Minimum Requirements

As we move from one place to another there are many things to do in order to live there instead of visit.  These are the steps that we find ourselves taking with each change of place:

1. Determine and scour the new country’s “craigslist” for sublets.

2. Book a hostel for the first night or two to facilitate apartment hunting (committing to an apartment without seeing it CAN be done, but can backfire).

3. Though ATMs are the best exchange rate, we often have cash from our previous stop that needs to be converted.  So, we try to find a place to change money without getting too reamed – airport banks suck, but everyone needs some cash in the local currency.

4. Find a temporary, and/or long term, method to access internet (in some countries, much harder/more expensive than others).

5. Establish communication – buy prepay SIM cards and calling plans for our unlocked phones.

6. Figure out transportation – rental car, public transport options, bicycles, walking.

7. Find an apartment with a bed large enough for Todd and a kitchen where we can cook.

8. Determine if the water is potable.

9. Search out a gym and/or pool, hopefully, near our apartment.

10. Check out the super/farmers’ markets in the area – buy olive oil.

We have been in Milan for five days now and have checked everything off our list. 

1. It turns out that www.bakeca.it is Italy’s online classifieds site of choice (google translate was a life saver for bakeca.it). 

2. We found a hostel (Arno) that we were able to walk to from central station and was convenient to the agencies and the apartments we needed to visit (it also had free wifi). 

3. Each country is different, but in Italy Kristina’s friend Phoebe happened to be able to exchange a couple hundred US with no commission or fee at 1% below Reuters.  (Thanks Phoebe!)

4. As for short term internet, see above.  As for long term, we shopped at the three main service providers and settled on an internet key and unlimited prepaid monthly package from Wind.

5. We found Wind to be the best also for pay-as-you-go without a contract. (12 Euro per month for 120 minutes and 120 SMS, 9 Euro per month for data, 5 Euro for SIM card).

6. For transportation, places like LA are easy… rent a car.  But, for most other places like here in Italy, public transportation is best and there are often many options – pay per segment, day, week, month.  Sometimes it seems a complicated algorithm is necessary to figure out what’s best.  Here, we have opted for the risk it occasionally and pay per segment other times.  We were almost caught today and are reconsidering our strategy.  We may begin paying for unlimited rides after that scare.  Todd’s heart was elevated for hours J

7.  In order to find a suitable apartment, we have to weigh location, air-conditioning, bed size, period flexibility versus price, washing machine, kitchen functionality, shower height and temperature, etc.  We have a great email template that we use when responding to an apartment listing to which we usually attach a photo.  (Worth mentioning is the fact that Kristina seems the get a much better response even though we both use the same template.)  After responding to no fewer than twenty, we have found a room for rent in an apartment with a single mom and, occasionally, up to three kids in the Porta Romana area.  The room has a really nice queen bed, we have our own private bath with pretty consistent flow and temperature, the kitchen has a gas stove and is pretty well equipped (just lacking a good cutting board), there is a washing machine with a strange and semi-functional drying rack system, and the best part is that we have great flexibility for no extra price.

8. Usually it is not too hard to determine if we need to buy bottled water or not.  Here, though, we cannot seem to get a straight answer and have therefore been buying bottled water.  We even went thirsty one night because we forgot to buy some.

9. In some countries, the agencies set us up with a gym.  In others, we are left to our own devices.  Here it was sort of a combination.  We were offered memberships to gyms that were not very convenient to where we live for good prices.  And then found gyms close to our apartment for ridiculously expensive prices.  Finally, today, we became members of LA Wellness for 90 Euros each for three months of which we will probably only use a month and a half or two.  But, it has a 25 meter pool, a sauna, and is relatively close to our apartment.

10.  Especially in Italy, cooking at home is important since eating out is ridiculously expensive (and not very healthy).  So we were happy to learn that there is an Esselunga superstore about two blocks from our house.  It has everything!!!  And now that we have a frequent shopper card, we get great deals!

As we were working out today, we were talking about how it seemed like it took a long time to get everything in order.  But we realized that it had been fewer than five days to accomplish all of the above.  Apparently we are becoming fairly efficient.