How I ended up in Italy

Disclaimer: This is not a "how to plan a trip to Italy" post.  This is a "how I planned a trip to Italy" post.  It's not the only or best way.  But it got the job done.

1. I decided I wanted to go to Italy.  That part was easy.  Did that years ago.
2. In June '09, Jeff and I decided we'd go in Spring 2010.  And we started saving money right away.
3. I talked about going to Italy for months and months.  Told everyone we were going to Italy in the Spring.
4. Started worrying that I was talking about going to Italy, but not actually planning.
5. I quit my job.  Well, I gave notice anyway, but kept working.
6. Finally, in January, I started looking at plane tickets.  I think I looked at travelocity and expedia.  I looked around at different prices and dates, etc.  And I just looked.
7. I talked with Jeff about what I found about plane tickets.  Decided we would go for three weeks.  Mostly because we knew there was a lot we'd want to see and we figured it was cheaper to stay longer and see more than to have to go back some other time.  (Even though I HOPE we still go back some other time.) And if being gone that long made things difficult when it came to finding a new job, well, we'd just have to work it out.
8. I bought plane tickets.  (I think it's important to just look around for a while and see what's out there.  And then buy later.  At least it was for me.)
9. Picked which cities we wanted to go to.  Here are the cities I picked and the reasons I picked them:

• Rome - Duh.  Of course you go to Rome.
• Florence - Sandra Bullock's character from While You Were Sleeping wanted to go to Florence.
• Venice - I hear it's cool.
• Milan - I don't know... I hear there's a fashion show?  That we won't go to?
• Turin - The Shroud.
• Cinque Terre - click here.  You'll understand.
• Pisa - The leaning tower.
• Rome again - our flight leaves from Rome.

10. Talked more about going to Italy.
11. Decided which nights would be spent where.  We decided two in Rome, three in Florence, two in Venice (because Elizabeth Gilbert said in her book Eat, Pray, Love that she didn't like Venice that much,)  three in Milan, two in Turin, five in Cinque Terre, one in Pisa and two in Rome.
12. Made sure there were trains that would take us from city to city.  Tried to understand the rail system.  Failed.  Hoped that it would work out anyway.
13. Stressed more about not planning more.  Specifically, I worried that the longer I waited, the more expensive the rooms would be.
14. Started looking at rooms.  Planned out where we'd stay and how much it would cost.
15. Waited several weeks.  Tried to books rooms.  Discovered they were no longer available.  Started over.
16. Searched kayak.com for rooms.  Spent HOURS looking for rooms.  Seriously, I probably spent an hour and a half on rooms for each city.  And we were staying in 7 cities.  Looked at pictures.  Read reviews.  Looked at maps.  Looked at how close they were to train stations.  Was breakfast included?
17. Finally started booking rooms.
18. Created spreadsheet.  Spreadsheet contains info like: date, city, hotel, address, check in time, check out time, breakfast included?, cost, etc.
19. Printed mini maps from Google maps.
20. Did laundry.
21. Packed.
22. Got on a plane.

It's that easy!