# Infrastructure Good?



## danapoint (Sep 29, 2013)

My wife and I are planning a move to Europe form USA. Purpose is to spend a year traveling rather than flying across the pond all the time. We are 6 months from retirement and in our 60s with excellent health: fingerscrossed. The plan is to move early Fall 2014. We need a nice city/region we can call home for the year plus and have local infrastructure that facilitates travel to European and Mediteranean locations.

If we have a great time we would stay longer, even expatriate. 

Our early choice is Abruzzo, Italy. Basic reasons:

- Airport and train in Pescara
- Close to Rome international airport
- Quiet and slow for off travel time,
- Housing flexibility and moderate costs
- Healthcare seems good
- Good climate

One of our uncertainties is big city vs. small. We presently live outside Los Angeles so we are comfortable traveling into the city vs. living in the city. Trade offs?

If our assumptions about the Abruzzo area are off please advise as we are rookies having only experienced Europe on 3 short two week trips: England, France, and Italy.

As seniors our language skills are on the decline, if I remember that correctly

Thats the short story!

We would appreciate good/bad comments on Abruzzo and other locations as we are not committed. All comments appreciated. Thanks in advance.


----------



## pudd 2 (Dec 10, 2008)

danapoint said:


> My wife and I are planning a move to Europe form USA. Purpose is to spend a year traveling rather than flying across the pond all the time. We are 6 months from retirement and in our 60s with excellent health: fingerscrossed. The plan is to move early Fall 2014. We need a nice city/region we can call home for the year plus and have local infrastructure that facilitates travel to European and Mediteranean locations.
> 
> If we have a great time we would stay longer, even expatriate.
> 
> ...


I cant ad much to this only you have done your home work very well and you have put abruzzo in a nutshell complymenti 
we came here to retere 11 years ago and find we have every thing of the above described by you , we can hop on a bus and arrive in rome for the day or go a bit futher and go to the port of chitivechio and hop on a cruser and go any were in the world 
only last week we drove up to lake garda stoping of on the way to do a bit of sightseeing spent a exulant week eatinf fish , the bjurny back WAS NOTsad s we were returning to our lovely home in pretoro in abruzzo 
One our two things I would like to add to yours of abruzzo are exulant food wine and culture and history ,only this week we have in chieti a performance mackbeth put to music with some of the countrees best musicians as you see we still love abruzzo with a passion and like to pass it on any on the ground imfo you need don't forget to ask oh and Cheti hospital is one of the best in Italy and I have treid it out a few times exulant university hospital with lots of top profesers


----------



## danapoint (Sep 29, 2013)

Thank you Pudd2!

The food, wine, history and culture sounds great.

I do have a few more simple questions:
1. How long is the bus ride to Rome from Pescara or did you catch it Pretoro?
2. When you say "catch a crusier in Chitivechio" is that a transport/ferry or big trouist boat? And, if we wanted to go to Nice how long is the boat ride?
3. Is it possible to take a boat crusier to Croatia frorm a port near Pescara?
4. Can we fly from Pescara airport to Dublin, Munich, Madrid, and etc?
5. We will study the language, but are there many English/USA families in the area, a small colony in the region, or group for support?
6. I have many more but will stop Are the local restaurants smokey as we are not smokers though many of our friends are?

We were attracted to Abruzzo as it's near the sea. We live half way between San Diego and Los Angeles near the beach. We love the ocean and sea food. Is it easy to go sport fishing from Pescara?

Thanks again for your insights and experiences. I hope I'm not asking too many questions!

Take care...


----------



## pudd 2 (Dec 10, 2008)

no 1 you catch the bus ether cheiti scalo ( railway staition ) or Pescara railway \ bus station takes about 2 and a half hours costs about 12 eros 
2 big turist crusers to all over the world 
3 a hidrafoil direct to spit from peescara port 
4 yes you can fly to all these places from Pescara air port Ryanair 
5 there is in our area quete a few American familys whos for fathers emigrated to America to find work after the war with there cardboard suitcases and also I provde support as my forefathers emicrated to America 
6 all resturants are no smoking now in Italy 
7 yes you can sport fish from Pescara 

as for closiness to the sea from the top of our mountane the majeleter its an hour by car you can ski in the morng and swim in the afeternoon


----------



## danapoint (Sep 29, 2013)

Pudd2,

Thanks again!

My wife has a large Irish family scattered all over the USA: New York, Pittsburgh, Cinncinatti, and more. Staying connected by email, skype, and phone imortant. Understand phone is not real expensive and available. What about email and skype capabilities in Abruzzo? It would be important enough for us to specifically seek a new home with such capability.

I looked at your profile and you are a very kind and helpful person, have been for a long time. Like others, I thank you!


----------



## pudd 2 (Dec 10, 2008)

danapoint said:


> Pudd2,
> 
> Thanks again!
> 
> ...


I have an offer with italcom that gives me unlimited cals 24 xs 24 t0 all of America and Canada erope and England for ten eros a mounth using a normal phone no Skype or computers or codes just dial and go brilliant


----------



## Larry and Arlene (Aug 14, 2012)

Greetings from a pair of retired American ExPats from just down the road, San Diego. We chose Ascoli Piceno just immediately north of Abruzzo in the Le Marche Region. Two quick comments: where one chooses is very individual; and, if one is successful one becomes very enthusiastically supportive of the choice. We have nothing negative to say about Abruzzo and Pudd 2 is a wonderful, kind and helpful guy (Hi Roy!). But we too have been very satisfied with our choice of Ascoli.

Like Pescara, Ascoli has direct bus connections to downtown Rome and on to Fiumicino Airport. It also has a rail spur to the main north-south line and also the Adriatic coastal beaches. We do not want to depend on a car choosing to rent as we desire. Ascoli is flat and very walkable and has an exceptional cultural life and a wide choice of restaurants and essential services. As a Provincial Capital, one has walking access to the bureaucracy one has to interact with. We just received our Permesso di Soggiorno paving the way to residence and making us legal to be in Italy.

We would be happy to share some of our experience with you if that would be of any help. We believe it is a great choice to make to be on the east side of the Apennines. We have little doubt that Pudd 2 is right in one could find great possibilities in Chieti or elsewhere. But we chose another option and are delighted with our choice. Best of luck with the exploration process.


----------



## pudd 2 (Dec 10, 2008)

Larry and Arlene said:


> Greetings from a pair of retired American ExPats from just down the road, San Diego. We chose Ascoli Piceno just immediately north of Abruzzo in the Le Marche Region. Two quick comments: where one chooses is very individual; and, if one is successful one becomes very enthusiastically supportive of the choice. We have nothing negative to say about Abruzzo and Pudd 2 is a wonderful, kind and helpful guy (Hi Roy!). But we too have been very satisfied with our choice of Ascoli.
> 
> Like Pescara, Ascoli has direct bus connections to downtown Rome and on to Fiumicino Airport. It also has a rail spur to the main north-south line and also the Adriatic coastal beaches. We do not want to depend on a car choosing to rent as we desire. Ascoli is flat and very walkable and has an exceptional cultural life and a wide choice of restaurants and essential services. As a Provincial Capital, one has walking access to the bureaucracy one has to interact with. We just received our Permesso di Soggiorno paving the way to residence and making us legal to be in Italy.
> 
> We would be happy to share some of our experience with you if that would be of any help. We believe it is a great choice to make to be on the east side of the Apennines. We have little doubt that Pudd 2 is right in one could find great possibilities in Chieti or elsewhere. But we chose another option and are delighted with our choice. Best of luck with the exploration process.


hi larry e Arlene glad you have found someware to settle and you are happy one mans meat is anothers poisen enjoy but abruzzo is my meat and allways will be be happy :bathbaby:


----------



## danapoint (Sep 29, 2013)

Larry, Arlene, and Pudd2,

Thanks for your coaching and willingness to help as plans get made!

It's helpful to have the collective experience you folks represent, it's exciting actually!

Ellen and I are very encouraged from all our research. We plan to visit for several weeks before launching.

To date our number one concern is internet. My wife has a large family and wants to skype and email etc. I'm not a "day trader" but I do actively manage our stocks and finances. We can't relocate to an area that does not have dependable connectivity. Italy is DSL which I understand to be a sophisticated dial up system; not cable. A very good phone sytem will not be good enough as Pudd2 mentioned in a previous comment. It's certainly is a good feature, though.

Key question: Is it dependable enough in the areas you live for our needs?

Larry and Arlene, where did you live in San Diego? I lived in SD for about 8 years when I was a professional football player; eight years in total including Canada. Four of those years I played for the Chargers. It was a slice of life thing that seems so long ago!! I lived in Mission Beach and Pacific Beach as the seasons wore on I bought a house in University City. I still work and visit SD frequently, many old friends.

Thanks again for your support and insights -- Rick


----------



## pudd 2 (Dec 10, 2008)

danapoint said:


> Larry, Arlene, and Pudd2,
> 
> Thanks for your coaching and willingness to help as plans get made!
> 
> ...


hi it depends were you are in abruzzo for internet cover broadband has not realy landed , but wirles cover set up in diferent areas work very well well ours does 
we even had a man from new York staying with us who had to run a firm online 
,and he said how fast it was 
and we pay only 25 eros a month for ulimeted time a and mbs 
the only unfortunate thing with wi fi internet is it works on line of site and as there are so many hills in abruzzo some cant get it and have to manage with slow dialup but things are changing every day as more anteners are coming 
an easy way to find if the house you are interested in has access is to pop into a local p,c shop and ask them to do a signal check hope this helps


----------



## Larry and Arlene (Aug 14, 2012)

Hi Rick-

Arlene and I lived in Tierrasanta for awhile and when I retired, we bought a home on Mt. Helix just east of La Mesa. We lived there for twelve years before selling the house and cars and moving here. Absolutely no regrets and are convinced it was the best possible solution - for us. Back to that reality. These things are very individual and it is sometimes not easy to understand what you really want. Probably in part because it is hard to know in advance what is possible. Hence the value of a forum like this to help sharpen ideas.

On Infrastructure: We have extended family scattered all over the U.S. and a whole circle of close friends. Plus, we need very reliable internet to conduct financial transactions between our U.S. bank and investment people. So reliable SKYPE and secure, high baud rate internet was essential. That was another factor in our choosing the Provincial Capital of Ascoli Piceno. The commercial and governmental elements here require reliable telecommunication. Again, that is not to say it might be also reliable in a smaller venue, but we weren't ready to chance it particularly in the early stages where there is so much trans-national financial interaction to work out.

On local advice, we did not go with DSL as we needed something faster. For internet, like we are using right now, we use a portable Wi-Fi modem opting for the highest baud subscription. Ours is with TIM, the digital side of Italian Telecom. Another advantage of the portable modem is that we take the Macbook to a cafe on the piazza, have some wine and get on the internet. We also take it with us on trips. So that makes for great flexibility. Here in Ascoli, Italia Telecom has the area saturated so we have a strong and reliable signal. A qualification, in Italy, the telecom infrastructure may not always be not up to U.S. experience. Ours will bog down a bit more from time-to-time than our experience in the U.S.

For phone, we chose a different carrier, WIND with full data coverage. So we have something of a failsafe. We have two independent paths for internet interaction. In a place where service is reliable and you have choices, it often boils down to who has the best promotional offer at the time. Others on the ExPat Forum have noted that in some places coverage and signal strength can get very mixed. So check before you sign up.

Please let us know if you do plan to come this way. We would love to see you and share some thoughts with you over some wonderful local wine and cuisine.

By the way, Ben Davidson of the Raiders fame, was a wonderful neighbor and friend on Mt. Helix. I'm sure as you already know, Ben passed away a short time back at an untimely early age.

We have a blog (that I can't reveal on this site because of the rules) but we could share by a private message. In it we talk about how we got here and our impressions of Ascoli complete with images. I'm into photography so having a high baud rate internet to share images was essential.

Best wishes for an exciting adventure. It can be frustrating at times but we sure think it is worth it!


----------



## Larry and Arlene (Aug 14, 2012)

Hi Roy-

Once we get more settled, we want to come to Chieti to say hello in person. You were a great help in helping us feel more comfortable in taking the plunge to become ExPats east of the Apennines.

All the best, Larry & Arlene


----------



## NickZ (Jun 26, 2009)

danapoint said:


> My wife and I are planning a move to Europe form USA. Purpose is to spend a year traveling rather than flying across the pond all the time. We are 6 months from retirement and in our 60s with excellent health: fingerscrossed. The plan is to move early Fall 2014. We need a nice city/region we can call home for the year plus and have local infrastructure that facilitates travel to European and Mediteranean locations.
> 
> If we have a great time we would stay longer, even expatriate.
> 
> ...


If you need high speed data then you're looking at cities . The further you get out of the city centres the higher the risk you won't have DSL or other choices.

If you intend to travel I suggest going to google maps (or other mapping sites) and plan things out. Between everything even near by locations can be a long drive.

To check out what destitations each airport handles go to something like skyscanner . From the list you posted you'll be going to one of the Rome airports.

I'm not sure what you mean by DSL not being cable. DSL by definition runs on copper wire. The bigger cities can offer fibre (at a higher cost) but for any of the options actual location matters more the general area. In other words check the service available at the house/apartment and don't assume.


----------



## bahamut (May 28, 2009)

Hello Danapoint,

excellent choice with Abruzzo, it has everything you're searching for. Let me know if I can be of any help, I live here. In fact I live 3 km away from the airport. 

I haven't read all messages but I would like to provide you some informations based on your first post: 

Would you stay in Pretoro? Nice town but it’s very small and it takes 30 minutes to Chieti. Depending on your needs I may suggest different cities or towns. 
1)	It takes approximately 2.30 hours to Rome. You can take the “ARPA” or Prontobus which takes you directly to the airport for 24 euros.
2)	From Civitavecchia you can board on all major cruises but it’s a bit more than 3 hours from Pescara
3)	Itt was possibile, now it isn’t anymore. You can board from Ancona (150km North from Pescara) to Croatia. 
4)	You can’t fly directly from Pescara to those destination. However there’s Frankfur as one of ryan air destination and you can flight to all over the world from there. Actual direct destinations are: London Stanstead, Frankfurt, Oslo, Paris, Bergamo, Milano, Barcellona-Girona and Bruxelles. 
5)	I’m not aware of any english colony, however there are plenty of schools and if you need any help you can contact me as I would like to practise my spoken english and I can help you with the italian. 
6)	You can’t smoke in restaurants.
You can sport fish here!


Bye, 
Rino


----------

