We are driving down to Puglia to arrive by Easter and want to stop off to see Venice. We have just lost our dog and thought we would make the most of the journey as I don't think it will be long before we get another.
I keep coming back to the community and trying again but I have no idea how to 'post'. I try to reply to things but although I can type in my message I can't work out how to 'send' it. I was an avid reader of the previous forum but cannot get my
We have had a trullo just outside Ostuni for over eight years. We love it but we are a semi-retired couple. Over the years we have seen a lot of families from the UK be a bit disappointed with their Italian dream. The education system seems to be very rigid, with little time given to physical sports or creativitiy. Also you may imagine a lovely outdoors lifestyle for your children. Unfortunately, Italian parents are very over-protective and it is very rare to see children playing outside at all.A town property would probably help your children integrate more easily as they can feel very isolated in a country property and you would find you were a permanent taxi service.The winter over here can also be quite difficult depending on the property but most properties are not insulated and have insufficient heating - it can be very cold and damp. The dampness is the main problem. Energy costs can be very high and the reason many properties are so cheap is that they can only be lived in in the summer. Having building work done is very costly.There are many considerations but renting before you burn your boats and sell up in the UK would give you a good idea of whether you wanted to permanently relocate. A year out for children of most ages is beneficial and it would give you an idea of location, town or country, etc.Making a living over here can be difficult, some manage it but it can be very hard work and take a long time to get established. If you can continue working over the internet you should be alright.Sorry not to be more encouraging but would prefer to be honest. Good luck with your new adventure and hope it all works out..
We always use your route through Switzerland Alan and have never had a problem with the dog. Even when they have asked to look in the car, they have just ignored the dog and asked about other things. Getting back into the UK we always use the ferry from Calais and have only once had any problem. Usually they are checking the paperwork while we swipe the chip with their machine and it only takes a couple of minutes - all done at the normal checkin queue. However, when travelling on his own my husband once had a problem because the vet had signed a line below the stamp and not next door to it. They had to get approval, and then forgot my husband and dog! It delayed them but not beyond their 'window'. Our vet always asks what time and date he wants us to put on the passport. He thinks the whole thing is a complete farce and will do whatever we want. However, because it is postdated it means we can't get a proper invoice! Last autumn we brought our new dog back to the UK for the first time (we got him in Italy). He was about 9 months - choc lab sourced from this site! He coped with the journey (24 hours) to the port and the crossing (2 hours) with no problem at all, just took it all in his stride - we are very proud of him. Hope you have years of happiness with your dog going to and from Italy. If you are in an area prone to ticks we found that a Scaliber collar is the best way to control them on our dog. These are easy to get on the internet in the UK.
Forgot to add that driving straight through is the cheapest way. As we have a dog we drive straight down to puglia in one swoop from Surrey - less than 24 hours from Calais, two drivers, swapping and stopping as necessary. We actually find it less tiring than taking just a stop over in a hotel. We find we can do as we have our own place, know what we are coming to and can just flop and sleep as soon as we get here. If you are only going to Tuscany its a doddle!
Afraid I agree with Bunterboy. We love camping but do it because we like to camp rather than stay in a cheap hotel. However, frequently an F1 works out cheaper. Camping, particularly with a large tent takes up an awful lot of time just living. If you want to camp get a cheap hike tent that can be put up and down instantly (our's puts itself up virtually) and limit all the gear - you don't need it - imagine unpacking and packing the car each time - its virtually a day's job in itself. How many of you travelling - we find flying much cheaper - we have decided to bring one car down at Easter and leave it here until after the olive harvest. Cheaper to fly back and forth inbetween. Sorry to be a wet blanket - but you may find you get the camping bug.
I think if your commune hasn't changed its system you will not understand the problem. We now have to drive 8km to a commune that has public bins. Our two local ones do not - they give individual collection bins for general rubbish, recycling and umido but only in the town. If you are in the country it is now a big problem. Whereas it used to be easy to get rid of rubbish it is now a military style operation. I have even changed where I shop so I can get rid of rubbish without wasting too many miles.
Thanks - really interesting - any idea if they take dogs? would be a lovely place to stop en route for a couple of nights with the dog. They must have kennels that the St. Bernards went in. Remember seeing a documentary about it. My other half also has an affair with TT girl so she is definitely the unfaithful type. Am sure she is trying to do away with me by suggesting some tortuous routes, particularly over the alps! Not sure she has much longer, one of us has to go!
Sorry for not coming back earlier. Now in Uk and internet connection good enough for me to sort out my login which I always forget! We stayed in the Al Casson and it was excellent. Ideally suited for our purposes, close to the station and the centre of Padua. We were incredibly lucky that we got that heatwave at the end of March so Venice was spectacular. It was also so cheap! Train from Padua into Venice was only 3.50 euros single. You come out of the station and there are wide steps down to the Grand Canal - spectacular, we didn't actually need to move from there the view was so wonderful. Although we did use the water bus, we didn't actually need to so we didn't need to spend another euro. We had the odd snack and coffee but they weren't extortionate. Even my husband was impressed! He had been over forty years ago and it has taken me this long to get him back - he hated it so much at the time because of the smell he said - we had no smell. Would thoroughly recommend a stopover in Padua to see Venice. We found that we were exhausted and actually got the train back and ate our evening meal in the centre of Padua - we needed the rest on the train to have the energy to find somewhere to eat! Padua centre itself was wonderful also. We only spent two nights at the hotel and feel we got the flavour of both Venice and Padua. Of course if you want to do the museums and galleries you need longer, but we just sauntered around which was great. Hotel garage was just the ticket too - no security issues at all. Thanks for the recommendation - that is what this site is great for.
Thanks for your reply - have replied. However, we didn't receive email notification of your reply so don't know if we have the settings wrong on here or not - very easy to miss a message. Even I you go into messages as it is a reply to my message it doesn't show up unless I open up my original message! Very confusing.
Comments posted
We have had a trullo just outside Ostuni for over eight years. We love it but we are a semi-retired couple. Over the years we have seen a lot of families from the UK be a bit disappointed with their Italian dream. The education system seems to be very rigid, with little time given to physical sports or creativitiy. Also you may imagine a lovely outdoors lifestyle for your children. Unfortunately, Italian parents are very over-protective and it is very rare to see children playing outside at all.A town property would probably help your children integrate more easily as they can feel very isolated in a country property and you would find you were a permanent taxi service.The winter over here can also be quite difficult depending on the property but most properties are not insulated and have insufficient heating - it can be very cold and damp. The dampness is the main problem. Energy costs can be very high and the reason many properties are so cheap is that they can only be lived in in the summer. Having building work done is very costly.There are many considerations but renting before you burn your boats and sell up in the UK would give you a good idea of whether you wanted to permanently relocate. A year out for children of most ages is beneficial and it would give you an idea of location, town or country, etc.Making a living over here can be difficult, some manage it but it can be very hard work and take a long time to get established. If you can continue working over the internet you should be alright.Sorry not to be more encouraging but would prefer to be honest. Good luck with your new adventure and hope it all works out..
We always use your route through Switzerland Alan and have never had a problem with the dog. Even when they have asked to look in the car, they have just ignored the dog and asked about other things. Getting back into the UK we always use the ferry from Calais and have only once had any problem. Usually they are checking the paperwork while we swipe the chip with their machine and it only takes a couple of minutes - all done at the normal checkin queue. However, when travelling on his own my husband once had a problem because the vet had signed a line below the stamp and not next door to it. They had to get approval, and then forgot my husband and dog! It delayed them but not beyond their 'window'. Our vet always asks what time and date he wants us to put on the passport. He thinks the whole thing is a complete farce and will do whatever we want. However, because it is postdated it means we can't get a proper invoice! Last autumn we brought our new dog back to the UK for the first time (we got him in Italy). He was about 9 months - choc lab sourced from this site! He coped with the journey (24 hours) to the port and the crossing (2 hours) with no problem at all, just took it all in his stride - we are very proud of him. Hope you have years of happiness with your dog going to and from Italy. If you are in an area prone to ticks we found that a Scaliber collar is the best way to control them on our dog. These are easy to get on the internet in the UK.
Forgot to add that driving straight through is the cheapest way. As we have a dog we drive straight down to puglia in one swoop from Surrey - less than 24 hours from Calais, two drivers, swapping and stopping as necessary. We actually find it less tiring than taking just a stop over in a hotel. We find we can do as we have our own place, know what we are coming to and can just flop and sleep as soon as we get here. If you are only going to Tuscany its a doddle!
Afraid I agree with Bunterboy. We love camping but do it because we like to camp rather than stay in a cheap hotel. However, frequently an F1 works out cheaper. Camping, particularly with a large tent takes up an awful lot of time just living. If you want to camp get a cheap hike tent that can be put up and down instantly (our's puts itself up virtually) and limit all the gear - you don't need it - imagine unpacking and packing the car each time - its virtually a day's job in itself. How many of you travelling - we find flying much cheaper - we have decided to bring one car down at Easter and leave it here until after the olive harvest. Cheaper to fly back and forth inbetween. Sorry to be a wet blanket - but you may find you get the camping bug.
I think if your commune hasn't changed its system you will not understand the problem. We now have to drive 8km to a commune that has public bins. Our two local ones do not - they give individual collection bins for general rubbish, recycling and umido but only in the town. If you are in the country it is now a big problem. Whereas it used to be easy to get rid of rubbish it is now a military style operation. I have even changed where I shop so I can get rid of rubbish without wasting too many miles.
Thanks - really interesting - any idea if they take dogs? would be a lovely place to stop en route for a couple of nights with the dog. They must have kennels that the St. Bernards went in. Remember seeing a documentary about it. My other half also has an affair with TT girl so she is definitely the unfaithful type. Am sure she is trying to do away with me by suggesting some tortuous routes, particularly over the alps! Not sure she has much longer, one of us has to go!
Sorry for not coming back earlier. Now in Uk and internet connection good enough for me to sort out my login which I always forget! We stayed in the Al Casson and it was excellent. Ideally suited for our purposes, close to the station and the centre of Padua. We were incredibly lucky that we got that heatwave at the end of March so Venice was spectacular. It was also so cheap! Train from Padua into Venice was only 3.50 euros single. You come out of the station and there are wide steps down to the Grand Canal - spectacular, we didn't actually need to move from there the view was so wonderful. Although we did use the water bus, we didn't actually need to so we didn't need to spend another euro. We had the odd snack and coffee but they weren't extortionate. Even my husband was impressed! He had been over forty years ago and it has taken me this long to get him back - he hated it so much at the time because of the smell he said - we had no smell. Would thoroughly recommend a stopover in Padua to see Venice. We found that we were exhausted and actually got the train back and ate our evening meal in the centre of Padua - we needed the rest on the train to have the energy to find somewhere to eat! Padua centre itself was wonderful also. We only spent two nights at the hotel and feel we got the flavour of both Venice and Padua. Of course if you want to do the museums and galleries you need longer, but we just sauntered around which was great. Hotel garage was just the ticket too - no security issues at all. Thanks for the recommendation - that is what this site is great for.
Thanks for your reply - have replied. However, we didn't receive email notification of your reply so don't know if we have the settings wrong on here or not - very easy to miss a message. Even I you go into messages as it is a reply to my message it doesn't show up unless I open up my original message! Very confusing.
Have sent you a pm. Have you received it OK?
Many thanks for your suggestions. Will look them up and let you know how we get on.