The Italy Travel Podcast - An Only A Bag Podcast

The cost of the transportation system is rising, and they're thinking about instituting a small charge to see the Trevi Fountain. But it's not all bad! If you want to walk to Rome, they're also pouring money into the Via Francigena to make it easier for pilgrims to make their way along the Canterbury-Rome road.

And if you want to take part in the festivities, we have you covered! Here's a link to the Vatican Website where you can go ahead and get your Pilgrim Card!

If you’re planning on going to Rome in 2025, we highly recommend booking your hotels (and potentially even your flights) as soon as possible. If you’d like to help out Only A Bag, you can use our affiliate links marked with an asterisk. 

For hotels, we tend to use Booking* since we’re already a part of their member program, but Expedia* also has a robust member program with similar prices on hotel rooms. For an aggregate that seems to offer slightly better deals across the board, we recommend checking out Agoda*. 

And if you’ve always loved the idea of staying in Italy for an extended period and becoming part of the culture, we can’t recommend housesitting enough. While it does often entail taking care of someone’s pet, it can also be a gateway to seeing Italy in a totally new way. We use Trusted Housesitters* which has a fairly steep upfront cost (a few hundred dollars) but that’s covered with a few nights of a house sit which should never cost you money. 

Lastly, if you’re already looking to book flights, we like to use the airline’s website, however, some aggregates do offer better deals, so we always recommend checking Expedia* or Booking* before purchasing. 

Thank you so much for listening! We would absolutely appreciate it if you could follow us and rate us wherever you listen; it helps the podcast grow and it makes us feel like we're making a difference! 

You can find us at ⁠onlyabag.com⁠ and ⁠@onlyabagpodcast⁠. 

While it's taken a long time to come to fruition, it looks like the EU is set to rollout their new visa scheme in the first half of 2025. So, what does this mean as a non-European? Do Americans (if you are American) now need a visa to go to Italy?

And what about this raised tourist tax we keep hearing so much about? Do you actually have to pay 25 euros a night in addition to a hotel room?

In this episode, we hope to inform you and assuage those fears about what 2025 will look like for travelers.

Until then, if you're planning a trip to Italy and you'd like to help out Only A Bag (read: Darcy and Nathaniel), you can do so by booking your hotel or train trip through our affiliate links.

*Links with an asterisk are affiliate links. By using our affiliate link to book hotels you help our podcast! We get a kickback from the company and you will not be charged extra. 

When looking for hotels, we usually cross-reference Booking*, Expedia*, Priceline, and Agoda*. We typically book with Booking.com* because we like their “Genius” deals and it seems like they often have the best or comparable prices.

When looking for trains our go to is Train Line*. We cross reference it with Rail Europe* to find the best deal. You can also book directly through train companies websites like TrenItalia . 

As always, thank you all so much for listening. It means a great deal to us! If you liked what you heard and you want to help us make a change, you can do so by following us and leaving a review.

You can find us at ⁠onlyabag.com⁠ and ⁠@onlyabagpodcast⁠. 

Or, as Darcy likes to call it, Creepy Crawly Cuties!

Are there mosquitos in Italy? What are those tiny little bugs that bite me so painfully? Do I have to worry about scorpions? Most importantly, do I have to worry about rabies?

In this episode, we delve into the biting, stinging, flying, and slithering side of Italy!

As always, we truly appreciate you all for listening!

You can find us at ⁠onlyabag.com⁠ and ⁠@onlyabagpodcast⁠. 

Do you love trains? Travel back in time on trains from the 1930s and 50s for family friendly day-trips at around 7-12 euros with Fondazione FS. Or travel in style (there is a dress code), in all out luxuriousness with La Dolce Vita by Orient Express or Venice Simplon Orient Express by Belmond with trips stating around 4,000 euros. In this episode we talk about it all. Let's get into it.

Want to support our podcast? You can use our links to book your train trip. 

*Links with an asterisk are affiliate links. By using our affiliate link to book hotels you help our podcast! We get a kickback from the company and you will not be charged extra. 

When we travel by train we typically book through ⁠Train Line*⁠ which is an aggregate site or directly on the train company website at ⁠TrenItalia⁠ and ⁠Italo*⁠.

Did you miss your train while listening to this podcast? Or want to be prepared just incase? Check out Nathaniel’s article ⁠“What to do if you miss your train in Italy”⁠ on our website! 

Thank you so much for listening! We would absolutely appreciate it if you could follow us and rate us wherever you listen; it helps the podcast grow and it makes us feel like we're making a difference! 

You can find us at ⁠⁠onlyabag.com⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠@onlyabagpodcast⁠⁠. 

Let's be honest, catching a train can be confusing, especially for those of us who aren't accustomed to public transportation. In this episode we explain the difference between Italy's two major train operators and what they offer. Plus, we answer common questions like "Do I need to validate my ticket?" and "What is validating a ticket?"

Want to support our podcast? You can use our links to book your train trip.

*Links with an asterisk are affiliate links. By using our affiliate link to book hotels you help our podcast! We get a kickback from the company and you will not be charged extra. 

When we travel by train we typically book through Train Line* which is an aggregate site or directly on the train company website at TrenItalia and Italo*.

Did you miss your train while listening to this podcast? Or want to be prepared just incase? Check out Nathaniel’s article “What to do if you miss your train in Italy” on our website! 

Thank you so much for listening! We would absolutely appreciate it if you could follow us and rate us wherever you listen; it helps the podcast grow and it makes us feel like we're making a difference! 

You can find us at ⁠onlyabag.com⁠ and ⁠@onlyabagpodcast⁠. 

Picking up where we left off, this episode gets into the meat of the matter—the flight itself. Boiled down, it can be summed up as: moisturize, bring noise-cancelling headphones, moisturize, bring a change of clothes, and make sure your skin stays hydrated and moisturized.

We also talk about finding the perfect seat on any airplane. To do this, we use SeatGuru. It's often easier to simply search on Google the carrier and plane type, such as "Air France Boeing 777 SeatGuru" and it will direct you to the search result page you need.

For noise-cancelling headphones, the world is your oyster. We've found that a pair of $50 headphones works just fine, but you might want to try out something a little more powerful if you fly frequently.

*Links with an asterisk are affiliate links. By using our affiliate link to book hotels you help our podcast! We get a kickback from the company and you will not be charged extra. 

When looking for hotels, we usually cross-reference ⁠Booking*⁠, ⁠Expedia*⁠, ⁠Priceline⁠, and ⁠Agoda*.⁠ We typically book with ⁠Booking.com*⁠ because we like their “Genius” deals and it seems like they often have the best or comparable prices. 

While Booking, Expedia, and Priceline do offer flight booking we usually use ⁠Google Flights⁠ or ⁠ITA Flight Matrix⁠ (also by Google) and then book the flight directly through the carrier or our credit card portal.

Lastly, if you're traveling with prescriptions, you will need to fill out this form (.pdf) or go to the Salute.it website and download it there. If you prefer to write your own note instead, it must include the name of the prescription (drug and brand name), dosage, dosage amount (how many ml or liquid or number of pills, etc.), condition it's being used for, and your doctor's information (mostly their name and medical license number), as well as your information (DoB, name, address, etc.).

Thank you so much for listening! We would absolutely appreciate it if you could follow us and rate us wherever you listen; it helps the podcast grow and it makes us feel like we're making a difference! 

You can find us at ⁠onlyabag.com⁠ and ⁠@onlyabagpodcast⁠. 

In recent years, the flight has somehow become the worst part of any trip. It's not just the delays and cancellations, but the baggage fees, the seat selection fees if you'd like to do something crazy like sit next to the people you're traveling with, and even the tiny, narrow seats. In this episode (and the next one) we delve into how to prepare for a flight and how to maximize (or minimize) your time in an airport.

Because we completely forgot, we also briefly touch on using your credit card travel portal (like Capital One Travel or Chase Travel) to book a flight since they have baked-in protection like price-drop protection and lost baggage reimbursement.

You don't need a travel credit card to use these platforms, we use basic, no foreign-transaction fee credit cards like the Savor One and Quicksilver (both are referral links).

As we mention in this episode (and the next) something that we've found to be priceless is a power bank. Even though we don't put our boarding passes on our phones, having our phone die while in the midst of a trip can be disastrous. If you'd like to support Only A Bag, you can use our affiliate link for Belkin. However, pretty much any power bank will work!

Lastly, as we mentioned in the previous episodes, we rarely book flights through an aggregate, preferring to use the airline's website or our credit card's travel portal. When looking for hotels, we usually cross-reference ⁠Booking*⁠, ⁠Expedia*⁠, ⁠Priceline⁠, and ⁠Agoda*.⁠ (Affiliate links are marked with an asterisk.) We typically book with ⁠Booking.com*⁠ because we like their “Genius” deals and it seems like they often have the best or comparable prices. 

While Booking, Expedia, and Priceline do offer flight booking we usually use ⁠Google Flights⁠ or ⁠ITA Flight Matrix⁠ (also by Google) to find the price-range and then book the flight directly through the carrier or credit card portal.

Thank you so much for listening! We would absolutely appreciate it if you could follow us and rate us wherever you listen; it helps the podcast grow and it makes us feel like we're making a difference! 

You can find us at ⁠onlyabag.com⁠ and ⁠@onlyabagpodcast⁠. 

What to do if you miss your train? When should you book your train trip? Where do you get bus tickets? In this episode we will answer all of those questions, talk about best practices for booking train and bus journeys, and give you to scoop on where to find help at the station; it’s not always where you think.

*Links with an asterisk are affiliate links. By using our affiliate link to book hotels you help our podcast! We get a kickback from the company and you will not be charged extra. 

When looking for trains and buses our go to is Train Line*. We cross reference it with Rail Europe* to find the best deal. You can also book directly through train companies websites like TrenItalia . 

As we mention in this episode, bus tickets are often purchased from the brick-and-mortar ticket office a few days ahead of time or the day of, some bus tickets are even bought on the bus. However, for booking cross country bus journeys with carriers like Flix Bus, Marino Bus, and ITA Bus, you can use an aggregate site like Bus Bud*.

Want more? Like reading? Check out Nathaniel’s article “What to do if you miss your train in Italy” on our website! 

Thank you so much for listening! We would absolutely appreciate it if you could follow us and rate us wherever you listen; it helps the podcast grow and it makes us feel like we're making a difference! 

You can find us at ⁠onlyabag.com⁠ and ⁠@onlyabagpodcast⁠. 

Should you really book a flight 6 months out? And when's the best time to book a hotel room? In this rambling episode, we talk about the best practices for booking a flights and hotels while also taking you on a number of [hopefully] engaging tangents.

*Links with an asterisk are affiliate links. By using our affiliate link to book hotels you help our podcast! We get a kickback from the company and you will not be charged extra. 

When looking for hotels, we usually cross-reference Booking*, Expedia*, Priceline, and Agoda*. We typically book with Booking.com* because we like their “Genius” deals and it seems like they often have the best or comparable prices. 

While Booking, Expedia, and Priceline do offer flight booking we usually use Google Flights or ITA Flight Matrix (also by Google) and then book the flight directly through the carrier. 

Thank you so much for listening! We would absolutely appreciate it if you could follow us and rate us wherever you listen; it helps the podcast grow and it makes us feel like we're making a difference!

You can find us at onlyabag.com and @onlyabagpodcast.

In this episode, we address some of the issues that Italians (and everyone who lives in a tourist-friendly town) have with AirBnb and why they've become the poster child for negative tourism.

However, hope is not lost! We also discuss a list of alternative types of stays in Italy that might not be available in other countries, such as convents, or farmstays.

If you're thinking about booking something for Italy, we'd love it if you could use our ⁠Booking.com⁠ affiliate link. There's no extra cost to you, and it supports the podcast!

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow and rate us on whichever platform you use!

If you like to follow us, we're ⁠@onlyabagpodcast⁠ on Instagram, and you can sign up for our newsletter on ⁠onlyabag.com⁠.