3 THINGS TO BEAR IN MIND

And a FREE e-book for your children.

As this 2020 virus is relenting the grasp on Europe and Asia you are thinking that it is not a bad idea to dream and make plans - at least – about leaving on holidays as soon as you can. So keep in mind these THREE IMPORTANT THINGS:

Photo by Explorica

General sentiment

As you can see in this article from Forbes, there is today  in Europe a sense of normalcy and perspective that seems to be lacking in the United States. "Despite the challenges, it won’t be this way forever," says John Lovell, president of leisure travel and supplier relations and networks at Travel Leaders Group. "Travel and tourism is a highly resilient industry that has come back again and again from diseases and natural disasters."

Industry watchers like Lovell predict a quick bounce back for tourism, despite the current doom-and-gloom headlines. They point out that travel rebounded quickly after other pandemics and disasters, including 9/11.

"You have to assess your own risk tolerance, take reasonable and prudent precautions, and make smart decisions about your travel," he adds. "Right now, there are amazing travel deals to destinations all over the world."

Health

At the same time, the official Schengen website you are remembered to consider two important points. These are completely appealing to common sense, and do not sound like ominous or discouraging: these are facts.

Your age. The elderly, especially those over the age of 80, are the ones most endangered for complications of the coronavirus disease, whereas ages 10 – 39 have shown relatively low fatality rates (approximately 0.2%). That does not mean that you have a lower chance of infection if you are younger, only that you have a lower chance of the disease becoming fatal. You can still become infected and spread the disease around.

Your medical history. People with pre-existing conditions are also more susceptible to become seriously ill from the coronavirus than those who were previously healthy. If you suffer from any respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, cancer, etc., you should reconsider traveling.

Family

Of course in RHI we understand that you are concerned about your children during your  “family time”. So we would like to share – as promised – this little FREE E-BOOK

to talk and explain to your children about this peculiar and demanding stage in their lives.

The book – aimed primarily at children aged 6-11 years old – is a project of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Reference Group on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings, a unique collaboration of United Nations agencies, national and international nongovernmental organizations and international agencies providing mental health and psychosocial support in emergency settings.

Google Images

We are RHI, and we care about your time in our country; let's make it worth and pleasurable.

1 OPPORTUNITY LEFT!

Make your speech on nowadays opportunity worth. 

As we hear many people talking about China and the Opportunity the virus represents, trying to be constructive and motivating, we went to document ourselves.

The following article is mostly from Wikipedia.

The term wēijī (in traditional Chinese it's 危機) is frequently invoked in motivational speeches together with the untrue statement that the characters of which it is composed represent both the concept of "crisis" and that of "opportunity".

In reality, the claim is borrowed from the erroneous belief in the United States that the two characters mean one "danger" and the other "opportunity". Many linguists consider this idea a colorful pseudo-etymology, since "jī" alone does not necessarily mean "opportunity".

Victor H. Mair of the University of Pennsylvania called the popular interpretation of weijī in the English-speaking world a "widespread misconception". In fact, wēi (危) roughly means "danger, dangerous; endanger, represent a danger; perilous; precipitous, precarious; tall; fear, fearful" (as in wēixiăn 危险, "dangerous"), but the word polysema jī (机) does not necessarily mean "opportunity".

The composition jīhuì (机会) means "opportunity", but jī is only a part of it; jī has many meanings, including "machine, mechanic; airplane; suitable occasion; crucial point; pivot; incipient moment; opportune, opportunity; occasion; key connection; secret; deception". Mair suggests that jī in wēijī is closer to "crucial point" than to "opportunity".

Benjamin Zimmer retraced the history of weiji in English back to an anonymous editorial in a missionary newspaper in China. 

The use of the term probably gained its importance when John F. Kennedy gave a speech in Indianapolis on April 12, 1959: "Written in Chinese the word crisis is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity."

Kennedy used this trope regularly in his speeches and later Richard M. Nixon and others made it their own. The use has been adopted by financial advisors and motivational speakers and has gained great popularity in universities and the popular press. For example, in 2007, Condoleezza Rice repeated the misunderstanding during the peace negotiations for the Middle East, and Al Gore did so in his testimony before the Energy and Commerce Commission of the United States House of Representatives, and in his thank you speech for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Some linguists have attributed the success of this bad interpretation to having it at hand as a rhetorical tool and as an "optimistic call to arms".

We are RHI, and we care about your time in our country; let's make it worth and pleasurable.

NO EXCUSES!
It's Friday, and you know it!

Another week has come and gone in Italy and, probably, it's the same in the rest of the world.
It's been a busy week and we are re-organizing to be ready for the moment you'll decide to come back visitng. You know you will.

As we say in Italy: WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS, YOU PREPARE LIMONCELLO.
And we are ready to share it with you.

We Italians are famous for the "mamma mia!" expression and our turbulent attitude; but we have a secret weapon to defuse uneasy moments: happiness. It's in our DNA!

After the first moment of uncertainty and discomfort we are ready to face the situation with a lighter hart and the approach to it becomes more efficient as fear is no longer with us.
And of course the solution will come from the people, then from their families and then from their cities.
We sort out probles with elegance and style; it is a world-wide known fact.

The weekend is coming, but also the end of the bad times is.

Are you ready?

We are RHI, and we care about your time in our country. Let's make it worth and pleasureable.

LUNCH TIME AND NO FOOD?
Come to Italy, we'll take care!

You like food, so your trip to Italy is half-way ready.

Food is for Italians part of an old-time tradition, radicated in the hard times of the first settlers, in the south of Italy.
Back then you spared your energies between cultivating land and defending it from the tribes around you. Eating was frugal and scarce, based on cheese, vegetables and some grains.

Eating well at home, or with friends in special occasions became a "must" for families to demostrate status and wealth.

So when in Italy remember: a meal is necessarily a relaxing moment, a reward, therefore, a pleasure.

Come to Italy, discover the variety of produces and taste local products. It's good for your health and your soul: there is every single town tradition in them, craftmanship, and love.

We are RHI, and we care about your time in our country; let's make it worth and pleasurable.

IT'S COMING: LOOK BUSY!
(You only have two weeks left).

Spring is here and two weeks is all you need to make your plans and pack for a nice spring-break in the beautiful Napoli and the enchanting surrounding areas.
The sun is already hitting and the temperature is rising and making Spring - the Love season - a perfect period to visit one among the the world-famous cities of the South of Italy.

The south: AT LEAST 400 miles from any place you've been warned of in the news.
The south: a place where just because you're a foreigner they'll love you most and offer all help.

Naples is the city tat inspired Johann Wolfgang Goethe to say: "In Neaples everyone lives in an inebriated self-forgetfulness. The same happens for me too. I barely recognize myself and I seem to be quite another man. Yesterday I thought: "Either you were crazy before, or you are now.""

Beyond the considerably vast choice of hotels and B&B's, the surrounding of Naples have a lot of campings that are well connected and can make a travelling family very satisfied.

And the food choice: we'll leave the blog @FoodDrinkDest to do the talking!

Stil not packing? So we'll resume it for you:

1 - Napoli is NOT among quaratined destinations.
The closest one is 400 miles away.

2 - There is plenty of charming B&B's and Campings.
Seasonal business means  no contagion possibility, AND a lot of family fun!

3 - Cultural, gastronomic, romantic & family-bound.
Whaterver you look for: start packing, no excuses.

We are RHI and we care about your time in our country: let's make it worth and pleasurable.

BREAKING NEWS! NO SANITARY EMERGENCY.

We just learn from this article in Cope.es that a group of 61 students has left Spain towards Italy some days ago.

The happy teacher explains in the available audio that after talking with Health Spanish Authorities, the health committee of Andalucia and the Spanish Consulate in Italy, he has been told that there is NO sanitary emergency.

Keep your thoughts clear from fear, check facts, keep calm and ... travel to Italy!

We are RHI and we care about your time in our country: let's make it worth and pleasurable.

FINALLY: Italy is a safe country!

For additional information click here.

It is safe to live in Italy and it is safe to travel to Italy.

Only 12 out of 7904 Italian cities are affected by such measures:

•             Lombardy: Bertonico, Casalpusterlengo, Castelgerundo, Castiglione D'Adda, Codogno, Fombio, Maleo, San Fiorano, Somaglia, Terranova dei Passerini.

•             Veneto: Vo’ Euganeo

The remainder of the country, including the Italian regions where the cities in temporary isolation are located, is safe and accessible. All services and activities for citizens and tourists are normally provided and the quality of life, for which Italy is famous world-wide, remains high.

For additional information, please consult the following links:

•             Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation

•             Ministry of Health

•             National Institute of Health

•             EpiCentro, portal of epidemiology for public health

•             World Health Organization

The Italian National Health System, among the most efficient in the world, immediately implemented procedures directed at safeguarding citizens and tourists. Intense controls made it possible for the Italian Government to monitor and contain the spreading of Covid-19 from the earliest diffusion outside the Chinese borders.

The adoption of extraordinary preventive actions, such as the temporary closure of several sites or the suspension of several events, represents cautionary measures which have nothing to do with the spreading of the virus throughout the Italian territory. All services and activities for citizens and tourists are normally provided and the quality of life, for which Italy is famous world-wide, remains high.

MiBACT - Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale

Ministero della Salute

3 GOOD REASONS FOR NOT PANIKING ON CORONAVIRUS

I am healthy despite living in Italy and visiting Asia already twice in 2020. Miracle? No.

On the World Health Organization (WHO) official website there is a video  http://bit.ly/2VjweL8 about it all; from the beginning till today. It reports some Standard Hygiene Measures, that are not far from a healthy person’s routine: cover mouth and nose when sneezing or coughing; avoiding intimate contact with those who are showing sick; washing hands frequently. These things should be observed daily by anyone; don’t  we all do, already?

Furthermore on February 21^st the Italian State released an official information about its position as follows:  http://bit.ly/39YU8PV. So, if you are rightfully concerned, keep in mind:

1 – Apply everyday’s hygienic procedures.

               It helps preventing a lot more disgusting things to happen.

2 – Do not go to the black-listed cities.

               Must you, really?

3 – Keep calm and carry on.

               As many other disease, if reported on time, it can be cured.

See you soon!