1. Plug Adapters: Bring along plug adapters. They allow your U.S. plug devices to plug into international plugs. Research the countries you are going to, so that you purchase the right adapter. There are a number of good universal plug adapters you can buy that will work for nearly all of the places you could visit. Also it is recommended that your plug adapters have a built-in surge protector. This will protect your electric devices from frying during surges.

2. Electricity Converter (Transformer): This handy little device will convert 220/240 volt electricity to 110/120 volt electricity. This will allow any of your devices that are 110/120 only to work. This will need to be used in conjunction with a plug adapter for the specific country you are in. Get a converter that is powerful enough in watts to support your most power hungry device.

On our European trip, we visited England, France and Italy, and only needed a multi-plug adapter, an Italy plug adapter and a 200 watt electricity converter. This work for all our devices; Portable DVD Player. Laptop Computer, Camcorder Charger, battery charger, hair dryer, electric razor and our Nintendo DS. Out of all those devices, only the battery charger, Nintendo and heating pad required the electricity converter, the rest all had 220 or 240 volt inputs.

I made a little spreadsheet analyzing the devices we were taking to determine our requirements.

Here are a list of the items I bought for our trip.

Italy Plug Adapter at Amazon.com

Samsonite Worldwide Adaptor Plug from Amazon.com

200 WATT Step Down Voltage Transformer 110120volts.com
(They also have smaller and larger watt transformers)

On the fourth port of call on our Mediterranean Cruise, we stopped at the island of Sicily. Sicily is located below Italy in the Mediterranean Sea. Our shipped docked at Messina, Sicily. Messina is a quiet down that closes its doors during the afternoon, this is not good for tourists who are making quick stops and want to maximize their time. So coming to Sicily there are other alternatives; visit the town of Taormina and or go to the top of an active volcano; Mt Etna. We choose to do the latter.

Mt Etna is located about a 2 hour drive from Messina. We took a bus to the base of the volcano, twisting through roads and in and out of villages on the volcano slope. It seems these people live here without fear of a major eruption happening, there have been lava flows in recent times that have wiped out areas of these villages, but the people continue to stay. The bus stopped at about 2000 meters on the slope of the mountain. From there we took a cable car to the next highest point on the volcano, about 2500 meters. The cable car lets you off at a visitor’s center that has little nick-knacks to buy souvenirs and also a restaurant.

From the cable car drop off point, we took a 4X4 Mercedes to the very top of the volcano. The drive was a bit bumpy and took about 20 minutes to reach the top. Taking this ride makes you think you are driving up a mountain on the moon. The landscape is barren and covered with volcanic ash. There seems to be no appearance of life. The jeep finally stops at the top of the mountain, 2900 meters above sea level. From there we took a 25 minute guided tour around one of the craters. The cater has vents that steam rises from out of the center. We also saw smaller steam plumes coming out of rocks along the path. There are some great views looking out from the volcano.

Mt Etna is the largest active volcano in the Europe and one of the most active volcano in the word with eruptions occurring constantly. Despite all of this, there is really very little danger in being at the top of the volcano

If you are really adventurous, you can walk to the top of the volcano from the 2000 meter point, clear up to 2900 meters. This is an intense walk, with no shade and in the heat. Despite those conditions, we saw alot of people walking up. People ranging from around 10 years old, up to 50 or 60.

The experience of climbing an active volcano is not one to be missed. I would recommend this to anyone, and if you have walking problems, just taking the cable cars and Mercedes is a great way to get there.

During our Mediterranean Cruise, we stop at Naples as a port of call. The cruise line offered a tour that allowed you to go to the top of Mt Vesuvius (webcam). The mouth of the crater is at about 3000 feet. A bus takes you up the side of the mountain to a trail. From there you need to walk up about 1000 feet to reach the top. This is a strenuous walk and it was pretty hot the day we went up. The trail is dusty and it took us about 45 minutes to walk up, but once we got to the top it was well worth it. There are panoramic views of Naples and the bay. You can also view Pompeii from one side of the crater. From the top, you can peer down into the crater of the volcano, it is quite a view.

Our tour also included a trip to Pompeii. Pompeii was buried in rock and ash in 79 AD from an eruption of Mt Vesuvius. The city was discovered in 1748 and has since been excavated. Pompeii appears as a city frozen in time. You can see the layout of the city, from the baker’s ovens to the shops and forum. Pompeii is a big tourist attraction, there were quite a few people visiting the site when we were there. Pompii is definitely a stop to visit on a trip to the Naples area. Looking at all of the buildings and streets gives a good sense of history. You can see how the cobblestone streets were designed, allowing carts to pass through as well as used to draining water during rain storms. Inside of the buildings, you can see how the living quarters were and even writings and depictions could be seen on the walls. From the forum in the city, you can see a view of the volcano, and only image what it would have been like seeing it erupt and having no place to run to.

Overall, I would recommend visiting this historic city and the volcano that destroyed it. It is an experience not to miss.

Michael

We planned on going on a cruise of the Mediterranean. Our cruise was for 12 days and left out of Civitavecchia, which is near Rome. We were planning on staying in Rome a few days before the cruise and a few days after, so we needed to find transportation to and from the port which is about 1 1/2 to 2 hours away. There are a number of options, some better then others.

Taxi
A Taxi is one of the more expensive options, it will cost around 150 euros for two people and luggage. They will take you right up to the pier and drop you off. On returning to Rome, there are no taxi’s waiting around to shuttle people, you need to call and have one come for you to get a ride. I would suggest taking a taxi as the least viable option as a transfer method.

Ranked: Worst Method of Transfer

Train
There is a train that runs from the Termini station in the center of Rome to the port at Civitavecchia. The train costs about 9 euros one way. This is a very affordable way to get to the port. The problem with taking a train is that you have to haul all your luggage on and off the train and haul it from the train station to the port. There are shuttles that are offered from the train station to the port. As it could be a fairly lengthy walk with your luggage. This is a good option to choose if you are not planning on bringing much luggage on your cruise.

Ranked: Most Affordable Method of Travel

Private Shuttle
There are an abundance of private shuttles that are available to transfer you from your hotel in Rome to the pier. Searching on google, will bring up a number of options. We used one called RomeCabs. We choose them after much research on the Internet and reading alot of people’s comments on their services. Everyone had good things to say about them. They arrived on time to pick us up at our hotel and drove us to the port in a luxury Mercedes car with an English speaking driver. The trip was very comfortable and made the process simple. It cost 125 euros each way. Which I think was well worth the expense. We confirmed our reservation before we left home via email with the owner, who was very helpful in answering all of our questions.

Ranked: Most Comfortable Method of Travel

Cruise Supplied Shuttle
Another option is to use a shuttle supplied by the cruise ship. This is a good option if they provide a convenient pick up location for you in Rome. We went on a Carnival Cruise and they only offered pickup in two places in the city and not time could be reserved for pickup. This is an good, safe option, knowing that the shuttle will be there to get you. You also get the convenience of the making the reservation through the cruise line and they handle all of the arrangements.

Ranked: Most Convenient Method of Travel.

In conclusion, if you are looking for affordable transportation and have little luggage, the train may be the way to go. But my suggestion is to make it easy on yourself and rent a private shuttle and let them do all the work.

Safe Travels
Michael

When we decided to go from Paris to Rome, we looked into a number of options, flying, driving or by train. We choose to take the Artesia night train leaving from Bercy Train Station in Paris. The Artesia train trip is 14 hrs and 30 mins long and leaves in the evening and arrives in Rome in the morning. It was a great way to get to Italy. It cost us $260 per person for a 1st class sleeper compartment of our own.

The room consisted of a sink, pull out beds, and plenty of space to store our luggage. The room had electric outlets, which allows you to use a laptop or watch a portable DVD player or anything else you may have with you that requires electricity. The plus with Italian style, so make sure you bring a plug adapter. There was an attendant that looked over the travellers on the train car. At bedtime, he would come and put the beds down and make the room ready to sleep and make the room back up in the morning. The train had a dining car that offered a sit down dinner or breakfast for an additional cost. There was also a snack counter that provided drinks, croissants, snacks and numerous other things to eat. Sleeping on the train was fairly comfortable, considering the small size of the compartments. The train moved fair smooth along the tracks, with minimal shaking or jogging.

One drawback to the trip is that most of the ride is during the night which doesn’t allow alot of time to see the countryside. But during daylight hours, it is nice to watch the views as the train travels along. One thing that there is alot of on the trip are tunnels. There must be alot of hills and mountains that the train needs to navigate on its way to Rome. If you plan on getting to Rome at a specific time, you may want to try alternate routes. Our train arrived at Rome 2 hours later then it was scheduled to and from what I can tell it is normal for the train to not arrive on time., but if you are not in a hurry to get to Rome, it is a great way to travel from Paris.