Me Me Me!

I have three nights before I meet my team in Firenze and two nights after I leave my team in Piombino to plan for Me Me Me! And there are so many options that I'm as overwhelmed as a shoe freak at Nordstrom Rack -- oh wait, I am a shoe freak at Nordstrom Rack. But I digress.

I fly into Milano, so touring there is an option. While it is billed as historically insignificant to other Italian cities, and apparently suffered a good deal of damage during WWII, there is a lot of art there including da Vinci's The Last Supper (thank you Dan Brown, I'll never look at this painting with the same wide-eyed Baptist wonder as I did afore ye). Also, I'm working with a lot of people from Milano on Hello Talk and it might be nice to actually meet some of them face to face. (Or not, as this might actually turn out to be a whole 'worlds collide'  can that is better left unwhooped. Food for thought.)

I could hop a train to a different city between Milano and Firenze -- Parma (ham), Modena (Balsamic vinegar), Bologna (ummm, bologna), Genoa (Christopher Columbus, see 2015).

Or... I could go... to the beach......... Dig, if you will, the picture (in the words of the late great Prince), a good book (in English), soaking in salty water,  under the Mediterranean sun, while sipping a cool adult beverage (or ten).

I made my Me Me Me beginning and ending accommodation bookings, and I think you know me well enough to know what I chose.........

Team Schedule

I started by making a tentative schedule to share with My Team, picking starting and ending and all points in between. I analyzed transportation options, schedules and costs, and tweaked the schedule to minimize travel time and maximize tourist time. And I started scoping out flight options to share.

I went through several iterations of tweaking the schedule -- based on good train connections, availability of good AirBNB bookings close to the train, things to do, diversity of locale. And I ended up with what I believe is a fun, efficient, and comprehensive overview of Tuscany and the central coast.

I added days onto the beginning and end of the group trip for me, myself and I (it is my vacation after all) and I booked a really great flight for myself through Milan.... JFK <> Milano $850. Duh. 

Hello Talk

With the new year my Italian class geared back up after a hiatus.  It took some effort for me to get back into the groove since I'd abandoned my fledgling fluency to the siren call of Google Translate, but with an interesting group of fellow students I fought off the cold black arms of mid-winter blahs and hit the books.

While I initially started my revival di Italiano with DuoLingo, a new app suggested by my luscious classmate Michele -- Hello Talk -- quickly became my go-to study tool.

Here is the premise of Hello Talk. I set up a (free!) profile -- I am an American and English is my first language; I'd like to learn Italian (many languages available!). Based on this bare-minimum amount of data in your profile you are given access to a queue of people who are native Italian speakers who want to learn English. You can build out your profile with more information, age, location, skill level, a little blurb about yourself. And you can search for partners based on several selection criteria -- gender, age, who is online, who has written blurbs about themselves, location, etc.

Then basically you reach out and interact with people. You can do basic texting. You can do voice mails. You can do real time calling -- with excellent fidelity! Peeps will reach out and interact with you. Much like real life, you will determine who you want to interact with based on personality, style, etc. Some folks are more structured and serious, some are more casual. Some participants want to do everything by text, others want to do everything by speaking.

There are built-in reminders that Hello Talk is a language learning site, not a dating site... and there are ways to get rid of stalkers.

Hello Talk is another storefront in the sharing economy. I help you with your English, you help me with my Italian. Perhaps it is a little one-sided in X relationship, with me doing all the teaching... While in Y relationship I'm doing all the learning. All in all, in my interactions I think it evens out. And we each get individual native-speaking tutors.

There are more functions I won't go into, and probably many more I don't even know about... Also, you can upgrade to a paid version for more goodies.

Take it from me, this tool is worth a look-see. Available today at your local App Store. Tell 'em I sent ya!

Italia Here I Come!

So it's that time again, time to rev up the travel engine.

I've gathered a group of like-minded ladies (My Team) for a trip to Italy in 2016, with myself as the leader... my goal is to show them that a trip to Firenze is no different than a trip to New York... an airport is an aeroporto, a train is a treno, a city bus is an autobus, a smile is a smile is a smile .... And people are the same everywhere.....

It's just that some people have waaay more cool stuff in their backyards than we do.

I'm using this trip as a test kitchen, a Beta Test. Could I make a late life career of this type activity? Not really being a tour leader, but teaching people to travel. Teaching people to be 'Travelers'.

It will be an interesting ride.