Italy

Do You Need a One Year Old License to Drive in Europe?

I have rented cars worldwide to drive around and experience the top attractions in numerous countries. From Italy, Belgium, and Iceland in Europe, South Korea in Asia, Mauritius and the Seychelles in Africa, I've had the pleasure of taking a car out in a new country on many occasions.

On a trip to Italy (for my third rental there), a unique line item in my car rental contract caught my eye and gave me a moment of concern: “The driver license must have been issued by authorized authorities at least 1 year(s) before the date of the commencement of the rental.”

While I have been driving for 20+ years, I had one problem- my license was recently renewed and did not show its original issue date. All things being equal, it looked like my license was issued just three months before.

Cue panic.

Ultimately, this small detail ended up being a non-issue, and my car was rented to me without question. In this one, I wanted to break down why this one exists and what documents you may want to have with you to protect yourself in the unlikely event that you are questioned.

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The Quest for the Best Italian Gelato in Florence, Italy

Is there anything better than Italian gelato? Arguably some of the best ice cream in the world, we found ourselves addicted to it when traveling throughout the country (so much so that we ate it 2-3 times per day depending on the day).

While we love gelato just about everywhere, the gelato in Florence was what we kept going back to time and time again. So, naturally, on my most recent trip to Florence I had to get out and find some of the city's best.

Today, I wanted to share my thoughts on those shops!

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Taking a Tuscany Day Trip from Florence with Walks of Italy

I didn't expect to find myself going back to Tuscany in 2019, but when my family wanted to take a trip to Italy I was game to join in.

They had heard of my stories of taking a Tuscany day trip from my 2013 visit, and were eager to get out and visit some of my favorite spots- namely San Gimignano, Siena, and wineries. We opted against doing this one on our own as my driving in Tuscany experience on that trip was not the best. So instead we hopped on a tour with Walks of Italy to take the driving component out of our trip.

As I later found out, going on a Tuscany tour with a guide allowed for a more insightful visit about each destination, and, in the case of the winery, allowed for greater drinking capacity in not having to drive!

In this one, I wanted to break down some of those points from the Walks of Italy tour in greater detail. 

Note: I was a guest of Walks of Italy on this tour. All opinions are my own.

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Picking Where to Stay in Sicily is a Question of Duration

When it comes to picking Sicily hotels for your visit, the logistics you need to consider are not simply looking for the best properties, booking them, and calling it a day.

The best way we can answer the question of “where to stay in Sicily?” is with another question- “how much time do you have?” The reason for this is because your Sicily hotels selection may be greatly influenced by your trip length above any other consideration.

It was for us!

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