Travel Tips:
Here are some helpful suggestions as you make your plans

Everyone has some tips to make their travel experience more enjoyable. Here's our travel advice, compiled from various sources including writer Bob Cortright, advisor Carlo Mannucci, Volterra tour guide Annie Adair and publisher Dan Shryock.

What works for you? Please tell us and we'll add your ideas to this page. Here's the best way to pass along your tips.

Planning
Make a list of places you think you can visit in the time you’ve allotted for your vacation and then cut it in half.

Base yourselves in a charming small town and plan to spend at least 2 half-days and 2 to 3 evenings there. This allows you to soak up the local culture in a way you can never experience if you go to a new place each day.

Make a copy of your passport and ticket information. Package your travel information city by city and carry only what you need. The lighter the better.

Money
Do not use travellers checks. They are the most counterfeited form of currency and as a result Italian banks refuse to cash more than 1 or 2 at a time. We know of no store willing to accept them. Use your debit and credit cards at an ATM instead and ask your credit card company about the possibility of getting a credit-card cash advance. You must show them your original passport to do this.

Driving on Autostrada
Yes, Italian drivers are fast but it's not that intimidating if you follow some simple guidelines.

• Stay to the right and watch your mirror. Other drivers will come appear quickly.
• There is slower traffic (primarily trucks). Make your pass as normally would do but make it quickly and get back into the right lane.
• The Autostrada is very convenient but it is a toll road. When you enter the toll booth, push the button and take your ticket.
• When leaving the Autostrada and paying, watch for lanes with the "Cash" icon. Avoid the TELEPASS lane.

Coffee Break on the Autostrada
The Autogrill is an upscale convenince store located throughout the Autostrada. We recommend stopping for an espresso, if not for the caffeine then simply for the experience. If you do, here's a bit of protocol. Follow the Starbucks ordering process - with a twist.

• Tell the cashier what you want to drink and pay. They will give you a receipt.
• You then move down the counter to where the barista is pulling shots of espresso. Horn in to the bar counter, casually holding your receipt up. You usually tell them what you've ordered
  as you hand them the receipt.
• They'll then fill your order while you wait at the bar, and then they make a small tear in the receipt to signify that the order as been filled.  Drink quickly and you are on your way.

Driving Elsewhere

• If you think it will take 60 minutes by car to get from point A to point B by looking at a map, then double or triple this travel time; Tuscany is famous for its hilltowns, and being a hilly-region, the roads are very windy, so travel times are quite long. Luckily the view makes up for it!
• Driving is a full-time job and so is navgating. Let the navigator navigates. Still, expect frustration and mistakes. The navigator has never been here before, either.
• Roundabouts feature many directional signs. (See an example below.) If you cant find the sign you want, simply keep going in a circle until you do. It sounds silly, but it works.
  

Driving into a new town
If you're looking to explore a new town, consider these guidelines:

• Head for Centro or the downtown area. Dirctional signs include a bullseye on all the signs. See the second sign in this example.
  
• Once you are in or near the Centro, look for the P – for parking. If you park at a public parking structure (Siena, for example) take your ticket with you. You will pay at the kiosk before you return to your car. If you park on the street, you'll buy a ticket from a machine up or down the block and put the ticket on your dash.
• Don’t get upset about taking wrong turns. You’ll get to your destination sooner or later! Tuscany’s backroads and hidden lanes are what make the region so enchanting.

Street Signs, Part II
Looking for street signs inside most cities and towns can be a challenge. That's because many street signs are posted on the sides of buildings and not atop posts as American are accustomed. This picture provides an example.

Cooking
If you like to cook, dedicate at least half a day to buying the ingredients for a meal you will prepare yourselves at local butchers, greengrocers, wine merchants, etc. Ask the salespersons about heirloom varieties, their favourite vintages of reasonably priced local wine, the best cuts of meat, etc. You’ll find that people have very strong opinions about these things and lots of advice. It can be an incredible experience that not even an excellent cooking class can give you.

Speaking Italian
Try to speak at least one word of Italian in each conversation you hold with local people. You do not have to speak even rudimentary Italian, but simply showing that you’re trying means so much to Italians.

The Experiences
Take a tour - Even if you are a seasoned, independent traveller, take at least one really good guided tour of a town you visit during your trip. What you learn in one town will be invaluable in helping you "decipher" and read the other towns you will visit on your own. And if your guide is really excellent, he or she will instil you with curiosity and passion about discovering Tuscany.

Cycle Lucca - Lucca is a walled city and the walls are so wide that people take walks and bike rides on top. Rent a bike and circle the walls. It's about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) to complete the circuit. Then get lost wandering the streets with all the locals. It's a great concentration of Italians, sites and few tourists.