A Month In Venice

When visiting any foreign country it is always advisable to at least understand the lay of the land before you visit. This is especially true in Venice. There are many wandering streets that you can become easily lost. Now for those who like to explore this way I say more power to you!

However there are others, like myself, that would like to know a city beforehand in order not to get lost on my first trip out.In the case of Venice finding high quality street maps can be a bit of a challenge. The maps handed out at the tourist office or those you may receive as part of a tour package are not necessarily the best. It may help you in navigating around the major tourist areas of the city but should you want to venture out and see Venice as the natives do these can be a bit of a disaster.

The most highly detailed and recommended maps are those from the Touring Club Italiano map. These maps come in a variety of formats and scales however they also tend to be the most expensive.

Now a trip to Venice should always incorporate a trip down the Grand Canal on a Gondola. Many claim that this is just too touristy or too expensive however in order to get the feel of the city this is a must! Not only is this the most romantic way to see the city it is also the least stressful, just not on your wallet though. Just make sure that you have negoatied a price beforehand and check each others watches to make sure you are not being cheated. If however you feel like you have been cheated or have a complaint then please call the Ente Gondola office that regulates this service at 041-528-5075 or through their website at www.gondolavenezia.it you would not want to have this ruined by some unsavory gondolier.

There is also another way of getting around Venice other than Gondola and that is through the Vaporetto system. This is the system that connects all the sestieri together and these lines are all operated by Azienda del Consorzio Trasporti Veneziano (ACTV) and this system can be reached on the web at www.actv.it or through telephone at 041-528-7886. The cost of a ticket can be a bit pricey as they start out at 3.50€ for a one way ticket and 6€ for a round trip ticket. However for the best deal if you plan on making multiple trips would be to purchase the 24 hour ticket at 11€ but this is only if your visit is very short. Longer tickets that are 72 hours and 7 days in length are also available for those that plan on staying and savoring the city.

Water taxis are available but these are just too over priced in my opinion and you can find more information about them through your hotel or other websites. My experience with water taxis was generally pleasant as they were not too rude and generally pleasant.

After I spend a month in this city I might have some better insights on how to really get around. I would love to know how the locals do it but since I do not know anyone from there I cannot give you any further insight.

It seems like improving your technorati ranking is quite hard when you have a travel blog. Without a diehard following getting natural backlinks can be quite difficult as this area is quite saturated with many bloggers writing about their various vacations and business trips. So to combat this effect I am creating a link cloud of my own that is focused on travel blogs.In order to participate please create some unique text above the link cloud so that we do not get penalized by google for having duplicate content on our blogs. I will start us off with the first five blogs that are my favorite. Simply add your favorite travel blogs, that are not already listed, to this list on the top.

If you have not been tagged then you can still participate by placing your favorite travel blogs at the top but please leave the original links so that the cloud can grow and help us all out.

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The Originals

• A Month In Venice
• TravelMinx
• Budget Globetrotting
• Ubertramp
• GoBackpacking

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Hopefully everyone will start to benefit from this cloud as it grows and grows. I hope to find some interesting travel blogs from this experience as I am sure I am not aware of them all and would like to expand my horizons a bit more.

Well since I previously discussed where to get the best pizza slice in Venice I thought it was time to give some thought on where to stay in Venice. One of the best tips I heard lately was that the Bauer Palladio Hotel & Spa is one of the nicest hotels in the area. However, since this hotel is on the waterfront on the Giudecca across the Canale Della Giudecca from St. Mark’s square the prices are sure to be pretty steep especially for the waterfront rooms.

Myself I have stayed in the Westin Hotel and Regina on the Grand Canal and found the rooms and service to be outstanding although the price for the room was also quite high. One of my chief complaints about this hotel was that they offered a buffet but when you went to check out they asked you what you took and then charged you accordingly. Perhaps they do not fully understand the idea behind a buffet or rather what Americans think a buffet should be. However since that was my only complaint when I stayed there I found the hotel to be a shining example of excellent service and attention to detail.

So if you have stayed in any place particularly nasty or nice let me know about it! I want to hear from fellow travelers to Venice! Comments are welcome and they count!

I am sure many of my readers are well aware of the escapades of Jason Bourne either in the book form or through the ever popular movies. One thing in the first movie that caught my attention was the many passports that this super spy had in is Swiss safety deposit box. While illegal to hold many aliases and use them to cross international borders it is possible to have multiple passports through more than one country. How can this be possible? It is called dual citizenship and it is perfectly legal. In fact many millions of Americans are dual citizens.

What qualifications qualify you to become a dual citizen?

• Formal naturalization
• Being born within the borders of the country (United States mostly)
• Being a descendant of a foreign born parent or grandparent
• Marrying a citizen of a foreign country

The benefits of dual nationality are faster visa procedures, having the right to work in the country and faster customs inspections when going through the airport among many others and really depend on the country.

As a side note if you can become a citizen of one of the countries of the European Union you can then have the right to work in any EU nation. Needless to say this can open the door to many possibilities and expand your horizons immensely.

 In order to apply for dual nationality I would contact the embassy or consulate of  the country that either your relatives or mate descended from in order to gain the most insight. Each country will obviously have their own limits and rules in order to qualify.

I have recently joined the DoFollow revolution and allowed for the comments on this blog to be followed by Google and other search engines. The reason I did this? Quite simply I want to add as many incentives as possible for my readers to comment on this blog. I would like to have an active community here and I believe this might just kick start that process.

So warning if you comment on this blog, and it is meaningful and not spam then your link will be followed by Google.