Everybody loves an upgrade! We all appreciate a roomier airplane seat or a swankier hotel room. The theme of this month’s newsletter is how to elevate your trip without depending on the generosity of some airline or hotel chain.
Plan to take a culture break. No, it’s not free, but you might be surprised at how little it costs in some destinations. Read on to find out about:
The dirty little secret of Venice.
Finding bargains at the box office in Europe.
Affordable culture break and a FREE tour in Vietnam.
In the News: update on Apple Air Tag luggage tracking.
My Hate/Love Relationship with Venice, Italy
I’m just back from a weekend break in Venice. It was my fourth visit to this historic city. Each time I try to love it. And I really, really don’t.
Flashback to the 1970s when I was prowling the through the maze of canals as a high school exchange student. Hopelessly lost, despite my little paper map.
It’s 2022 and I’m still hopelessly lost. Siri is telling me to turn left or right on a street that seems to be nowhere near my actual location. And I’m not the only one.
Venice is jam-packed with throngs of people staring at their phones. They only time they look up, it seems, is when they decide to block the entire street or bridge for their own personal selfie.
The dirty little secret of Venice is that it’s not like you see in people’s vacation pictures, which make it look like you have the place all to yourself. The reality is a constant scrum of people who are hell-bent on capturing every possible Insta-worthy moment, no matter who or what might be in their way. And this was in the off-peak season, mid-October.
Please put down your phone for a second. Take a close look at the thick layers of greenish scum that have been collecting at the waterline for centuries. Then take in the smell, redolent of poop that probably dates back to the Renaissance. And then realize that, while you were trying to appreciate the surroundings, someone has rifled through your purse. And stolen your opera tickets.
Fortunately, the thief didn’t have time to invade the secret pocket with my money and I-D. As for the tickets, the box office at Teatro La Fenice was able to verify my online purchase and issue new vouchers.
The performance of La Fille du Regiment by Donizetti was pure bliss. Especially the moment when the tenor delivered all 8 high-C’s in a famous aria. The audience went nuts, so he did it twice.
I’ll have more on La Fenice on the blog. For now, the takeaway is that the few hours I spent in this historic theater were a welcome respite from the streets of this sadly over-touristed destination. Instant upgrade! Worth every eurocent, and a bit of planning ahead.
Box Office Bargains in Europe
If opera is not your thing, keep in mind that the following tips also apply to dance, drama and concerts. Expensive cities have more expensive tickets, but comparable to what you’d spend in the USA, or significantly less.
Getting tickets to Teatro La Scala in Milan can be a challenging and expensive. But it’s famous for a reason and we felt we got more than our money’s worth. I couldn’t say the same about the opera festival at the Roman amphitheater in Verona. It’s cheaper ticket, but a different experience.
Teatro La Fenice in Venice was about half the price of the La Scala tickets for comparable front-row box seats. And not much more than the cheapest nosebleed tickets in Los Angeles. Also consider the excellent Teatro Verdi opera house in Trieste.
Be wary of tickets that seem too good to be true. I snagged seats at Vienna’s famous Staatsoper for just 14 euros each, only to learn from the ticket-taker that I had purchased “hear-platz,” meaning we could hear the opera but not see it. This made five hours of Wagner seem much longer.
You can attend two operas at two different opera houses in Paris in one weekend. The more modern Opera Bastille is considerably less pricey than the splendid Palais Garnier, made famous by the Phantom of the Opera. And the Bastille ushers encouraged us to move up to more expensive seats that were empty.
When planning your trip dates, check what’s on the website at the “national theater” or “opera house” of the destination. You might find that the theater is closed during the summer — artists need their August holiday, too. Shifting the date of your trip might give you more options.
If London, Paris and Milan are out of your price range, head a little off the beaten path for a less expensive night at the theater. Bratislava and Budapest are alternatives to Vienna, for example. Plovdiv, Bulgaria hosts an excellent outdoor opera festival in a small Roman theater with good acoustics. The Croatian national theater in Zagreb is also worth checking.
Certain times of the year are reserved for child-friendly performances. We loved seeing the local equivalent of the Nutcracker in Tbilisi, with all of the little twirling ballerinas in the aisles during the intermission. It’s one of my top 5 tips for visiting Georgia.
My all-time cheapest ticket was for a good cause: only 5 euros for a gala evening of dance in Ljubljana, Slovenia to benefit Ukrainian war refugees. Of course, I was happy to donate more to the relief fund as I exited the theater. Slovenia’s national ballet and opera companies are a good value for high-quality performances all year long.
Enjoying the opera: Smart “business casual” is the dress code these days at most European opera houses. Don’t forget to look up the story of the opera or ballet before you go; European theaters don’t give out paper programs like you might expect in the US. And don’t be late: you can’t be seated until the first intermission.
Culture Break Around the World
Turkey has added its own spin to the tradition of opera. We were fortunate to catch an outdoor performance of Rossini’s Il Turco in Italia. The visiting Turkish nobleman became the hero of the opera with a splendid parade of exotic live animals. We also attended an opera written in Turkish on the grounds of the Topkapi Palace.
The European tradition of grand opera isn’t the only way to take a culture trip. Don’t miss the much-loved Thang Long Water Puppet Theater in Vietnam. It’s a must if you want to tour Hanoi like a local. This post also tells you how to sign up for a FREE tour of the city with Hanoi kids, local college students who want to practice their English with a native speaker.
In the News: Update on Apple Air Tags
We hate it when travel rumors set off a panic.
Last month I reviewed Apple Air Tags on a trip with Lufthansa. If you missed it, watch the video here:
Shortly after, Lufthansa issued a statement appearing to ban the devices. The apparent concern stemmed from the CR2032 “button” batteries that power the luggage trackers. However, the FAA has since clarified in a statement that the amount of lithium in the batteries is too small to violate airline safety standards. Lufthansa now confirms that you are welcome to track your bag with an Air Tag.
Travel with Terry: What’s Next?
A big part of the local culture is FOOD! Coming soon on the blog: foraging for forest-to-table food in Slovenia. And a few unforgettable reasons to visit Lake Bled at any time of year, not just in the crowded summer months. The joy of traveling in the off-season is the theme for next month’s newsletter. Please SUBSCRIBE so you don’t miss it!
Let me know…
Did you have a memorable culture break on a recent trip? Tell me about it in the comments. And if you’ve made it this far, I confess that I did find a few peaceful moments in Venice. I got up early one morning in search of fresh-baked bread. I found the streets empty of tourists. Only a few of the hardy local souls who still manage to live here. Respect.