“Peaceful” they said! “Long, lazy lunches, glass or two of fine plonk and a snooze under a tree” they said, HUH!!! This month we’ve been to “Hell n Back” going that extra mile for you folks out there in “Holiday Land”. We’re not your average namby, pamby “travel agent” types who sit in their nice air conditioned offices describing things from a distance! Oh No, we’re right in here amongst the blood and bullets on the front line of deepest Chiantishire! (readers voice- getting a tad carried away I reckon!) After pondering on what “Heatstroke” would be like, Fiona on your behalf, of course! decided to try it herself. It was touch and go, but she managed to pull through, although she’ll never play the violin again and the psychological scars will be with her for life. Not to be outdone I decided to see what would happen if someone was due to travel the next day and suddenly discovered their 10 year passport had just run out a couple of weeks before! See me, see bureaucracy! Remember we are professionals, this is our job, do not try these potentially lethal, high jinks at home.

Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen,

I give you “Discover Tuscany!” the “Hell n’ Back” issue.

Now in Aero Dynamic Stereo.

Enjoy!

Contents

.)Intro
2.Contents & Thanks
3.New Properties – lots more in the pipeline
4.Sometimes it’s like living in a foreign country –T-bones, fillets and sirloins
5. Fasten your seatbelts- what on offer flight wise
6. New Photo Album- say cheese!
7. Car Hire deals- Holiday autos
8. Insurance- best deals for wrinklies
9. Mum! Are we there yet!- “Car games for kids” sites
10.Heatstroke- phew, what happens when it becomes just tooo toasty!
11.Coming soon- credit card payment, luxury properties, wine tours and house buying advice

To “DISCOVER TUSCANY!” the www.rent-a-villa-in-tuscany.com Newsletter. We hope you enjoy reading it and find the information and advice useful when planning your holiday in Tuscany. We have lots of great ideas for the content but if have any ideas, comments or suggestions, please feel free to get in touch. We’d love to hear from you, just email us. Maybe there is something you need to know before you arrive or a great tip you’d like to pass on after your holiday, (when you get home don’t forget to sign our guest book on the site to tell us about your holiday and upload your favourite holiday snaps!).

New Properties

We’ve almost got all our present properties on line, a few tweaks and new photos and it will be done. We have a number of great new properties in the pipeline, still to be checked out, photographed etc but keep checking the “New Properties “ section of the site. Coming up soon - A superb residence near Loro Cuiffenna, an independent Villa for 6 near Pisa and a group of 26 different owners with various properties from apartments to castles near Siena.

Sometimes it’s just like living in a foreign country – T-bone, fillets and sirloins

Conversion table for ordering “Steak” in a local restaurant

Rare – Might actually leap off the plate, can’t get fresher than that, can you!

Medium - Horns have been removed and the waiter has wiped its a**!

Well Done- Will have been somewhere near a grill for a few seconds, you will be offered lots of local bread (used to mop up the blood)!

Any attempt to protest will be greeted by a rotund chef wielding a large meat cleaver!

Try the chicken it’s lovely

Flight offers

Ryan Air has flights for 5p!! (+ taxes).London Stanstead to Pisa, Forli, Bergamo and Treviso, all for 5p.Must be booked by midnight Thursday (11 Sept) and used between 23 Sept and 30 Nov. Why not nip over for a bit of early Christmas shopping or enjoy a late season break (UK school hols in Oct?). Lots of our owners have great low season prices and many do mid week arrivals off season.

Photo Album

I’ve changed our "Photo Album" page. The American site hosting the old one started wanting me to pay every month! The Fantastic New Photo Album is hosted by German Company “Pixum” Their site has a great, cool design, it’s clear, simple and you can actually order prints and photo gifts from the site. Have a look, upload your best holiday pixs! If you like the idea, start your own FREE album. Tell them I sent you and they’ll even give you the first 10 Prints FREE as an opening offer. Can’t say fairer than that!

Car Hire

Holiday Autos are offering some fantastic deals. Go to our “Car Hire” page and click on the Holiday Autos banner for more details. Book an economy car online from only £133 for a week. Book 7 days rental and only pay for 5!

Holiday Insurance

If you’re over 65 finding holiday insurance can be a bit more difficult. (has to do with the time it takes to load all those zimmer frames onto a plane!). This month I’ve been checking out a few companies for my Folks (hello Mum!) Even “Saga”, who specialise in “wrinkly insurance” couldn’t match our partners “Essential Travel”. Try them, compare them with other companies, we reckon they are competitive. Let us know if you find anyone better or cheaper.

Car Games

Are we there yet! Mum, Mum, Muuuummmmm! Kids who’d ave’em!! Little tiks! they just love being cooped up for a couple of hours in a plane. As even “Local” airports are still about a couple of hours drive from most of our villas, anything to divert attention and keep kids amused is worth a look. Check out these great sites for games etc to amuse kids on car journeys.

http://wy.essortment.com/cargameskids_nhg.htm
or

http://allsands.com/Kids/Travel/cargameforkid_asw_gn.htm


Phew wot a scorcher!

If like Fiona, you end up unwittingly suffering from heatstroke (seriously! and we’ve been here for 13 years) what should you do. The experts at the BBC Health Site have this information and advice

Heatstroke occurs when the brain fails to control its own "thermostat". It’s a life-threatening condition which can cause a casualty to become unconscious within minutes. As well as an unusually high temperature, a casualty may show signs of restlessness, headaches and hot, flushed skin.

What you should do -

1. Test the victims responses by calling.
2. Get victim indoors, out of the heat immediately.
3. Wrap the victim in a sheet soaked in cold water, keep soaking it.
4. Stop when the victim’s temperature has dropped to 38°c under the tongue.
7. Seek medical attention.

Coming Soon

They said it would never happen! Ye of little faith, our credit card payment page is (almost) up and running, technically it’s fine, packed full of secure sockets and stuff. We’re just tweaking the last primary school English translation errors made by our Italian Bank (ie totally retranslating it).
Just about to add a page for great diVino Wine Tours a new, young company passionate about Tuscany and Wine.
We plan on adding a new “Luxury Properties” page soon, if you have to ask the price you can’t afford them!
A lot of folks who holiday here fall in love with Tuscany and would love to own their own “hideaway in the sun”. We are not estate agents and don’t plan on becoming one, we’ve got enough to do, but we are working on an advice page for folks who’d like to buy here in Tuscany.

That’s all folks!

We’re off to Paris tomorrow for a few days to celebrate Rosie’s 4th Birthday (might even drop by to visit Mickey Mouse)!

Til Next Month

Bonsoir Gringos

Jim

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