Help a first time solo traveler plan a 10 day foodie trip to Italy
September 16, 2018 3:06 PM Subscribe
Hi,
I'm a first time 27 yo American male solo traveler and have the last week of October and first week of November off. I'd like to plan a trip to Italy, but I have no idea what I'm doing and am lowkey terrified.
I have a passport but have never been outside the country and have never traveled on my own before (well I've taken lots of flights by myself but always met others at the destination). Anyway, I'd like to use the opportunity to take an overseas foodie trip, and Italy seems like a great place for that. I'd like to not spend more than $1000, thought I could go up to $1500. I live in Austin, TX. How should I go about doing this? I do have an account on couchsurfing.com though unfortunately I had kinda forgotten about it and have never hosted anyone before, so I'd feel kinda bad about trying to get someone else to host me. Extra points for those who can point me towards places where I can find dishes hard to come by in the US, such as this. Anyway, thanks for the advice!
I have a passport but have never been outside the country and have never traveled on my own before (well I've taken lots of flights by myself but always met others at the destination). Anyway, I'd like to use the opportunity to take an overseas foodie trip, and Italy seems like a great place for that. I'd like to not spend more than $1000, thought I could go up to $1500. I live in Austin, TX. How should I go about doing this? I do have an account on couchsurfing.com though unfortunately I had kinda forgotten about it and have never hosted anyone before, so I'd feel kinda bad about trying to get someone else to host me. Extra points for those who can point me towards places where I can find dishes hard to come by in the US, such as this. Anyway, thanks for the advice!
I want to recommend AirBNB Experiences - in Milan, we signed up for a pasta cooking class at a local's apartment and learned to make new things, ate those amazing things, and also met other travelers. It was so lovely to get outside of the tourist area and be able to ask questions of a local.
posted by xo at 3:59 PM on September 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by xo at 3:59 PM on September 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I highly recommend solo travel, and I have traveled on my own through Italy, so I think you'll have a great time. However, I think that a budget of $1000 or even $1,500 is... an extreme challenge. If that's TRULY your limit, you need to be rethinking your plans. Flying from Austin to Italy round trip is going to eat up half of that budget at the very least (at a glance, cheapest round trip flight for all of October was $922). Even if you pick mainly cheap/free accommodations (which, by the way, can introduce all kinds of complications), you're going to need a train pass of some kind (hundreds of Euros) unless you're just going to stay in one city, and of course you'll want to eat good food... I can confirm that 5 Euro pizza in Italy is delicious, but presumably you're looking for more than 10 days of pizza, and in that case you'll have to think about your food budget. Presumably you'll want to do at least a couple things that aren't free, too, like a historical tour or class or something like that... Anyway, I really hope you go, but definitely get realistic about your budget first!
posted by Cygnet at 4:53 PM on September 16, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by Cygnet at 4:53 PM on September 16, 2018 [11 favorites]
Response by poster: However, I think that a budget of $1000 or even $1,500 is... an extreme challenge.
Yeah, I was a bit worried about it. I understand great Italian food probably isn't cheap. That's just what I have for discretionary spending without dipping into my savings or calling parents, so I could potentially up it. What do you think a reasonable budget would be? I was also thinking about Vietnam which I understand is very cheap but I'm worried that it may be too rainy that time of year.
posted by bookman117 at 5:03 PM on September 16, 2018
Yeah, I was a bit worried about it. I understand great Italian food probably isn't cheap. That's just what I have for discretionary spending without dipping into my savings or calling parents, so I could potentially up it. What do you think a reasonable budget would be? I was also thinking about Vietnam which I understand is very cheap but I'm worried that it may be too rainy that time of year.
posted by bookman117 at 5:03 PM on September 16, 2018
I did a trip a few years ago in the off-season to Belgium, the Netherlands, and France for about 10 days, and I stayed with friends for part of it, and my budget was about $2,500-$3000, including lodging and airfare.
I think $1500 is a very small amount to do a trip to Europe, especially for 10 days and one where you want to do expensive things, like eating out a lot.
If that's your vacation budget, could you go to Portland, OR? I've had some insanely delicious food there.
posted by Lycaste at 5:10 PM on September 16, 2018
I think $1500 is a very small amount to do a trip to Europe, especially for 10 days and one where you want to do expensive things, like eating out a lot.
If that's your vacation budget, could you go to Portland, OR? I've had some insanely delicious food there.
posted by Lycaste at 5:10 PM on September 16, 2018
I think you need to figure out your flights and then go from there. Some people are wizards at finding ultra-cheap flights (if you don't mind crazy layovers and weird schedules), but unless you have unlimited flexibility (and you don't, with a 2-week window) they're just... not that cheap. I'd find the cheapest flight you can, and then work around that. If you want to see more than 1 city, you'll almost certainly need a rail pass (hundreds of Euros). If you can manage to couchsurf, then accommodation will be free, but even the cheapest shared hostel bunk is going to be at LEAST ~30/night and that's optimistic. If you eat 2 meals/day from grocery stores and 1 meal out (which is what I have done when traveling), you're going to need at least 15 Euros per day for food, and that's if you buy CHEAP stuff. And then, if you want to do literally anything aside from travel to a city and eat there, like tours, museums, classes, visiting parks, etc., that's going to be in the ballpark of 15-20 per activity. It adds up pretty fast, I'm afraid. When I traveled solo in Italy 10 years ago I was staying in 1-star hotels during mid-winter for 20/night, eating as cheap as possible, walking everywhere (no public transit), and only doing a couple paid activities here and there. I think I paid about 400 for a rail pass and 35-40 Euros/day for food and lodging. Overall I think you're looking at at LEAST $3000.
posted by Cygnet at 5:11 PM on September 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Cygnet at 5:11 PM on September 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
I also think you're underbudgeting, Italy is not a cheap place, including for eating out.
I think you should consider Bologna as another possible place to visit, it is often regarded as the foodie centre of Italy. It has some local specialities as well as some very good restaurants. This will also put you in Emilia-Romagna, a region which is the source of many important Italian foodstuffs.
If you google Italy and foodie you will find quite a lot of recommendations for places and you can select from what might most interest you.
posted by biffa at 5:49 PM on September 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
I think you should consider Bologna as another possible place to visit, it is often regarded as the foodie centre of Italy. It has some local specialities as well as some very good restaurants. This will also put you in Emilia-Romagna, a region which is the source of many important Italian foodstuffs.
If you google Italy and foodie you will find quite a lot of recommendations for places and you can select from what might most interest you.
posted by biffa at 5:49 PM on September 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
You'd really need to double that budget for a foodie trip to Italy solo, if only because of the high airfare. If you do have abundant savings, though, it is definitely worth dipping in. Two weeks is a long time. You can also save a little by going for more like 8 or 10 days, but even then, you will need more money than you're thinking. I would guess $75-100 a day, bare bones, for some place to stay and some decent eats.
You can build a more realisitic budget by starting to search and making a spreadsheet. On the spreadsheet put the date for each night you'll stay, and start looking for budget accommodations. Hosteling will probably be your friend for a low-budget trip. Google some options for each place you'll want to stay. Then, put in the transfers you'll need in between places: train or bus fares. Then, for each area you'll stay in for a few days, look for the deals on multi-day bus passes and add them in. Put in a ballpark food budget for each day, and start listing the items you'll want to hit along with a ballpark cost.If you drink, don't forget alcohol - often the most expensive part of a dinner bill or night out. Similarly, add something for morning coffee and pastry. Italy is not so into big breakfasts but a coffee and pastry will run you ~5EU at least daily. Finally, add in any tours, experiences or attractions you wan't to see. You can't eat all the time, and it's likely you'll want to see some of the famous stuff.
Once you've done these basics, you'll have a pretty good picture of what your trip budget needs to be. Then search for some airfares on Google Flights to see what moving around the different days of departure/arrival will do for you. Midweek departures/arrivals from the US are often cheaper.
And do keep in mind that these costs just give you the big picture. Inevitably, there will be small expenditures you didn't predict - bottles of water, tips, newspapers/magazines, postcards, postage, random taxes/fees, snacks to tide you over.
There are plenty of cheaper destinations. If it has to be Italy, I understand - just budget for it. If price is the prime consideration, you might want to postpone this and go somewhere lower cost. Here are some suggestions.
posted by Miko at 5:50 PM on September 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
You can build a more realisitic budget by starting to search and making a spreadsheet. On the spreadsheet put the date for each night you'll stay, and start looking for budget accommodations. Hosteling will probably be your friend for a low-budget trip. Google some options for each place you'll want to stay. Then, put in the transfers you'll need in between places: train or bus fares. Then, for each area you'll stay in for a few days, look for the deals on multi-day bus passes and add them in. Put in a ballpark food budget for each day, and start listing the items you'll want to hit along with a ballpark cost.If you drink, don't forget alcohol - often the most expensive part of a dinner bill or night out. Similarly, add something for morning coffee and pastry. Italy is not so into big breakfasts but a coffee and pastry will run you ~5EU at least daily. Finally, add in any tours, experiences or attractions you wan't to see. You can't eat all the time, and it's likely you'll want to see some of the famous stuff.
Once you've done these basics, you'll have a pretty good picture of what your trip budget needs to be. Then search for some airfares on Google Flights to see what moving around the different days of departure/arrival will do for you. Midweek departures/arrivals from the US are often cheaper.
And do keep in mind that these costs just give you the big picture. Inevitably, there will be small expenditures you didn't predict - bottles of water, tips, newspapers/magazines, postcards, postage, random taxes/fees, snacks to tide you over.
There are plenty of cheaper destinations. If it has to be Italy, I understand - just budget for it. If price is the prime consideration, you might want to postpone this and go somewhere lower cost. Here are some suggestions.
posted by Miko at 5:50 PM on September 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
I think this is doable if you only stay in hostels and/or AirBnBs in one place and cook for yourself most of the time, which will still be fun and foodie-adjacent if not as predictable; you’ll get to soak up the scenery and meet a lot of people too. Train tickets in Italy absolutely do not require an expensive train pass - check Seat61. Don’t stay in huge cities - Italy has lots of cities in the 100,000+ range that are not Milan/Venice/Rome/Florence with great local food traditions and plenty of English speakers. A place like Foggia or Trapani or L’Aquila, maybe? There’s bound to be a student renting out their sofa or something for like €30 a night on the outskirts, no? In the far south, it may even still be warm enough to camp.
You might get better value from a place like Turkey or Portugal, or somewhere like Morocco. Georgia is gorgeous and cheap, if you can manage a cheaper flight.
posted by mdonley at 6:02 PM on September 16, 2018
You might get better value from a place like Turkey or Portugal, or somewhere like Morocco. Georgia is gorgeous and cheap, if you can manage a cheaper flight.
posted by mdonley at 6:02 PM on September 16, 2018
Lots of places have great food - everywhere really. Since airfare is a huge cost, I'd check out Scott's Cheap Flights and go wherever you can get a great deal on the flight that is budget friendly. Probably not Western Europe... But there's plenty of great food to be had all over! Honestly I loved Italy and the food was good, but I have better food memories from other places. I mostly want to travel to eat and Italy is not on the list. You could also check out WWOOF where you swap gardening/ farm labour for lodging and meals... It would add some nice depth to learning about the food, save money, and I've had some really fantastic food this way.
posted by jrobin276 at 7:15 PM on September 16, 2018
posted by jrobin276 at 7:15 PM on September 16, 2018
Best answer: Foodie trip? That's easy! WWOOF! You volunteer all day and in exchange get food and housing with a host who grows local organic food.
posted by aniola at 8:57 PM on September 16, 2018
posted by aniola at 8:57 PM on September 16, 2018
Best answer: Echoing others -- $100 a day is a decent baseline daily budget for Europe, but that implies a fair bit of street food (not to downplay street food which can be amazing, but a lot of foodie experiences can be more expensive). There's nothing worse than being somewhere with awesome food but not able to afford to eat it. And that's not including the airfare -- I did a quick search around your dates and it's hard to find anywhere but London for much under $1000 for airfare and London's best foodie experiences are high end (as are accommodations). Miko has excellent advice on budgeting. If it's Italy, that's not a dumb idea, but you are going to have a hell of a time doing it for $1500 and should save up. (Don't blow your savings on travel. I love travel, but...)
Might I suggest heading to regional Mexico instead? A quick search shows flights from AUS in the $300 range, and the daily cost of basic travel is lower as well -- you can get a hostel bed in someplace like Puebla or Merida for $10-20 a night. If you do budget travel and stay away from the package/resort thing, you could spend 10 days including flight for $1000 easily. I know that Austin has a very strong Tex-Mex scene, but perhaps you might be interested in learning more about specifically Yucatecan food or Baja food or something like that. I bet there's a ton of interesting food in Mexico City these days.
Travel is a little more challenging in Mexico; infrastructure is less reliable than it is in Europe, there are fewer English speakers, but if you have patience and a sense of humour it's not so bad; the flights are quick (perhaps not even a connection), and perhaps you already have some Spanish skills.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 10:20 PM on September 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
Might I suggest heading to regional Mexico instead? A quick search shows flights from AUS in the $300 range, and the daily cost of basic travel is lower as well -- you can get a hostel bed in someplace like Puebla or Merida for $10-20 a night. If you do budget travel and stay away from the package/resort thing, you could spend 10 days including flight for $1000 easily. I know that Austin has a very strong Tex-Mex scene, but perhaps you might be interested in learning more about specifically Yucatecan food or Baja food or something like that. I bet there's a ton of interesting food in Mexico City these days.
Travel is a little more challenging in Mexico; infrastructure is less reliable than it is in Europe, there are fewer English speakers, but if you have patience and a sense of humour it's not so bad; the flights are quick (perhaps not even a connection), and perhaps you already have some Spanish skills.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 10:20 PM on September 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
Best answer: We ate well in rome but there is a ton of crap because its just so touristy and most people are too tired to know better. You'd definitely need to be doing more street eating than sitting down at that budget but i think it is doable. I see you favoriting answers about other destinations so maybe this wont be helpful but a few thoughts from our trip to Italy a couple years ago.
Buy the Katie Parla app for you phone/read what she says - an amazing resource about a lot of great food in rome. also the geo-location and sortability by category (open for lunch, open sundays etc) was ideal.
we had pasta con pajata in testaccio at Trattoria Perilli and it was memorably good - they make a pasta sauce using the intestines of young milk-fed veal. My impression was that its getting hard to find even in italy, have never seen it anywhere in the US.
If you get to florence i loved the lampredotto from Beatrice who, as you can gather from her website, is a pretty incredible person.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 8:05 AM on September 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
Buy the Katie Parla app for you phone/read what she says - an amazing resource about a lot of great food in rome. also the geo-location and sortability by category (open for lunch, open sundays etc) was ideal.
we had pasta con pajata in testaccio at Trattoria Perilli and it was memorably good - they make a pasta sauce using the intestines of young milk-fed veal. My impression was that its getting hard to find even in italy, have never seen it anywhere in the US.
If you get to florence i loved the lampredotto from Beatrice who, as you can gather from her website, is a pretty incredible person.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 8:05 AM on September 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
Best answer: One thing you could explore to save some serious money is flying to a cheaper hub in Europe - grabbing a special rate to some other country - and then taking an EU airline or train from there.
posted by Miko at 8:50 AM on September 17, 2018
posted by Miko at 8:50 AM on September 17, 2018
Response by poster: Thanks everyone! I've decided to book a flight to Bangkok because it's cheaper and more wild. I can experience fine Italian dining when I'm a bit older with more savings and less energy. I'll definitely keep some of these suggestions in mind, especially Miko's suggestion about finding a cheap flight to Europe and then taking an EU airline or train. Scott's Cheap Flights frequently has flights to Europe so that's a great tip.
posted by bookman117 at 2:26 PM on September 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by bookman117 at 2:26 PM on September 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
We really loved Taste Florence when we visited Florence. Toni is a fantastic guide and our friends who have taken her tour on our recommendation have loved it as well.
Aside from Florence, Rome and Naples are also fantastic food destinations. I could give you a bunch of haphazard recommendations, but I found that when I was traveling in Italy, the Chowhound forums provided the most reliable list of recommendations for a given place. It requires a bunch of research but you can really separate the good places from the mediocre tourist traps that way.
Good luck! Traveling is amazing and you will do great.
posted by kdar at 3:53 PM on September 16, 2018