½ûÂþÌìÌÃ

Welcome to the forum!
Interestingly we are (relatively) close to each other in both the Uk and Italy.
How long have you had your place in Calabria?
Best wishes, lesley & Brian

[QUOTE=iwanttobeinitaly]Welcome to the forum!
Interestingly we are (relatively) close to each other in both the Uk and Italy.
How long have you had your place in Calabria?
Best wishes, lesley & Brian[/QUOTE]

Thanks for your reply. It's really good to hear from someone who is in a similar position, as far as I can tell anyway. I've had the house 4 years next week. I,ve improved on it but in many ways don't feel I've developed opportunities through it beyond the village. My ½ûÂþÌìÌà is adequate for chit chat but I never seem to get down to study and improve enough to find out what is really going on. Some friends came to stay and ended up buying in the village too and I helped them with getting to know the ropes etc. It is great they are around when I go, they are a family and we can share a car etc. and of course great company. As they have only just started to speak ½ûÂþÌìÌà we end up speaking English.
I met a bloke through a friend this summer who is coming to Lancaster Uni to work for 6 weeks so will be lodging with me here. I hope to speak ½ûÂþÌìÌà with him. He is from Callabria and works at Rome Uni. Just a friend, too young for me!
I don't know where your village is so will look on the map to judge how far apart we are. Cumbria isn't so far at this end. Wherabouts are you?
Look forward to hearing more.
Regards
Carolyn

Hi Carolyn,
In Italy we are on the east coast a little further north than you. It doesn't look far on the map but given the mountains in between I suspect it would be quite a long trip!
And in England we are about 17 miles east of Carlisle.
We will really have to set some time aside to do some serious ½ûÂþÌìÌà language learning as we are pretty hopeless but I was amazed on our last visit how we can have conversations (of a sort) and make ourselves understood as well as understand (albeit slowly) what folk are saying to us.
We had some great experiences in shops (buying paint and plumbing bits and pieces etc) when the shopkeepers did their utmost to help us find what we needed even though they had no English.
It was somewhat embarrassing having to look up words in our phrase book every so often but we got by and have recognised that we have to make much more of an effort - so that's a task for long winter evenings :)
When are you in Italy next and how often do you get across?
Calabria is difficult to get to but certainly worth the effort we feel.
Best wishes, Lesley & Brian

[QUOTE=iwanttobeinitaly]Hi Carolyn,
In Italy we are on the east coast a little further north than you. It doesn't look far on the map but given the mountains in between I suspect it would be quite a long trip!
And in England we are about 17 miles east of Carlisle.
We will really have to set some time aside to do some serious ½ûÂþÌìÌà language learning as we are pretty hopeless but I was amazed on our last visit how we can have conversations (of a sort) and make ourselves understood as well as understand (albeit slowly) what folk are saying to us.
We had some great experiences in shops (buying paint and plumbing bits and pieces etc) when the shopkeepers did their utmost to help us find what we needed even though they had no English.
It was somewhat embarrassing having to look up words in our phrase book every so often but we got by and have recognised that we have to make much more of an effort - so that's a task for long winter evenings :)
When are you in Italy next and how often do you get across?
Calabria is difficult to get to but certainly worth the effort we feel.
Best wishes, Lesley & Brian[/QUOTE]

Hi
I am going over this Saturday till wednesday and then again at Christmas. A cheap Ryan Air flight of £7.99 one way and £2.99 back for 5 days at Christmas made it tempting. Bothe are too short really and I would have gone for longer but my friends are coming as they have a house near by and sharing a car keeps the cost down and alone in winter doesn't seem so appealing.
How about you?
Carolyn

Hi Carolyn,
Will try to PM you as I'm not sure everyone else will be interested in my plans for visiting Italy. :)
Pleased to see you are getting some trips in - the travel at the other end is more expensive then getting from the UK to Italy isn't it? - so hooking up with friends is a great idea.
We were intending to travel by train from Rome this time but the lovely Tony (who helped us find our place - anyone interested in looking for somewhere in Calabria might like to have a look at what is on offer at [url]www.scalea-property.com[/url]) has family coming over at the same time so we are hitching a lift with them from Ciampino and that will make our journey much less difficult.
We will be trying out other travel options in the future I have no doubt and, as we have a lhd car in Italy at the moment, that will include bringing it to England in the spring/summer to re-mot it and then taking it back again later.
We had a super trip across with the car at the end of August and we will bring it home full of ½ûÂþÌìÌà goodies - woohoo!!
Speak soon, Lesley & Brian

[QUOTE=iwanttobeinitaly]Hi Carolyn,
Will try to PM you as I'm not sure everyone else will be interested in my plans for visiting Italy. :)
Pleased to see you are getting some trips in - the travel at the other end is more expensive then getting from the UK to Italy isn't it? - so hooking up with friends is a great idea.
We were intending to travel by train from Rome this time but the lovely Tony (who helped us find our place - anyone interested in looking for somewhere in Calabria might like to have a look at what is on offer at [url]www.scalea-property.com[/url]) has family coming over at the same time so we are hitching a lift with them from Ciampino and that will make our journey much less difficult.
We will be trying out other travel options in the future I have no doubt and, as we have a lhd car in Italy at the moment, that will include bringing it to England in the spring/summer to re-mot it and then taking it back again later.
We had a super trip across with the car at the end of August and we will bring it home full of ½ûÂþÌìÌà goodies - woohoo!!
Speak soon, Lesley & Brian[/QUOTE]

Dear Lesley and Brian,
Thank God you are not getting the train. I did it in August. Smelly,crowded and SLOW. Eleven hours in total with a broken toilet. The coach is great. I did it back and it cost about 30 euros. I have all the details somewhere should you want them and how to get to and from airport for aprox 3 euros. On the way back I set off at 11.30 at night arriving in rome about 6. 2 stops on the underground, a change and to a bus and at the airport. I believe there is one down in the afternoon that arrives about 9 at night. air conditioned the lot. I hope to buy a car again soon and leave it there but I need to sort out how to buy and insure in my own name. It,s a mine field.
Speak again when I get back.
Regards
Carolyn