Florence - Pisa & The mall outlet

Day trip to Pisa:

We first walked to the train station, and there was this big board displaying the train schedules, yet the ticket machine was confusing.  There were several stations in Pisa and we weren't sure which station to get off at.  We finally got someone to ask about it.  So we took the regional train from firenze to Pisa Central.  There was no need to pre-book the tickets, you could just buy it at the train station.  The trains came quite frequently; it was about 7 Euro per person, one way.  The regional train sucks, there was no AC and it stunk.  The ride was LONG cuz the train was quite slow.  It was more than 1 hour (you can almost reach Rome within 2 hours with the high speed train).  There was no one checking the validity of our tickets on our way to Pisa Centrale.

very small station…half an hour walk to the leaning tower... 

We weren't sure where to get off, once we saw the sign "Pisa", we basically just followed the crowd.  We walked to the map and figured our way to the leaning tower.  The map looked simple and the tower didn't look that far away; so we just walked.  It was kinda too hot and sunny to walk there, it was a nice and quiet walk.  It took us approximately half an hour to walk there.

So I would recommend you to walk to the leaning tower and then bus back…bus ride was only 10 minutes.. The fare was only 1,50 - 2 Euro.

We saw some abandoned ruins on our way there

Duomo 

Famous Leaning tower…..I guess it doesn't look that leaning in this photo

 ok..One check off the checklist, I don't think I would come back again……

So after our lunch at mcdonald, we took a bus (10 minutes ride) back to the train station.  We didn't check the schedule this time, and we just hopped on to the earliest train that could get us back to Florence.  As the train came, yes, we just hopped on and we forgot to buy tickets……oh on….so this time, there was someone who came to check tickets, and we didn't have tickets.  She asked us to buy the train tickets from her.  Alright.  24 Euro for two people, not bad!!! Then later I looked at the receipt, she charged us 10 Euro for penalty (5 Euro per person).  Honestly, that was quite cheap for penalizing someone who didn't pay for the train fare, (not that I encouraged it), but i rather pay the extra fee than missing the train.

Anyway, this time the train took even LONGER to get back to Florence.  Different trains stop at different stations, though the longer it took.  It was almost 1.5 hour….

Mall Outlet: Prada, Miu miu, other high end Italian brands outlet:

So Pisa and the outlet are very far from each other.  Once we got off the train from pisa, we needed to take this shuttle bus to the Outlet.  It took us a long time to locate this bus station around the train station area.  It was quite hidden, and nobody was able to give you the direction.

The shuttle comes every hour, we were running back and forth to look for the station because we didn't want to miss it.  The outlet closes at 7, while we were trying to catch the 4pm bus.  After half an hour of searching, we could finally find it.  The round trip costed 10 Euro per person.  The ride was approximately one hour, it was seriously out of no where.

But it worth the trip if you love brand names products, their Prada stuff were quite cheap compared to retail prices  A regular Prada wallet (Long one), retail price is 350 Euro, it was 220 Euro.  Purse that was 1200 Euro in retail price, it was 450 Euro there.  So if you love shopping, you might not want to miss it.  Again, this is an outlet, so you might not get the popular stuff that you see at the retail stores.

Tax return:
You can file the tax return there, please do it because you get almost 11% back.  There's a tax return office there.  Line up and DO IT.

Last bus back to the city:
one bus leaves at 7, one bus leaves at 7:30pm.  Make sure you don't miss the last bus, cabbing back would be very $$$.

Note:
It took us a whole day to go to Pisa and the outlet.  So much commute, it was worth it though :)  Do some research if you want to go to the outlet, because there are more other outlets as well.

Travelling in Italy by Train: Tips

Venice -> Florence, Venezia -> Firenze

Trains within Italy:

Travelling in Italy by train is so simple and efficient.  It took me a while to figure out how to buy train tickets online via www.trenitlia.com.  I didn't know how to use their code and to pick the main train station.  But after I figured out how to use it, it's the most hassle free transportation within Europe.  

I booked my tickets about two months ahead via the trenitalia website.  It was only 58 Euro for two people (one way) first class tickets.  First class tickets was only 10 Euro more than the second class.  It so worth the experience and the comfort level was awesome.  You got to book early tho, if you buy the tickets at the train station on that day, the ticket price is almost double.  

Tips for traveling by train within Italy:

Rail pass vs Individual train tickets?

- if you have a well planned schedule, it's better off to buy the tickets online individually instead of buying the rail pass

- a lot of websites will sell you the rail pass/Euro pass, I personally think it might be flexible, but it is more expensive and it is not as flexible as you think.  If the train's first class is full, you might not able to get the seats you want.  I like to book my seats ahead of time

- if you like to do day trips (round trips within Italy), I guess you might prefer a 3-days pass more.  For example, you booked a week of hotel in Rome, and you just want to go to Florence for a day?  Then a rail pass might be better for you

Trenitalia:
I bought my tickets via www.treniatlia.com.  I searched all the cheapest time slot available.  Service between major cities is frequent, and the trains usually arrive on time.  It is super convenient to search and book the tickets online.  You can book the tickets 3 months ahead.

Super Econ Tickets:
I had a fixed schedule, so I just got the super econ tickets as it's the cheapest.  There is no flexibility to refund or exchange the super econ tickets.  Again, First class tickets are only 10 Euro more than the others, why not?  I think it was a decent experience.

For example: (First class train tickets):
Super Econ: 58 Euro (for two).....Econ: 90 Euro (for two)....Base: 125 Euro (for two)

First class: Florence to Rome (Firenze to Roma)

I love taking the trains, very scenic :)

Main Train stations you need to know:

Venice - Venezia (Santa Lucia)

Florence - Firenze (Santa Maria Novella)

Rome - Roma (Stazione Termini)

***seat61 - a very useful website to explore and learn about the train systems around the world

Venice -> Florence

Goodbye Venice:

I booked our train tickets online, and the train was scheduled to leave at 8:40am.  I purposely booked that time because I wanted to have a nice full "included" breakfast at hotel before we leave.  That way we can save money for food later on.  The hotel's breakfast doesn't open until 7:30am.  So we pretty much waited to have breakfast right at 7:30am.  After a nice breakfast buffet, we walked to the boat station to take the #1 Vaporetto Boat to the train station.

Venice's main transportation -  Vaporetto ACTV

It took me a while to figure out how to use the ticket machine, I even went to ask a local how to buy tickets.  The local said it seems like the machine didn't work.  When the boat came, I still couldn't buy the tickets, so I asked the local lady to help translating our situation to the staff.  We got on to the boat anyway, and the staff said he couldn't take the money and he just closed the gate.  The boat started moving, so we got a free ride to the train station: Venezia Santa Lucia

Venice's main train station: Venice Santa Lucia

The train station was only 3 minutes walk from the Line 1 boat station.

Best search engine for airfares:

 Kayak.com is my favourite online search engine for airfares.  I like to use their "Make my date flexible" option.  There are three options:

1) +/- 3 days: If I have a specific time that I want to book my tickets, this would be the perfect option.  It gives you a chart of the cheapest deal like:

Fares shown are the best available matching your filter selections.  

Return → ↓ Depart	Fri 10/1	Sat 11/1	Sun 12/1	Mon 13/1	Tue 14/1	Wed 15/1	Thu 16/1
Wed 4/12	$1387	$1387	$1467	$1387	$1217	$1217	$1102
Thu 5/12	$1404	$1404	$1484	$1404	$1234	$1234	$1119
Fri 6/12	$1404	$1404	$1484	$1404	$1234	$1234	$1119
Sat 7/12	$1404	$1404	$1484	$1404	$1234	$1234	$1119
Sun 8/12	$1387	$1387	$1467	$1387	$1217	$1217	$1102
Mon 9/12	$1387	$1387	$1467	$1387	$1217	$1217	$1102
Tue 10/12	$1387	$1387	$1467	$1387	$1217	$1217	$1102

2). Weekends: flexibility of cheap fares around the weekends

3). Flex month:  My favourite option that I can view when would be the lowest season throughout the month. 

*Kayak is also good about setting up the Price Alert.  When I want to book a flight ticket on a specific time, it will send me email (daily or weekly) on the prices.  So once it dropped, I can book the tickets right away.  

It also has Price trend feature:

Price Trend

Advice: Wait

Confidence: 61%

Prices may fall within 7 days

Prices may fall within 7 days

61% Confidence: Our model has been 61% accurate on forecasting whether fares for flights between these cities will fall $21 or more from the current price over the next 7 days. The forecast is based on analysis of historical price changes and is not a guarantee of future results.

or

Price Trend

Advice: Buy

Confidence: 70%

Prices may rise within 7 days

It has no guarantee on the price will drop, but I found it quite accurate and useful so far.  

BUT: I don't use kayak.com to book my tickets, because I read a lot of negative reviews on this web tool.  It is an awesome search engine when you have the flexibility.  It covers most of the airlines available, yet sometimes I found some of their fares don't exist on other websites.  Sometimes when I compare results from kayak.com and other websites, the flight number is the same but the schedule times are different from the original airline site.  Quite a number of people complained about their poor customer service and that they would charge their credit cards, but sent back an email saying the deals were no longer valid.  

So I usually book my tickets through Expedia.ca:

I had been booking through expedia.ca for years and I have no problem with their booking system.  I booked my hotels and flights through expedia and my credit card actually gives me extra points from booking through there.  That makes expedia my top choice to book my hotels and airfares from.

Hope my tips are useful :)

Venice - Arrival

Venice - First day:

Once we arrived at the airport, the wait for the luggages was pretty quick.  I researched for several commute options to our hotel.  We could get there by bus, water taxi or by boat.  I originally picked the bus one.  I went to the information centre to ask for directions to our hotel, and the counter person told me it was best to go by boat.  Why? Because if we took the bus, we eventually had to take the boat anyway, so why not just take the boat from the beginning? Right, points taken.  So we bought the boat tickets for 15 Euro each.  We walked to the port, but we didn't know which boat to get on and which station we needed to get off from.  One of the staff searched it online for us and told us to get off at the second station.  I was surprised I couldn't find any map on the way, I probably missed it somewhere.

So we got on to the bus, and everyone had a map out.  I had nothing.  So basically we just knew we had to get off at the second stop and then we had to figure our way to the hotel in Venice.  For those of you who had been to Venice.......You would understand the frustration.

We passed by the Murano, the island that is well known for their glass making.  We weren't interested after glancing at the island.  Once we got off the boat.... The streets were empty.  There was nobody to ask.  There were only a few tourists looking for directions.  We walked back and forth to see if there's any big direction map.  NOPE.

very Vintage and quiet...super dead

Hey, here! We found a local:

Meow~

We were so lost, we didn't know where we were.  I had no choice but taking out my iPhone and google map where we were and searched for the walking distance to the hotel.  ROAMING DATA.  We searched a couple of times and figured we were only 5 minutes walk from our hotel.  1.4MB of data costed me $47 canadian dollars - a 5 seconds click........

We had to carry our luggages to cross two bridges...there were no bikes nor cars (so make sure you pack light)

Near our hotel, super quiet

There we were! After all the frustration, we finally found our hotel!

We were looking for some big hotel signage.  It was hard to find in the beginning.  Good that we had the street number.  I guess they would to keep the vintage look of the island.  The whole island looked very vintage.  There were hardly any locals walking in the streets.  A lot of the buildings looked empty.   It was quite quiet.  We read that those from most tour groups and cruises don't stay overnights on the Venice island, that's why it was so quiet at night in Venice.  

Once we checked in, we got the gift from heaven (free):

gift from HEAVEN!

Moral of the day: MUST GET A MAP IN VENICE

Paris - Au Revoir!! Paris --> Venice

This was a nice area for me to chill at the airport....catching up some sleep :)

Paris -> Venice:
I did quite a bit of research on getting to Venice from Paris.  There are trains available, yet it would take over 9 hours to reach Venice!  And it's not even that cheap.  Getting around Europe (depends of course) is better off with taking budget flights like Easyjet or Ryan Air.  However, Eurostar would be best to travel from London to Paris.  Anyway, I researched that EasyJet usually has better time and better airport locations.  You do want to check out where they land, because sometimes the airport could be very far away from the city and it would cost you time and money just to get to your hotel!

Easy Jet
We took the EasyJet, the budget flight.  You should book as early as possible, once you know your schedule, you should start booking the tickets.  You'll save a lot!  I bought my flight tickets for probably $75 each or less (one way) - which is not super cheap.  There was no seats arrangement...so it's very similar to the Allegiant Airline in the States.  There was no delay, the flight was ok comfortable.  Just that there was this lady who kept walking in and out her seat which was a little annoying.  Our flight was a little less than two hours only.  And ....

OUR NEXT STATION is.....VENICE! :D

Paris - My rant for Paris - Part 1

Metro staff:

     

To end our first day in Paris, we were leaving from the Arc de Triomph, we walked to the metro station nearby.  We didn't know which line we should take to get back to our hotel's station.  We approached the metro counter for help.."Bonjour, Excuse moi?".  The staff was so rude, we asked nicely how to get to this station of "Jacques Bonsergent", and she replied....

"This station is too small, I don't know".  We looked at her, huh? Then she turned away to her other colleague who was about to leave.  So they goodbye hug, goodbye kissed, goodbye chat, she was totally ignoring we were still standing there, waiting for her help.  We continued staring at her, then she finally asked the other colleague: 

"do you know where this station is?"  

he said: "psh......I dunno?!"

We were like...okay.....can we at least get the metro map?

She was like..."Oh....Ok..you know what? it's your lucky day.  This is what I will do, I will give you this map. And u read. Ok?"

Wow, Thanks a lot!  It's like we were begging her to get the free metro map and she was being absolutely useless for doing her job.  I'm sorry.  I interrupted you doing nothing at work.  

Anyway, we ended up getting lost and got off from a big station which turned out to be very ghetto with drunken people puking around.  We called taxi and the taxi driver just dumped us somewhere far from the hotel.  It was raining like crazy, and we were walking in the crazy rain, it was so dark and the Paris Map was kind of confusing as it doesn't give the direction of North and South.  So we had to trial and error until we found the right direction.

We were dead tired by the time we got back to the hotel.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Love-Hate relationship with Paris:

To be honest, I was looking forward to Paris, but it was disappointing for the people we met during our stay.  I was disappointed and thought Paris was overrated.  The place was so dirty and the metro was old and gloss.  How the heck you could have huge holes in the wall and no one fixes it?  There were rats running around the Eiffel tower as they were having a rats parade.  I didn't understand why the French could be so snobby as sometimes I wonder what are they so proud of?  

Yet, Paris is a very beautiful city, and I do love their architecture, the streets, the food and their rich history.  I used to idolize Napoleon in high school as I think he was an amazing leader.  I just think it's like a love-hate relationship between Paris and me.  I do not blow up on strangers easily until I went to Paris (will talk about it later).  

I didn't enjoy my stay in Paris as much as I expected, I do wish to go back again though.  I don't know why, love-hate relationship :)  I wrote so many posts about Paris, and you think I really hate Paris?  

**Ranting about Paris?........ to be continued :p

Paris - Pedicab along the Champs Elysees

Pedicab from Pont Alexandre III (the bridge):

After the walking tour, my feet hurt so bad that I could barely walk.  We wanted to visit the Arc de Triomphe, and we saw these types of Pedicab riding around the street.  So we went to ask this pretty cute guy how much would it be to ride to the Arc de Triomphe.  It wasn't that far, it was about a 15 minutes ride for 20 Euros.  Oh well, we might as well spend the money for the experience :)

We were riding quite close to the other cars.  It was a refreshing ride, yet in a way it did feel a little scary that I could almost touch the other car by reaching my arm out.  The cab rider kept doing shoulder checks, giving hand signals and ringing the bell to merge in and out.  It was about 6 pm, rush hour, there were lots of car but the traffic seem pretty peaceful. 

Avenue des Champs-Élysées:
Here!! We are almost there! to the Arc de Triomph! This is the Avenue des Champs-Elysees, one of the most famous street with its cinemas, cafes, luxury specialty shops - one of the most expensive strips of real estate in the world. 

Paris - River cruise options

Many people suggested to take the River cruise along the Seine River for sight seeing

There were some options of the boat tours/cruise tours along the Seine River:

1). Bateaux Mouches  

     1 hour boat ride for €12,5.  They also offer lunch and dinner cruise.

     www.bateaux-mouches.fr

2). Batobus
     Batobus takes you to the heart of Paris to reach 8 stops of the popular attractions.  Basically it's a hop on hop off boat ride, some people do complain it's too slow or too crowded.  I think it would be a good option if you don't want to walk that much and still able to experience the different perspective of Paris.

€15 for 1 day pass, €18 for a 2 day pass

We ended our walking tour at the Pont Alexandre III:

The Pont Alexandre III is an arch bridge that spans the Seine, connecting the Champs-Élysées quarter and the Invalides and Eiffel Tower quarter, widely regarded as the most ornate, extravagant bridge in Paris. Wikipedia

Finally, first day of Paris...we finally saw the Eiffel tower by the end of the tour