Be patient, Italy. I'll get there.

OK, so yesterday I was looking through a vacation and travel deals website, as I'm want to do. And I came across a great airfare price for a rountrip ticket to Italy. I'm talking close to half the usual price. Now granted this was for a winter trip, but it stretched to the end of March, where I figured there could be some good weather. And even better? The price was the same for a round trip ticket as for a multi-leg (if I wanted to fly into Venice and home from Rome, for example.) That's pretty unheard of. Problem was, the sale ends today. So I had to decide pretty much on the spot if I wanted to go.

Now, I've been thinking for a while that I really want to go to Italy. In fact, it was the reason I got my passport a year ago. I was hoping to go this year. Obviously it got pushed back, but this seemed like the ideal deal. Cheap airfare, decent time of year, but still out of tourist season, so the hotels were cheaper. I came very close to buying my ticket right then and there.

But I didn't.

I had emailed some friends to see if anyone was interested in going. Since it was so last minute I was pretty sure there wouldn't have been any takers, but I figured I'd give it a shot anyway. Of course, I have no problem going alone. I decided a couple of years ago that if I wanted to finally go see some of the places I wanted to that I'd probably have to start planning my vacations by myself, and not at the whim or willingness of others. But I decided to hold off for another reason. I had previously discussed with my parents going to Italy with them in September of next year. So I called my mom yesterday to ask if they were still planning on that trip, and if so to tell her that I might bow out in lieu of an earlier trip. She said that not only were they planning to go, but that now she was trying to get the rest of the family to go (my sisters and brother in law.) And to sweeten the pot, she said that they had planned to pay our airfares. Now I feel a little conflicted about that, because they're retired and I thought shouldn't be spending their money on us like that, but she said that they just got a pretty good windfall in that they finally received the rest of the money from selling their house in Weymouth. And she seemed pretty sincere and adamant about doing it. So, I'm holding off until September, and the family trip.

Now, I'm not sure that I totally want to do a 8-9 day family trip in Italy. That was the other issue. I don't necessarily want to do the entire itinerary she's talking about (Rome-Tuscany-Venice-Amalfi Coast-back to Rome). For my first trip I'd rather skip the middle parts and just do Rome and Venice and perhaps get an extra day or two in at either end. Also, I'll probably want to experience some Italian nightlife and such. So I think I'll wrap a separate itinerary for myself around theirs. I might get my own room (instead of sharing with the family like we did a lot on our last trip to the southwest), although that may be dependent on the prices. And instead of driving via Tuscany to Venice, I may stay an extra day in Rome and take the train to Venice and meet them. And vice versa for the Amalfi Coast back to Rome. Of course a lot of this is yet to be determined. Their itinerary was not very solid yet, so neither is mine.

But anyway, yeah, I'll be in Italy next year. Finally.

Of course, now I have a vacation on the brain though. I'll have to find another option for a different vacation. Something else in Europe? I definitely have a jonesing for getting over there. London's not terribly expensive, relatively speaking. Amsterdam? You know I have to get there eventually. Prague holds a certain fascination, but that could maybe be attributed to my love of the eastern European female. A weekend in the NYC? Or Montreal? Portland (OR) is still high up on the list and will definitely happen; it's just a matter of when. Yep, I definitely need to get away.