I actually bought a plane ticket to Italy yesterday! Ahh! I've been searching for ages for tickets, but it seems that following the Icelandic volcano this spring, prices to and from Europe skyrocketed. I kept thinking they might get cheaper, but with no luck.
During the past few weeks, someone else has also shown interest in the house we were wanting in Palata. Since I hadn't found a ticket yet (at a reasonable price), I let the owner know that they needed to make the right decision for them by protecting their investment and selling to someone else if they desired. They haven't sold it. Yet!
Simultaneously we also found a 3-bedroom home in the village of Guilmi which was actually cheaper, but requires quite a bit of work. But, the views from the balconies are breathtaking (and there are 3 of them)! The fact that it is substantially larger is also tempting, although I think it definitely has the potential to be a money pit. Although advertised as having one bathroom, it too lacks a shower or bathtub. So, by bathroom, they simply mean a toilet and sink. Hmmm..
I can't believe how encouraging Tony is of this entire idea. Obviously he's excited about it, but I'm heading over without him since it is a busy time at work, and he will soon be traveling to Tanzania on business...
Over the weekend I spent hours looking at properties on all of the major real estate websites in the Abruzzo region. While there are just 2 homes we are seriously interested in (as mentioned above), I've compiled a list of 17. I'd like to see at least 10 of them if possible, just to validate what I think is a good deal, a nice village, and a do-able restoration project.
I put in over 45 bids on Priceline, and last night, my "price was finally accepted". I screamed from the couch (while I was pretending to watch Indiana Jones with Tony since it was his turn to choose an old school movie)...
$886 including all taxes and fees for a flight leaving LAX at 11am with one 45 minute stop in Chicago, and a 10am arrival in Rome the next day! And, the clencher: I got a DIRECT flight back from FCO - LAX! I was so thrilled...I was certain that Priceline was going to book me on a horrendous 5am flight with 3 connections on a "non-jet" aircraft.
Since my brother will be accompanying me, he was actually able to use some of his miles and book the EXACT same flight today!
We leave in two weeks!
We're going to spend a few nights in Rome at the beginning and end of the trip because a) who doesn't love Rome? and b), I think we're going to need to prepare and possibly de-compress from all of the house-hunting.
All of the old B&B's and hotels I've stayed at on prior trips to Rome seem to have benefited from all of the excellent Tripadvisor reviews they received, because the prices are now astronomical! I picked up the new Frommers today, and in the "moderate" section of hotels, several listings were in the $300 range! I'm not sure what's happened to Frommer's perspective on budgets, but $300 is definitely the luxury range for moi.
I found a beautiful apartment on VRBO.com, and since the owner had rented it out the week prior and a few days after the dates we needed it, he's offered it to me for half price - 75 euro/night for both of us including all utilities, cleaning charges, etc! It's 200 meters from the Colosseum and has 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms. I'm stoked!
That's it for now...I'm trying a new recipe for homemade Tomato Vodka Cream Sauce so I'll have to get back to my dinner...
More on the upcoming trip a little later!
