Word of caution to any one traveling to Italy in the next few months.

Sorry to hear about your ATM scam. We also have a Schwab card for ATM use and only use it when we travel. One strategy we use in Italy is to only use the ATM card at a bank and only when it's open. If the machine eats the card we can go inside and retrieve it.

We just returned from 16 days in Italy and we did not experiencing the coughing you mentioned. We travel in Italy every year and have never noticed the coughing. My nose ran nonstop every morning for about two hours, but I have allergies.

On a positive note...we only saw one gypsy in Stazione Termini as we passed through to the car rental section.

Buon viaggio,

I work on a college campus 40,000 students; that same bug you described coughing seems to be going around here since school started in September

That is a good idea about only using when the bank is open. Once my husband's card was denied because of the scam, I had my fingers crossed everytime I used mine and not wanting to use our Wells Fargo account.

Thank you for the heads-up. I won't be there until May so if that bug isn't gone by then, I'll bring an N-95 mask! to ward that sucker off. Probably should have one anyway for my flights...planes seem like one big petri dish of disgust.

I'm so sorry to hear about the skim scam! People are such jerks. I'll never understand how someone can consciously dupe hard-working people out of their money. :( Were you able to get your money back?

I have experienced trips where it seemed every person around me was coughing and sneezing. Occasionally, I catch myself on the subway in NYC, and it seems everyone in my car is coughing or sneezing. One has to be very careful where one places his or her hands. It's impossible to figure out the reason, but it does remind me of my trips to Japan, where folks wear a face mask in public. I do something similar on plane flights, but it looks like a beautiful silk scarf.

People who travel from rural areas are often unfamiliar with the air quality and the sounds of a congested city street. Italy's streets and historical sites can be packed with people who are visiting from all around the globe. Many just got off a plane.

Many people claim that airline travel is a cesspool of germs. The space in Coach has never been tighter, more people are selfish and rude, and in many planes the air is recycled. Travelers who experience some sort of ill feeling while traveling often assume they caught some irritant from their flight.

Most people from the U.S. are caught off guard with the intensity of motor vehicle soot in Italian city centers. We don't have a comparable experience here because of regulations. In my early travel years, Rome and Florence would kill my sinuses and my watering eyes. This is why I prefer to end my visits in Venice, where I can recuperate before coming home.

There's nothing like a three-week trip in Italy to bring forth some nasty reaction evident in our noses. If you have no experience with this, it can take some travelers by surprise. It can ruin a trip for some. I won't even mention some of the mold issues in Venice, which is why I never accept a room on the ground floor.

As for ATM skimmers, it's important to research them before a trip. For many years I have been advising to never use an outdoor ATM. Many Italian banks offer a machine in an enclosed vestibule or inside the bank. It has always been imperative to visit the bank during "open" hours when using the ATM just in case your machine eats your ATM credit card. It does happen.

Skimmers are fairly easy to spot if you know what to look for. Professional thieves have less access to indoor machines, and most indoor machines are under camera surveillance. They are safer to use.

I won't be there until May so if that bug isn't gone by then, I'll
bring an N-95 mask! to ward that sucker off. Probably should have one
anyway for my flights.

Really? What sounds like a run of the mill upper respiratory bug has you planning extreme measures for 7 months from now? And a heads up - those respirators are single use only, so you'd need to being a suitcase full to last for a whole trip. And the CDC doesn't recommend their use in the community except for individuals with the most severely compromised immune system, or in cases of certain epidemics. Wearing one of those suckers for an extended period is no picnic, and unless you know how to use it properly, would likely be ineffective. Are you wearing one in your home town right now? Because the usual fall URIs are making the rounds just about everywhere.

The face masks are pretty efficient at preventing a sick person from spreading germs. They don't work that well in the other direction. I would be tempted on a plane though if people around me were obviously ill. They are unpleasant and as someone pointed out - single use.

We use public transportation every day in Chicago. We always make it a habit of washing our hands the moment we arrive at a venue or back home and work hard to not touch our face until we have done so. It makes a huge difference in the number of colds we get. You can pick up a cold through the air put hand to nose,mouth,eye is more likely and hand washing really helps that. I think the gels work on colds as well but they are not potent against gastro intestinal bugs and those are the things you most don't want on a vacation.

"The face masks are pretty efficient at preventing a sick person from spreading germs. They don't work that well in the other direction."
That very well may be true. However, with so many people sneezing and coughing these days without any consideration for others, without even attempting to cover their mouths, I feel a hell of a lot safer and more comfortable if something is covering my air passages when I'm in the line of fire. Some protection has to be better than no protection. We can't hold our breath forever.

"We always make it a habit of washing our hands the moment we arrive at a venue or back home and work hard to not touch our face until we have done so."
Health care professionals claim this works. It's a habit I support.

"Health care professionals claim this works."

It's not just a 'claim', it does work!

Flu shots are now available and it's especially important this year. I got mine yesterday as we fly to Italy today. The Australian season has been the worst in recent memory and they're expecting it will be similarly bad in Europe.

It’s worth looking at YouTube skimmer videos for education, and always cover the keypad with a wallet or map to prevent video capture of PIN.

It should work to scrape off the magnetic strip with a razor blade before inserting but I’ve not tried this. This of course renders the card useless if the ATM has no chip reader.

Hi Gloria. We have the bug, too. My DH came down with it in Piemonte a few days ago and it reared it's ugly head for me now in Paris. But we carry on! Luckily I brought Sudafed for me (he cannot take it). And we have rest time built in for a few days.

Sorry to hear about the skimming. We had a CC compromised our first week out, but I think it was stolen in the U.S. before we flew. Happens about twice a year now, it seems, and usually ends up linked to a restaurant. We've been strictly cash at restaurants in Europe for years, but I like my CC for tickets and hotels!

Hope you get better quickly!

I thought I came prepared with imodium, zyrtec, tums, etc. but I had only a few ibuprofen and when I bought some for my husband in Positano it was $20 euro for a pack of 12. I was at their mercy. Then I paid 10 euro for 6 decongestants in Sorrento. We travel to NY quite a bit and are used to being around people with colds but this was like none I had ever seen. The sneezing seemed to be everywhere. Every time someone sneezed I'd turn and walk the other direction.

I totally agree with the hand washing and not touching your hands to your face when you have sick people around.
I think its what kept me from getting the same thing my husband had. I must have washed my hands 30 times in a day during the 4 days he was really sick. I was so afraid that I would get sick before my cooking class in Rome and it worked.

Charles Schwab did refund our $300.00 back. I will admit we did use one or two atms that were not inclosed and I think one of those was in Naples.

In Austria you can now be fined for wearing a surgical mask if you’re not sick. For safety reasons, of course. You also can’t dress like a clown unless it is for a party or wear a hat and scarf unless it is cold. All for safety reasons, of course. Oh, and no burquas either. But I’m sure this has nothing to do with anyone’s religion.

The Bug is in Rome. I got very sick two days ago, bad sore throat and cough, sneezing. I think I let up on the water when Rome turned cool on October 1. Normally I chug 1 -2 very large bottles of Frizzante every day, but barely touched it lately.

Do bring your medicine from home, that's what I relied on, allergy tabs and allergy nose sprays. I did go to the Farmacia at Termini but all they offered me was Ibuprofen. I have Tylenol here in my room. They were reluctant to sell me anything because I have three contra-indicated medical conditions. So I bought the strongest throat spray they sell, Borocillina. It didn't seem to have an effect but my throat is much better today. But I also bought Listerine Cool Mint Mouthwash at the Farmacia and gargled with that. That stuff is a known germ killer and frequent gargling healed my sore throats in the past.

Went to Todis grocery store and bought a box of frutti misti tea bags and a few packets of dry soup. My lodging has an electric pot in our top floor TV room that boils water and I craved a lot of hot liquids. Also found Italian Peanut Butter (Natural with a bit of oil on top) at Todis, some fast soft protein I could add to fruit. It's larger than the jar of Skippy I bought at Pam Local and Half the price!

I also got super sensitive to toilet odor so I made up a diluted laundry soap solution in an empty spray bottle I found in the kitchen cupboard and went around zapping the toilets with that! You know how dirty toilets get that sour odor, well that slays me! It was Sunday and no Housekeeper!

BTW, the tea my lodging uses for its sick guests is brand TE' ATI in a reddish box. The subtitle is IL TE' DI CASA. It is sold at Conad, not at Todis my usual haunt.

I bought a small box of TE' CLASSICO variety today at Conad. They had another variety TE' COLAZIONE but that was in a big box and I wanted a small box. Small boxes of tea are on the breakfast buffet table so I hope I got the right variety. Forgot to ask on the way out, will find out tomorrow.

Anyway this tea is dynamite, fixed me right up, stopped coughing and felt super. Oh and I bought lemon from Sicily in a plastic container. That's what the housekeeper said to do. And No frutti misti tea. It's cute but useless in the face of illness.

This is crazy! We are in Italy now and I noticed the same thing with the coughing. At the moment, my husband is sick too. We have checked for skimmers as well... for some reason our card doesn't work everywhere. One place it won't be accepted and we'll go across the street and it's fine. I don't understand that. We were afraid it was skimmers as well.

Domestic curator, the problem at ATMs is usually with foreign cards, I had one and sometimes my usual atm didn't like it and I had to go to another one, there was a bank that I knew would not work... I don't know if the connection fails or what, but about skimmers, don't worry, they're not common, AT ALL.

ATM machine acceptance can depend on whether your card has a chip or not. All my new cards have a chip now.

On recent trips to Italy when I had a car, I found it impossible to find a gas station machine that would accept my credit cards. I needed gas when the stations were closed, so it was kind of annoying. Many gas station machines don't give you change, so if you over estimate your payment, you have to bring back your receipt during "open" hours to get your change. I overpaid for gas because returning was not worth it to me.

I have a friend who recently returned sick from a visit to Paris. She said folks on the street were sneezing and coughing there, too. She spent five days in bed in her hotel room. She saw her doctor a day after her return to NYC, and he told her she had a bronchial infection. Even with an antibiotic, my friend said it took several weeks for her to get back to 100%. She felt it was a peculiar event.

I think I picked up the same thing on a flight thru Frankfurt in Sept. Very sore throat, then head cold with lots of coughing. We were in Bulgaria and Romania. Still have the occasional cough 3 weeks later.

We are currently in Italy, and I have acquired a cold. I too noticed people coughing - and I blame this cold on people not taking care to cough into a kleenex or a sleeve. A few times people coughed directly in my face. To a certain extent this is difficult to avoid when you're in spaces with tons of tourists, so I just take it as that.

We've had some odd situations with credit cards (e.g. at hotels the size of the bill seems to cause a problem, and at the last hotel the bank system itself went down so they had to record everything old-school. Daughter's bank is now saying that they've identified an issue (different bank and credit card), so hopefully all that will work out.

We are in Italy now on a 3 wk trip and a wk in my husband caught the crud. Coughing and sneezing. Pked up some cough syrup at pharm in Alberobello and that helped but what a drag!

We just got back last night. On the flight from LHR to Pisa on Oct. 5 a lady was coughing behind us the whole way and I thought, uh oh, I'm going to end up sick. 3 days later, no voice, which turned to a sore throat, and nasty cough that I still have. Hubby got sick 3 days later. Who knows where we got it - on the plane, after, or even brought it with us. At the last minute I don't know what made me do it, but I ran out to get some DayQuil. While there, we went to the pharmacies several times for throat and cough lozenges and nasal spray which all did help, but because of another medication I take, I can only take something with Tylenol so would've been nervous taking what they suggested in case it had NSAID's. Think it's just a good idea to take meds with you as traveling there are any number of reasons you could become ill. We still didn't let it stop us and did as much as we could.