Welcome to Elkins-Italy-Greece-2007

We're off to Italy and Greece!

Welcome to the blog for the Elkins High School study tour to Italy and Greece from June 24 to July 7, 2007. This blog will be published at noon every Saturday from January 6 until March 24. Use this first posting as a reference guide and "table of contents." It is to help you get mentally ready for this experience. A lot will happen in those two weeks and if you have an idea beforehand, it won't seem like a whirlwind; it will be an odyssey.

Where are we going?

You can get a lot of information about the trip from the website for our travel company, Explorica. Go to http://www.explorica.com and find our tour. You will need to type in MARTIN-3091 in the "Tour ID" box.

I will organize this blog based on our itinerary. I would suggest looking at a map of Italy and Greece and following our route. Here it is:

Day 1 - June 24 - We drive from Elkins to Washington, D.C. We will fly

overnight to Milan, Italy.

Day 2 - June 25 - We will meet our tour director and get on our tour bus. From there it's on to Florence, perhaps Italy's most beautiful city. We will have time in the afternoon and evening to get acquainted with the city. We will spend the night in a hotel in Florence.

Day 3 - June 26 - We will go on our "official tour" with "Whisper

Headsets" around some of Florence's main historical attractions. In the afternoon, we will take our tour bus down to Rome. We will have some time to get to know Rome at night. We will spend two nights in our hotel.

Day 4 - June 27 - We will have our "official tour" with "Whisper "Headsets" of historical center of Rome. We will also visit the Vatican and have time to walk and shop in Rome.

Day 5 - June 28 - We will leave Rome and drive south to the area around Naples. Our midday visit will be to the gorgeous Isle of Capri. We'll do lunch, walk around, and take a boat to the "Blue Grotto," a cave on the west end of the rocky

island. We will spend the night in Sorrento, a beautiful seaside town.

Day 6 - June 29 - We will head out of Sorrento and visit the ruins of the

ancient city of Pompeii, destroyed by nearby Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. In the afternoon we will drive on down to Brindisi, a port on the "heel of the boot" of the Italian Peninsula. We will get on a large ferry and spend the night in bunk rooms en route to Greece.

Day 7 - June 30 - We will disembark in the port city of Patras, Greece.

From there, we will drive up and across mainland
Greece to Delphi, an ancient religious center on a flank

of Mount Parnassus. We will have time to relax and explore near our hotel.

Day 8 - July 1 - We will get our "official tour" of the ancient ruins of

Delphi in the morning. Later in the afternoon we will head on to the capital city of Athens. Dinner will be a "Greek Evening" that will include not only food, but also music and dance. We will spend the night in a hotel in Athens.

Day 9 - July 2 - We will board our cruise ship for our cruise around the Aegean Sea. We will be on the cruise for four nights. Our probable first port of call will be the island of Mykonos.

Day 10 - July 3 - We will cruise over to the coast of Turkey and land in

the Turkish port of Kusadasi. We may want to visit the nearby ancient ruin of Ephesus. We will probably stop also on the Greek island of Patmos.

Day 11 - July 4 - We will probably land on the Isle of Rhodes and visit the main town. Next may be the large island of Crete.

Day 12 - July 5 - Our last stop may be the volcanic island of Santorini, a dramatic, cresent-shaped island with beautiful villages perched on the cliff of the ancient crater.

Day 13 - July 6 - We will make port once again in Athens. Today will be

our "official visit" to the city of Athens, both ancient and modern. We will spend our last night in an Athens hotel.

Day 14 - July 7 - We will board a plane for the long journey back to

Washington, D.C. and then in Elkins by bedtime.

What do I need?

It's a good idea to have things planned well ahead of time.

First, you should already have or be now getting your PASSPORT. Plan on ONE check-in piece of luggage (a suitcase) and ONE carry-on

bag. Luggage with lots of side pockets and zippered areas are handy for organizing. We will be in a "Mediterranean" climate the whole time, so it will be warm and sunny! Casual is the word, but bring something a little nicer for a few evenings and also something "modest" for entry into Italian churches (long pants for the guys and a skirt or pants for the girls - also make sure your shoulders are covered). Don't forget to bring good walking shoes!! We will be doing a lot of walking. (Those of you less inclined to exercise may want to practice getting in shape before the trip by walking places here.) Also, don't forget your swimsuit.

Some other things you should begin looking into are:

a good camera - You will be seeing gazillions of interesting things to take

pictures of. I suggest a digital camera so you can take multiple shots of things and be able to preview, edit, and

delete while traveling. Get one that has a good

rechargable battery (or take along many extra batteries!) Make sure you have plenty of space on a memory card or cards (or lots of film if you prefer a film camera).

electric plug adaptors - If you have electronic devices (iPod or other mp3 player, digital camera, cell phone, etc.) you will want to make sure you can plug it in and that your device can use 220 volts (we use 110-120 volts here). Things like iPods and cameras should be OK, but if you bring, say, a hairdryer, it must have a switch for 220 volts or else you'll need a transformer. Check online or in luggage stores for the right plugs. There are MANY different outlet plugs. Make sure they're the right ones for Italy and Greece. (Even within Italy there are a couple of different ones you may find.)

Euros - Changing money can be one of the hassles we can avoid on tour if we plan. Though you may get a "better rate" on tour, it's not worth the hassle and time lost to try to do a lot of money exchanging. It's best to have your money (I'm suggesting at least $400 spending money) in either PLASTIC or CASH. You can buy stuff in stores and restaurants with a debit or credit card; you can also get euros in ATMs on the street.

Though you can carry some US Dollars, I would suggest exchanging some dollars for euros here before you go to eliminate the hassle of having to do that when you get there. Right now 1 Euro = .75 US Dollar.

I would suggest getting $100 worth before you go (75 Euros).

I would encourage you check out these blogs each week. You can receive a TREC (TRip Enrichment Course) Certificate. I will give this certificate to all those who do the following:

1. Do a spoken map narration of the trip and identify pictures of places.

This will be based upon these blog entries and I will do them in late

April or early May.

2. Turn in a labeled photo album (and other memorabilia) by September

30, 2007.

You may put this TREC certificate in your resume for use in college and job applications. It looks good to show that you not only took a fantastic trip, but also stretched yourself to learn more about what you saw and did.

When will the blogs be published and what will they be about?

Jan 6 - Italy (in general)

Jan 13 - Italy - "Being a tourist"

Jan 20 - Italian language (the basics)

Jan 27 - Days 1,2,3 (Florence)

Feb 3 - Days 3,4,5 (Rome)

Feb 10 - Days 5,6 (Capri, Sorrento, Pompeii)

Feb 17 - Greece (in general)

Feb 24 - Greece - "Being a tourist"

Mar 3 - Greek language (the basics)

Mar 10 - Days 7,8 (Delphi)

Mar 17 - Days 9,10,11,12 (Aegean Sea cruise)

Mar 24 - Days 8 and 13 (Athens)

Some other things for your calendar:

March 21 - Final payment to Explorica

Late April - Early May (TBA) - Oral trip narrative with maps and pictures. (Elkins High School Room 205) Basically, just be able to recognize and talk about what's on this blog.

Mid-May Italian-Greek Dinner Party!!

We will meet at the Martins at 111 Woodland Drive and eat Italian and Greek! We will also have authentic music (and perhaps a little dance?)

as well as some team games in which groups can show off their knowledge of Italy and Greece (and win some prizes).

I would highly encourage you to learn and experience as much as you can about Italy and Greece. Besides what I put in these blog postings, read a few good books about those lands. You may prefer "travel guides" or maybe novels set in those countries, or both. If you're linguistically adept, I would recommend learning some Italian and Greek (beyond the basics in the blogs). You can get stuff on the internet or in books. Even try to find some movies set in places we will visit. For example, within the past year, Mission Impossible III took place partly in Rome in the Vatican. Also, in the film The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, one character spends the summer on Santorini, perhaps the most dramatically beautiful Greek Island. Many other movies in history have been set in places we will visit. (Movie directors also find them highly "photogenic.")

Use this first posting to come back to for overall dates and reference.