hey guys Janet here with radiant wanderings what is up I hope you're
having a great week if you're new here thank you for joining me please be sure
to hit that subscribe button below and stay awhile and as always there is a link to
my blog post on this topic down below please do give a big thumbs up if you
find anything in here helpful let's get to the 12 tips for rome
all right first tip When in Rome obviously do not rent a car it is
jam-packed with vehicles they whizz by the little scooters or motorbikes go in
and out you don't want to be trying to figure out streets and navigation there
we used the bus public transportation it was affordable it was not easy make sure
you get a bus route map before you leave the train station or the airport that
will come in really handy but if you don't do that you can pull up on Google
Maps and follow the blue dot because they do not unfortunately or at least
when we were there they did not announce the bus stops so you're
definitely gonna need that but once you figure that out taking the bus is
affordable and easy all right second tip for Rome wear comfortable shoes Rome is
big you're gonna cover a lot of distance every day and you do not want achy feet
also you're mostly on cobblestone so if you're wearing flip-flops or heels
that's not gonna work out very well so get your tennis shoes out put those
on I know you might be thinking well I want to look cute in this photo go ahead throw
some heels or flops in your backpack pull them out for the photo and then put
your tennis shoes back on and be on your way all right
next tip you're going to need to get up early I know you're on vacation you want
to sleep in but don't do it if you want any space or time to yourself or if you
just want to see a site without crowds and crowds of people you're going to have
to get up early at least pick one morning and one site and get up early
watch the sunrise and have that site all to yourself just for a few
minutes and get those amazing amazing photos next tip the papal audience
ticket so if you want to see the Pope you can do so on Wednesdays and it is
free to do so but you do need to reserve a ticket in advance I'll put the link
in the blog if you're interested go ahead and click that however if you're
not interested in seeing the Pope but you do want to see the Vatican Museums
and St. Peter's Basilica you may not want to go on Wednesday because of
the papal audience it might be a lot busier alright next step mind the dress
code remember in all of Europe pretty much there's a dress code to go into any
churches basilicas cathedrals that sort of thing
women's shoulders need to be covered mens probably too a great option if it's
hot and summer just bring a scarf that you can throw over your shoulders shorts
and skirts need to be knee length or past so don't show up without these things or you
will not get inside Next tip audio guides for a lot of the main sites Saint
Peter's Basilica the Vatican Museums Colosseum Roman Forum and more you can
download Rick Steves has a free audio guide for all of these that will take
you right through that's what we did you're gonna want to download it before
you get to the site because there the internet and Wi-Fi it might be slow but
this came in so handy it was so nice not to have to pay extra for a tour guide
or for the audio guides and the dirty headsets just to have it on our phone
with our headphones in our ears and walk through and listen to hear all
the history and know what you're looking at so be sure to do that before you go
alright this one's gonna be a tough one for you but do not overbook
yourself there is so much to see and do you cannot do it all even if you're
there a week I mean you maybe can but you won't enjoy it so pick your top three or four
sites that you must see buy those tickets in advance go see those and then
leave yourself some space in the schedule to just wander and stroll and
there's history around every corner and that leads into my next step which is
purchase tickets in advance okay I totally failed here I wanted to save
some money but you can't save money by buying in person because you're still
paying for a timeslot and so that's what the fee is for I thought it was for
booking online it's not and also those time slots fill up so it is really
foolish to wait thinking you're gonna save a few bucks
we ended up waiting in line probably an extra four hours in lines if not five
and that was with even getting up early for lines so do not wait book your
tickets in advance it will save you a lot of stress and a lot of time next
tip carry a water bottle all throughout Rome there are water fountains so just fill
your water bottle there especially before you're going to eat dinner or
lunch that way you won't have to pay for the bottle of water because if you don't
know how to ask for tap water in Italian you could learn but if you don't they're
gonna try to sell you the bottled water and if you just have your own with you
no problem you don't need to ask for anything next tip eat like a local so we
learned in our month in Italy that Italians stand to eat a lot especially
for breakfast and for aperitivo which is kind of like
appetizer hour which we typically eat dinner at that hour but they have
appetizers and drinks and then they have dinner later at eight or nine a lot
of times for breakfast if you're going in to get a cappuccino or croissant
you just stand at the bar also for aperitivo you stand at the bar for
cicchetti which is their name for appetizers and so by doing this you save on the
cover charge or what they call the coperto
and you also get to feel like a local standing up there it's a little odd at
first because we're just so used to sitting and I actually do enjoy sitting
for dinner and for lunch we would sit but give it a try see what you think
next step get cash from ATMs lots of it oh my goodness I am embarrassed to say
we ran out of cash several times and several times didn't realize until after
we had eaten a meal that they only accepted cash and we did not have enough
yes sadly we were those people and it was embarrassing and then we had to have
a person stay at the restaurant and go to an ATM and come back and it was yeah
I'm so ashamed anyways you're gonna need a lot more cash than you think and
obviously you don't like carrying a ton of cash around that's why I didn't
get as much out at a time but especially if you're going out of the city
like when we biked to the Appian Way they only accepted cash there and I didn't
think before heading out of the city and then it was more difficult to find an
ATM so just think ahead plan ahead for your days events and make sure you have
enough cash on you and my last tip is skip the line the ticket line at the
Colosseum so if you have failed like I did and you don't have tickets booked in
advance if you go to the Roman Forum first then that is a combination ticket
good for the Roman Forum and the Colosseum for two consecutive days so
you can get your ticket at the Roman Forum and then not have to wait in the
ticket line at the Colosseum so that's it guys if you have any more suggestions
leave them below in the comment section be sure to read through those if you are
heading to Rome soon and have an amazing time I will see you guys next time