Holy shit, that outfit is utterly obscene. Italy is still quite a culturally conservative country, and I sincerely hope that "outfit" is just for sitting around a pool. I mean, it's still a retarded outfit no matter what it's meant for, but if she goes outside in that, hankerchiefed grannies will curse her out.
It's been a while since I popped into this thread and man am I regretting it. I used to work in an industry that took me around Italy, and I've spent time all over the country. (DM me if you want to switch up your normal Italian wine choices.) This area she's going to ... holy shit she must be fucking dying right now.
To be honest, when I first started reading the description of the tour, I was a bit intrigued. Despite the fact that Italy's cultural traditions are normally associated with men, there isn't a single Italian chef alive who didn't learn his recipes from his mother or grandmother, nor a designer who didn't know how to sew from the women in his family, yet the men overwhelmingly still get the spotlight. A tour that aims to emphasize the often-ignored female contributions to a still very patriarchal culture could be pretty cool if done right. ...And then I kept reading. And the tour quickly abandoned all pretenses of being anything except all about stuffing your face in between as few bouts of movement as possible.
Anyway, the region they're going to is actually one of Italy's poorest. People often have a really warped idea of how expensive Italy is to travel - Southern Italy can be downright dirt cheap. You can travel like an absolute queen on 200 euros a day, even 100 euros a day is really doable. Food is cheap af, all grown local, and it's a very vegetable-heavy diet. I mention this because the idea of paying a thousand euros a day for this vacation is utter insanity. They're literally paying for the privilege of having a motorized vehicle with them at all times, and even then they're overpaying back a factor of at least five.
Their time in Rome I don't really have thoughts on, but I'm suspicious at how little they do. Two days in one of the most historic cities on the planet? No museums, Coliseum, not even going to the Vatican, because those would involve waiting in line. Instead the emphasis is on getting plastered and full of cheese, ASAP.
Then they go to Matera, which is an absolute gem. HOWEVER. It's a city that's literally carved into rock in a big hill. (The more epic an Italian town is, the more likely it is to be smack dab on the top of a massive hill.) And the historic part (which is big) is completely pedestrianized, no cars allowed. What's utter insanity to me is that it sounds like most of their day here is spent in the hotel around the pool.
Ostuni is a great city, but AGAIN, it is HILLY AF. And pedestrianized. And Locorotondo is - gasp - ALSO on the top of a hill. Ditto with Polignano a Mare.
Anyways, the disclaimer they had is hilarious: Prepare to feel like shit about yourself and your body on this trip. Italians themselves are ruthless, but the country itself is the most ruthless of all. But don't worry, we'll be stopping to eat every two hours. I'm thinking all the gelato breaks are because most restaurants (especially in this region) won't open for dinner until 7:30, 8 pm.
I'm not surprised she's gone radio silent, I really think she may not be able to do the bare minimum this trip requires and has holed herself up in her air conditioned hotel room in between various meltdowns and temper tantrums.
