next steps

The fluctuating (mostly downwards) Australian dollar, in relation to the British pound and the Euro, has been stressing me a little lately, but I've decided that we're going regardless, and whatever will be will be.

My next step is to narrow down the apartment search in Rome, as we'll be there for nearly two weeks. I can live with a teensy Paris garret for 5 nights, but something a little roomier is required for the longer stay in Rome. My criteria are:

• preferably a separate bedroom (rather than a studio apartment).
• a reasonable kitchen/kitchenette - not planning any gourmet meals, but somewhere to cook simple food for the two of us when we want to eat in and prepare lunches to take with us most days.
• a decent bathroom - a bath would be nice, but a shower with reliable hot water will do just fine.
• a washing machine - we're planning to travel light, so we need washing facilities, and if it's in the apartment it's so much easier than hanging out at a laundromat. A lot of the rental apartments have washers or washer/dryers, so we should be right.
• internet connection/wifi. Probably around half the apartments I've looked at online are connected - some at extra cost, but many as part of the standard rental. We'll use it to keep in contact with the boys back home each day.
• I'd prefer not to be at ground level, just for a little added security, but would rather not have to walk up five or six floors. A higher floor with a lift would be lovely, for the views, but otherwise first or second, maybe third floor.
• I'd like to be fairly central - Trastevere, near the river perhaps, and closer to Tiberina Island than the Vatican, or on the other side of the river between Piazza Navona and the Monti area, not too far from the Roman Forum.

Bookings seem to be filling up for September/October, so time to start getting serious.

Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere, Roma, Italy
[photo: Damouns (Damien Boilley)]