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I got along fine in Italy, with a little determination and hard work. I had no luck finding a legitimate job through the normal channels, so I looked up some websites on being an Au pair. I think it was www.eaupair.com that I went through. It's a cheap way to search for a family with specific criteria, based upon profiles. You have to do your own background searching, but hey- it was cheap! I found a nice American family that had moved to Italy permenantly, who was looking for an au pair. The pay wasn't great, but I had a free place to stay and work in downtown Milan for June & July, and then had enough money by then to backpack the rest of Italy during all of August.
I was able to visit nearly every region (with the exception of Sicilia and Sardegna). I travelled mostly to small, non-touristy cities and towns. Since I spoke the language, it really wasn't a problem. I found that people were extremely responsive to me for that. I was travelling alone most of the time, and people were extremely outgoing and friendly. I never really felt in any sort of danger, but I made sure to be street smart. I used Rick Steve's Guide to Italy extensively for information on different cities and travel advice. He has some great suggestions and tips, even for the backpacker.
I stayed in Hostels most of the time, and I travelled exclusively by train and bus. I highly recommend that people take advantage of the Carta Verde- a discount card for people under 26, which gets you a discount off all train tickets within Italy. It costs like $30, but can really save you a bundle if you are doing a lot of train hopping. I found most of my hostels through a couple of sites: www.hostelz.com and www.hostelworld.com. They have good search engines, good details and pictures, and often have traveller's reviews and ratings.
I ran into a bit of a challenge from August 15th to the 18th, with the St. Augusto holiday. It appears that everything shuts down randomly that week. I wound up stranded twice, but by luck found a couple of families who were eager to help me out each time. Internet cafes are everywhere, providing easy access to finding cheap accomodations on the fly. Additionally, I found that Italy's train system has a website with interactive online schedules, which make it easy to find exact times and routes before you go. You can even purchase tickets online supposedly, but I never did. The website is www.trenitalia.it There is a button on the top right to view everything in english. If I had known about this, I could have planned everything out before I had even left the states. But live and learn... I'm usually a very methodical person, so a little flying by the seat of my pants did me some good. I couldn't have dreamed of a better experience in Italy- it changed my life.
-Elysabeth
Editor - Thanks Elysabeth for sharing your experiences. If you have something to share on your experiences in Italy please email us - italy@backpackglobe.com |
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