3 steps to budget your family holiday.
And a huge SPOILER ALERT!

So, all the Corona-thing is settling and fading in Europe; numbers are in the negative trend and people are cautiously re-opening everything again.
Sounds great!

So you allow yourself some self-indulging dreams about the coming holidays.

We did then some readings for you and found out on the economy page of Dave Ramsey some good suggestions:

1. Choose the top places you’d like to go.
On the surface, this may seem the easiest (and most fun) step of all. But it does bring with it some extra questions. Does the budget limit where you can go? Does your destination affect whether you plan it yourself or hire a travel agent? Drive or fly? Make sure to be clear on this one because the more you know, the better you can plan and the more expenses you can anticipate.

2. Set a budget.
The vacation is the finish line. Here, you mark out the steps it takes to get there. Determine how much you want to spend on everything from hotels to gasoline to souvenirs and meals. If you decide something is too expensive, scale it back or cross it off the list. Get your plan in place so you know your plan of attack.

3. Look for deals.
You can find websites all over the internet that can help you score deals on hotels, amusement park tickets, airline travel and so on. Make sure you look for bargains after you set the budget for two reasons. First, once you know what you want to spend, you have a better idea of where you can save. Second, it’s a great morale boost to see that you are coming in under budget (once you have one) when you find a deal.

BUT... BUT, WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN?

We went through some blogs and we specially liked the Momshoppingnetwork hints:

All the above will be highly influenced by the ages of your children. Talking about what they like will help you decide if a potential destination will be a good fit.
Think about their interests, hobbies, and activities. Anything and everything that might shed some light and help you decide if your idea is a good idea for everyone.
Another thing to think about when planning is if there is a huge age span between your kids. You'll want to make sure there is something for everyone on your trip.
You want the younger kids to have fun but at the same time don't want to bore the older kids. You might have to have a day where you cater to each age group, and the others will have to patiently enjoy the activity, whatever it may be.

If you want to know more we also suggest you to see our previous blogs:

3 tips for travelling to Italy with children
1 place you must visit outside Rome

SPOILER ALERT:
Do not miss tomorrow’s blog: Why you should let your Tour Operator to take care of all this, while you relax.

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

1 FREE ITALIAN LESSON.

It's about time to give you the upgrade and 10 minutes of FUN!

You have been out and about in Italy; so it's time to give a small rewarding upgrade in recognition for all your efforts in communicating with locals and surviving even as you had no knowledge of the language.

A new emoji on the rise

We will leave this task to Mr. Aurucci, a seasoned, through and true Neapolitan gentleman, who will introduce you to our extensive world of sign language.

After some minutes in his video, you will be naturally able to use complete sentences and make yourself understood.

Whithout even speaking.

Daydreaming about your next trip to Italy? Start learning, and you will bring joy and enthusiasm with your new skills also to us Italians.

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

1 PLACE YOU MUST VISIT OUTSIDE ROME
There are actualy more...!

We continue with a selection of places that are worth visiting for their culture and history; where family can be entertained, need for knowledge satisfied and, most important, children can get some fresh air and run around.

TIVOLI.
Located east of Rome, at less than 1 hour drive from the city center of Rome, it is a small town on thop of a hill.
The main attractions are (if you do not have the whole day to visit) Villa Adriana (Hadrian's Villa) and Villa D'Este. There is also Villa Gregoriana, a park developing into a gorge with a beautiful natural waterfall. A really tempting walk, as it is all downhill, but when you are looking back to return, it is a steep way up; you must consider it.
You can find some nice organized tours here, for Tivoli. You can arrange them on your own, or leave it to us. We suggest you have a look, however.

VILLA ADRIANA

The villa was constructed at Tibur (modern-day Tivoli) as a retreat from Rome for Roman Emperor Hadrian during the second and third decades of the 2nd century AD. Hadrian is said to have disliked the palace on the Palatine Hill in Rome, leading to the construction of the retreat. It was traditional that the Roman emperor had constructed a villa as a place to relax from everyday life. Previous emperors and Romans with wealth, such as Trajan, had also constructed villas. Many villas were also self-sustaining with small farms and did not need to import food.

The complex contains over 30 buildings, covering at least a square kilometre (250 acres, an area larger than the city of Pompeii), of which much is still unexcavated.

The complex of the villa contains many structures from different cultures. For example, the villa has a small Nile river running through it that relates back to the Egyptian Nile river. Also, the villa had Poikilos, which are Greek figures that were seen in ancient Greece. Within all the structures in the villa, there is also a grotto called Hades. All these structures relate back to where Emperor Hadrian visited during his reign.

VILLA D'ESTE

The Villa d'Este is a 16th-century villa in Tivoli, near Rome, famous for its terraced hillside Italian Renaissance garden and especially for its profusion of fountains. It is now an Italian state museum, and is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site.

The fame and glory of the Villa d'Este was above all established by its extraordinary system of fountains; fifty-one fountains and nymphaeums, 398 spouts, 364 water jets, 64 waterfalls, and 220 basins, fed by 875 meters of canals, channels and cascades, and all working entirely by the force of gravity, without pumps.

The result is one of the finest gardens of the Renaissance, rivaled only by the Villa Lante, the Villa Farnese at Caprarola and the Villas Aldobrandini and Torlonia in Frascati. The garden and water features were admired and imitated over the centuries in gardens from Portugal to Saint Petersburg.

More to come in our next blog; we like to know you travel prepared and have it planned ahed to maximize your fun, enjoy your holiday, and make all your family happy.

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

GET BETTER SOON!
We'll see you soon around, or a Wishing Well postcard from Italy.

As we wait for the results for the race to the cure of this contemporary virus and as we rediscover the beauty of spending more time at home while silencing the monitors with all their bad news, we think of you.
We think of all your dreams undone because of a cancelled trip, of your expecations for visiting the many treasures of our country, of your desire to make an even better trip as soon as you can.

So here, in RHI, we are preparing more and better, to be ready when you will be.
We are selecting our guides, our suppliers, our hotels and are really looking forwad to proving that we have not been sitting idle all this time.

Gest well soon, to all our friends around the world; see you soon!

Oh, the picture is not still from a movie. It's a statue carved in 1621 by a 23 years old guy, by the name of Bernini. One of the many, yes 😊

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.

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.

NOW YOU KNOW: COFFEE IS THE  THING!

When visiting Italy, it may happen that you are meeting nice people or even someone you are doing business with. You will shake hands as it is customary, but we really suggest YOU do the first move towards friendship and a less formal moment: suggest having a coffee.

In the blog of theculturetrip.com you can read amazing stories about origins and traditions, together with the many types of coffe that you can ask during one of your stops in any Italian bar.

In the Youtube video from ChefSteps you are shown how to make a great coffe with a Moka pot, at home and in no time. It's simple and not at all expensive.




So NOW YOU KNOW:

1 - Coffee is always the right suggestion.
Any time, but not any amount: it's strong!

2 - Espresso is part of a culture.
It is a pause to energise or a moment you share with someone.

3 - It is not difficult to make at home.
And it can amaze your friends when you prepare it!

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

YOU CAN STILL HAVE A FUN WEEKEND IN ITALY!
While crowded places can be a little akward in these days here goes a suggestion by #RHI on where to go and enjoy fresd air, open spaces, tradition, culture and, of course, true and tasty food.

Roma has a variety of small towns and villages within 10 miles, each of them proudly upholding their own identity and easy to go around on your own pace. 

 The Castelli Romani is a belt of small villages south of Rome; on green hills famous for their wineyards and landscapes. Great for family time and fitness lovers.

Tarquinia is a peaceful village north of Rome; with most of the Etruscan civilization remains, dating from times before the Romans even existed. Good for culture, mistery, a walk back in time and dedicated (now empty) museums.

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

3 TIPS TO OBTAIN VISA SMOOTHLY

So, you have decided to come to Italy and are wondering if you need a Visa.

If you are not holding a European Community Passport (for instance U.K.) you will find these infos useful.

Have a look at this link to see the laws and requirements in detail: it’s from the Schengen Visa Info official website. As they suggest you could also log in to the VFS Global Website and select the VFS office closest to you. They are in three metro cities- Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata so select the one with the closest jurisdiction. For instance if you are from Shimla, your nearest centre will be to apply for a Visa from Delhi. If you are from Hyderabad, your centre will be Mumbai. Similarly for Eastern India and Nepal, your centre will be Kolkata. That is to say that Consulate General of Italy in Mumbai will accept applications from residents of the States of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu; the Union Territories of Daman, Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Lakshadweep and Pondicherry.

Which documents are required when applying for a Italy Schengen Visa? As Ishita proposes in her blog you will nedd to have in your hands:

Application form signed by the person traveling (which is you!)

Confirmed ticket or reservation of return.

Income proof that shows that you have the means to travel to a foreign country. A No Objection letter from your place of work works well.

Six-months stamped Statement of Accounts from your bank (Have enough balance to show that you can sustain yourself during your travel.)

Form 16 from the past 3 years.

Overseas Medical Insurance covering up to EUR 30,000. Extra copies of Passport.

Proof of stay in Italy.

If your stay is sponsored, a Letter of Invitation from your Sponsor in Italy.

A Schengen approved passport sized photograph. For more details refer to this link.

1 – Remember to apply for Visa in the Consulate of the Country you will first land.

Only one application wil do.

2 – visit the VFS Global Website.

3 – Have ALL your documents ready before even making an enquiry.

…and we shall see you soon in Italy!