Italy Trip 2023: Practical Observations

 For our trip to Italy in September 2023, I decided not to blog with a detailed account of the trip.  Instead, I'm making these practical observations.

• As reported earlier, we found a deal to get a Business Class award out of Montreal.  For airport security, instead of the TSA Pre-Check that we usually get in the U.S., our NEXUS cards got us to the Trusted Traveler checkpoint.  The problem was in finding where to go.

 

The checkpoint under the pink here covers Canada and International (non-U.S.) departures.  After checking in in the lower left part of the gray area, we went back and turned right, and were quickly in a long line.  We found out that to get to the NEXUS checkpoint, we should have stayed towards the front of the terminal and then gone towards the back; when we eventually got to the right place, the NEXUS checkpoint had no wait and went quickly, a great benefit of having NEXUS at $50 for five years, one person's fee reimbursed by a credit card that we have.

• A nice air trip going on KLM via Amsterdam in Business Class.  There was a small worry about the reports out there that countries in Europe require six months validity on U.S. passports, when Margaret had less than that.  We went by the official Timatic data that it was enough that she had over three months from the booked return date, and were not given any problem.  They had in their records that the arrival of the overnight flight and the Amsterdam-Rome segment were on my birthday, and flight attendants hand-wrote cards for both segments.  For the latter segment, from a gate in the D80s, from where the gate is marked one goes down to a waiting area that had standing room only for our slightly delayed flight.
• Through Wise, I got a  bank account in euros, starting it when the exchange rate looked favorable, and it's handy for bills involving the house in Italy.  I also paid to get a debit/ATM card, and the benefits of that are less clear: I should have looked over the terms before the trip.  My first attempts at ATM withdrawals were declined, and I found that the default was to have a withdrawal limit of 250 USD; after these refusals, I was able to increase the limit through the site.  I also needed to see what the limits were before they charged for ATM withdrawals; the navigation is confusing, but it comes to: 
  

  You can make 2 free withdrawals up to a total of 100 USD each month. After that, you’ll pay 1.50 USD per withdrawal.

  There's also a 2% fee on anything you take out over 100 USD.

  It's good if I converted dollars to euros within the account when the exchange rate was favorable, but otherwise these fees cancel out much of the benefit.  Overall, it might be best to use my Capital One account, which converts the EUR withdrawal to USD at the interbank exchange rate of the date of the withdrawal.  The Unicredit bank closest to our house in Umbertide adds a charge of 5 EUR, but the Monte dei Paschi farther away doesn't have a fee.
  

• We got to Umbertide and mostly stayed in and around our house, not much sightseeing, and it was a very satisfying trip.  I noted that one can't rely on Internet information or what's posted at the restaurant entrance for when a restaurant will be open, and also that a spacious restaurant could be fully booked for a wedding.  Much of this can also happen close to home in the U.S.  It was best to call or use WhatsApp to see if we could dine somewhere.
• We returned our rental car at Orvieto, the train we got to Rome was slightly delayed, and when we reached Orte, they announced that the continuation of our train was cancelled; we needed to go to another platform to get to a train going to Rome at that time.  This was a first for me.
• After our return flight to Montreal (nice enough in Premium Economy), we spent the night at the Holiday Inn where we'd parked.  As we were getting ready to leave, I saw that the street in front of the hotel was one-way, and we couldn't leave by retracing the route by which we came.  I thought I'd just turn on Waze navigation for the return,  but it was unreliable to get the sound through the car's speaker.  Missing the prompts, we had a terrible time going through jammed traffic to find the right way home.  I should have looked at directions first, which would have been straightforward.