Sicily Archives

Corinna B January 26, 2015

4 Questions To Ask Yourself When Planning An International Vacation

I was recently asked to write a series of articles about international travel, and how you go about making that dream trip actually happen. Especially if you don’t want to go on a cruise or a package tour. (I cringe at the thought of each of these – so not my type of travel!)
I thought it might be fun to share with you on my blog.

So how do you get started planning an international trip? Where on earth do you begin? Especially if you don’t have a specific destination in mind, or if you just have a big concept such as the name of the country you want to go to – like I want to go to France or I want to go to Australia.
I always am planning the next 5 (or 500) trips that I want to go on. If you are already a follower of this blog (—> sign up on the sidebar to have Corinna B’s World delivered to your inbox each day) you will know that I am obsessed with Italy, and try to go there each year. So I am perpetually figuring out the next Italian sojourn, but within Italy there is so much to see and do, which means I am always having to refine my travel plans.
I came up with these 4 questions that I ask myself at the beginning of each year when I am in the first stages of thinking up a trip:

4 Questions To Ask Yourself When Planning An International Vacation

1. What type of vacation are you thinking about? Are you dying to get to a white sand beach, soak up the sun and drink in the exotic air?

Navaggio Beach, Zakynthos Greece

Or maybe you want a hiking trip. Or a trip to Europe to take in some history. Or maybe you’ve always wanted to go on a safari.
The first thing to do is start identifying the type of trip you want to take.

2. When do you want to travel? Sometimes you are able to cut out and go whenever you want to, but plenty of people have to use their vacation time within certain months, such as they can only leave in February, or have to go during school holidays.
If you want a beach holiday, but have to go in February, then you should think about the southern hemisphere or the equator. If you want a ski trip but your vacation is in August, then you should look at my homeland, beautiful New Zealand.

heli skiing in Queenstown New Zealand

A word to the wise: avoid Europe in August! All of Europe take their vacation in August, so its the most crowded, the most expensive, and the absolute worst time to go.

3. Does language matter to you? If you really are uncomfortable going to a non-english speaking country, then your options get narrowed for you. I’m super comfortable with all the European languages, but would find traveling in some parts of Asia and the middle east quite daunting, which narrows the scope for how far off the beaten track I would venture. I am dying to experience Marakkesh, Shanghai and Dubai, but probably wouldn’t stray too far from the city when there as I can’t even figure out the alphabet. Other friends of mine are super comfortable with that and don’t think twice about it.

I haven’t made it there yet, but Dubai is on my wish list every year

4. What is your budget? Don’t let money put you off exploring the world. Just have an idea of the amount of money you can put towards your trip, so that you have a place to start from. Once you have an idea of what you can spend you can start maneuvering a trip into your price range.
I do all my travels on a super tight budget. I’m a single parent and just cannot throw big money on my travels, but I am not going to let that keep me from exploring the world. My banker once got really mad at me for going to Italy for 3 weeks, thinking that I would have blown too much money. It turned out that he spent vastly more taking his wife to Vegas for a five day getaway! Another time I wanted to take my son on a beach vacation and looked at two weeks in the San Diego area, renting a beachfront apartment, but it turned out to be cheaper to go to the east coast of Sicily and rent an apartment with a giant balcony overlooking the Ionian sea.
The key is knowing how much you can spend, and then figuring out how to travel on that amount.

Corinna B December 27, 2014

Buyer Beware ~ Don’t Ship Ceramics From Taormina!

As a rule I don’t believe in negative blogposts – if I don’t like something I just won’t say anything about it.

But a travel reporter contacted me the other day asking if I had any “Buyer Beware” stories about travel in Sicily. I told him about an awful experience at Bar Papisca in Canneto Beach on the island of Lipari (to read my post on magical Lipari click here) and then I told him about my only other bad experience traveling in Sicily, or anywhere in Italy.

Buyer beware, do not buy ceramics in Taormina and have them shipped home.

Sicily is famous for it’s spectacular ceramics. They are just beautiful. Hand painted, distinctive, uniquely Sicilian.
They harken to the stories of Sicily’s past and at the same time are ingrained into it’s present.

Ceramics on a balcony in beautiful Taormina

Taormina is not only one of the loveliest places in Sicily, but it is also one of the loveliest places in the world. I cannot wait to get back there again, hopefully next summer.

beautiful Taormina Sicily

Last year I bought some pieces of local ceramics in Taormina and dragged them around Italy with me for 5 weeks before heading home to the US. I loved the pattern so much that I decided to buy a complete dinnerset as well as additional pieces when I returned this year.

I was a little hesitant to ship a giant order home without a trial run, so (thankfully) I just purchased a few pieces to try out the shipping, with a plan to order and ship place settings for 10 if all went well.
Which it didn’t.

buyer-beware-dont-ship-ceramics-from-Taormina

buying some test pieces of ceramics in Taormina. Not all of these items got home in one piece.

I purchased the 5 pieces at a store called Sikania Ceramiche located at Via Luigi Pirandello 18 in Taormina. The shipping was expensive – 65 Euros including shipping insurance.

They informed me that it would take about a month to arrive, that they have special packaging that guarantees that everything arrives in one piece, and that infact no one had ever had anything arrive broken. But not to worry – if the package didn’t arrive or arrived damaged in any way there was insurance to cover it.

Cool.

Except, not cool.

The shipment arrived stateside about 3 weeks later, and I have to say the packaging was fantastic, the only problem was that when the ceramics were packed they were wedged in too tightly, and some of the pieces broke.

I telephoned Sikania Ceramiche the next morning and spoke to the store owner. When I told him that pieces had arrived broken he said that was impossible.
Then promptly decided that he no longer understood english, and hung up.

No problem – I have tons of friends in Italy, so I had one of them call him and conduct the conversation in Italian. The owner said yes he understood that I had goods arrive broken, and that he just needed me to email or text him photos. He gave my friend the cell phone number to text them to and the email address to email them to.

I immediately did both – texted him the pictures as well as emailed them.
Both of which he steadfastly ignored.
He ignored follow up emails too.

I have to say at this point that it shouldn’t have been a big deal. Replace the broken items – minimal cost to the store – keep the customer happy, and get a giant order for the rest of the set that I wanted.

Had Sikania Ceramiche actually purchased the shipping insurance that they charged me for, this wouldn’t be a problem, would it?

I mean no big deal – have me send back the broken pieces and just replace them. Insurance will pay for it all.
Which of course makes me think they didn’t actually buy the insurance and just pocketed the extra money.

Sicily is famous for it’s gorgeous ceramics.

And they are everywhere.

There are many options and many stores to buy them from.

All over Sicily.

Ceramics are everywhere in Taormia

But as some merchants own multiple stores, and allowing for the fact that in a small place like Taormina they all know one another,
there are probably others in town running the same dirty game.

So the way I see it you are better off to buy your ceramics elsewhere. Buy them in Ragusa or Giardini Naxos, Siracusa or Savoca. Just not in Taormina. And maybe only buy what you can carry back home in your luggage – avoid the shipping scam.

And avoid Sikania Ceramiche like the plague.

Corinna B October 24, 2014

Corinna B’s World Goes To Panarea

Panarea

The Aeolian Island where the jet set go to escape the rest of the jetset.

Or something like that.

The Corinna B’s World Glam Italia Tour spent some time here this summer. Panarea is very glamorous, and completely and utterly lovely.

Panarea-Corinna-B's-World-Glam-Italia-Tour

the main harbor in Panarea

This delicious island off of the north coast of Sicily has become the chicest summer spot in the Mediterranean.
But it’s not about out-doing the neighbors, or about flashy displays of wealth. It’s not the club scene of Ibiza, and you’ll probably (hopefully!) never see Lindsay or Paris here.

there are beautiful walkways everywhere

everywhere you look the colors are vibrant

Home owners include Borghese’s and Bulgari’s and Visconti’s.

Panarea is a safe haven from overbuilt vacation destinations.

If anything it is underbuilt. Beautiful private homes on streets with no street lights, no cars and no pretense, heady with frangipani and lemons, hibiscus flowers and wild cacti, it’s an island that you get around on on foot, the locals frequently navigating the winding cobblestoned paths barefoot.

my bikini matches the door….

Little hamlets such as San Pietro, Ditella and Drauto have the island’s few shops.

Here you can buy the highly coveted custom made leather sandals with colored straps that wind up the leg, or the batik fashions found at the Raya boutique. There are no designer shops here, although major designers name products after the island.

world famous sandal shop Moda Mare makes you sandals while you wait

You may however see some pretty fabulous designers visiting the island. Dolce and Gabbana come over from their home on nearby Stromboli, Giorgio Armani finds his way there from his home on Pantilleria on his super yacht.

Princess Caroline comes by on her yacht Pacha III, and there are invariably a handful of mega models and actresses arriving as guests of other yacht owners pulling in for the evening.

Panarea is charming, and very, very quiet.

It is surrounded by the bluest water I have ever seen, anywhere in the world.

the ocean around Panarea is the bluest I have ever seen

the best way to swim here is off a boat

There are not very many beaches, and they are a considerable hike to get to, but if you have access to a boat, swimming off of the coast of Panarea is one of the most glorious experiences ever. The water even feels soft and luxurious and the views are just breathtaking.

Panarea feels like a decadent secret hideaway, the loveliest of escapes.

4 Questions To Ask Yourself When Planning An International Vacation

Buyer Beware ~ Don’t Ship Ceramics From Taormina!

Corinna B’s World Goes To Panarea

Travelex Insurance

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