Random things to know about moving to Naples…

You will not usually get your house for a while if you are living off base. The process takes a long time so start looking right when you arrive in Italy.

One good thing about living on base is you will have the same outlets you use in the states as well as European outlets.

The commissary has most of the things it has in the states but they run out of stuff extremely fast.. and the food doesn’t last..

You will smell burning trash when you walk out your front door. You also will see random fires on the sides of the highways/streets..(and you will not see fire trucks en route..)

Do not bring a nice car to Italy.. Italians drive like they are in bumper cars.

Itay is not cheaper than the United States.. Actually things seem to be more expensive.

Don’t let the Military tell you not to bring tall furniture. The houses in Italy are all just about the same height if not higher than the ones I have lived in the States.

Gas is extremely expensive. You get a certain amount of gas at a discounted price from the military but it is not enough if you are going to be traveling around Italy in your car.

The water is not even safe enough for your animals to drink..  Most people don’t even use it to boil water.

If you usually hit up the ATM before you go out.. go to the base and use the ATM there.. if you try and find an ATM out in town.. GOOD LUCK.. and when you do, good luck trying to get in to use the ATM.. usually you have to have a bank card from that bank to get in and use the ATM. Most places only accept cash.

We have not found a place to buy ice other than at the base. Apparently they don’t sell ice here in Italy..

Bring a GPS that you have already downloaded European maps on, or buy one here. Even with a GPS you will get lost and frustrated.

Always have euro coins on you when driving, you will hit a toll road somewhere..

Tipping in not normal in Italy from what I have read. Only 10-20% of people tip in Italy and that is if your service is exceptional. We have continued to tip though and we have heard that 4-5% is a good tip..

Check out this website it is like craigslist for Naples- http://www.naplesallhands.com/

This website is where I got my tipping info-  http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/eurotips.htm

Also go on Living Abroad in Naples Italy on Facebook. It is a group where you can ask questions or just read peoples questions and get a lot of answers.

Sponsors... and what info you need to know!

Just a quick note.. When moving to another county the military usually assigns a sponsor. This is someone to assist you with your move. The worst thing is getting a sponsor that doesn’t want to be a sponsor.  When we told our sponsor that we had 4 animals he quickly said there is no hotel that is going to allow you to have that many pets. I luckily had a contact on Facebook and asked her if she knew of any places that allow you to have pets and she told me that he knew the Hotel Agora allowed you to have pets. So, I contacted them and asked if they allowed pets and they said yes they did. Without checking around, we had our sponsor book this hotel. He had to get a letter from the Navy Lodge saying they were full and couldn’t accept us. (They only allow you to have two animals.) We arrived at the Hotel Agora and were very dissatisfied for many reasons. The room was very small, they told us we couldn’t leave our “do not disturb” sign up because we had animals, you cannot allow your animals to use the restroom anywhere on their property (you have to go across the street to a dirt lot that is full of trash and tons of dog feces that isn’t picked up), they charge you 5 euro a day for each pet and their customer service is terrible. After staying at the Agora for one month we searched on www.booking.com, and www.escapio.com and found a hotel in the area that was much cleaner, nicer, friendlier and free for pets. (A lot of hotels in Italy do not charge for pets).

I think the reason the military usually recommends the Hotel Agora is because they have a shuttle service that picks you up from the hotel and takes you to the Support Site and Capo base. If you have a good sponsor you can figure something out.  In the first few weeks here you will be going to Support Site every day for your Area Orientation (this is where you will get your Italian driver license and all the information you need for living in Italy).

As far as shipping cars goes I would not ship a nice car to Italy. Your car will not be nice for long. We have been in Italy for about a month and a half and been hit once already. If you have two cars then you should ship your older paid off car a while before you come to Italy so that you have it when you get here, then sell or store your other car.  Insurance is also very expensive so keep that in mind.

Bringing Animals to Italy from the United States..

Bringing Animals to Italy from the United States..

For families that need to relocate to Europe this is the post for you. Most pets are considered part of the family now days.. at least that was how we felt about our pets. There are many things to prepare if you are going to be bringing your pets to Italy. If you live near a military veterinarian then you are golden, if not then you will have your work cut out for you. First thing is your animals need to be old enough for a rabies shot because they need a rabies shot at least 6 months prior to traveling but before 30 days prior to traveling. The animals will also need international microchips. If you don't get the international chips then you will need to purchase the proper scanner for the regular chip, which ends up costing a lot more than just getting another chip. You will want your animal to have the international chip in Europe because that is what they will scan for if your animal is lost and happens to find its way to someone who will scan it. Next you will need to get them in for their health certificates which have to be in English and Italian. This health certificate is only good for 10 days so plan according to when you will be flying out. If you get this health certificate from the military veterinarian then you do not need to get the USDA to endorse it. If you get the health certificate from a civilian veterinarian then you will need to go to your local USDA office and have them endorse it. You may even need to overnight it to them.. but remember they are not open on weekends.

As far as the crates and dishes that you will need, call the airline you are flying on and they will give you the exact information. I do know that Delta will allow you to crate two same species together which may be less stressful for your animal and cheaper.

If your animals are flying on a separate plane than you, then you will have some more work on your hands. I recommend that you do what you can to have them fly on the plane you are on to avoid more complications such as custom fees and the fact that they no longer will fly animals from cargo into Naples. You will have to drive to Rome to get them.

Problems we ran into were that the military booked us on Delta Airlines. Delta allows you to bring all your animals if you are traveling because of a PCS. (regardless of breed embargo during the summer) But the problem was that we were not only flying on Delta we were also flying on Alitalia which did not have the same regulations. HUGE PROBLEM... we didn't find out until days before that they only had room for one out of our four animals. We had to pay a private shipping company to ship them on another airline. Lufthansa airlines seems to be the best airline to fly with animals. They will also ship animals in a cargo plane but they only work with private animals shipping companies.. after we paid for our animals to be shipped we then had to drive to Rome to pick them up from the airport. It was a very long process. You will have to have them review all the paper work for the animals at customs, then they have an Italian veterinarian examine the animals and charge you for that. That cost around 60 euro per pet and you cannot pay credit card or cash. You have to go to the post office and get something similar to a money order. It was very unorganized and took about 5 hours total. I would avoid shipping animals on a cargo plane. Don't be confused with shipping animals in cargo and on cargo planes. It is different animals in cargo under the plane you are on is the way to go, shipping them on a separate cargo plane is not cheap or easy..

Once you get to Italy check in with the base veterinarian. They will tell you certain diseases in the area that your animals can catch if they don't have the proper protection. Such as sand flies that can cause a disease called Leishmaniasis.  I have worked with animals for years and never heard of this. They have collars that look like those stupid flea collars that are supposed to protect your dog from getting this disease. I think it is mostly for dogs that are left outside alone alot.

Hope this helps...