The Sicily Blog

This is a letter to a good friend in South America. She is a female, and we use the informal tense in Italian, and would do the same in Spanish.
Thanks a lot for your help!
“I hope everything is good for you, and you are not too busy! I do nothing but study all week. University has so much freedom, it’s a shame I can’t experience it because I always have my nose in a book! In general, I am very well and I am getting ready for Christmas break. Erica is studying Italian, and has a very good accent. It will be strange but wonderful to be in Sicily again, but I don’t think it will be the same without you. My contact with Lisa has been limited, as we both have busy lives and are growing apart. I hope that we can keep in touch though, because I valued your friendship. I think soon we should begin to plan when we will travel. Will you come to New York? It would be a dream for me. I hope to come to Bolivia during the Easter vacation. After Christmas we will talk seriously about these things. Now of course I know that you are occupied with Mauro’s impending visit, and I must plan my trip in Italy. How is your family? I hope they are well. My father is marrying his girlfriend, Lillian. They announced this a few days ago. I am happy, but it will be a change. Everything changes, with time. I’m sure it is the same way in Bolivia J.
As always, I miss you and can’t wait to hug you again.
Your American friend who loves you,
A”

From Barcelona, Spain, and traveling with a dog, what types of transportation modes are available, and would anyone kindly recommend one mode over the over, and explain why.
I love taking trains, but if a local European thinks its wiser to travel with the dog by plane or boat or bus, this is the issue.
I’ve had to go through all kinds of hoops to get the dog ready for Spain, which is why I may not have time to change plans and make a direct flight to Italy. Traveling will be tough for me especially with the dog. So I really could use some opinions. Is there a boat direct to Sicily is where I need to end the journey. I imagine I’d need a health certificate in Italian if I flew in, but is one needed if I take a boat … if there is a boat …or the train? Bus, etc. Thanks so much if you can help .

Hi,
my partner and i are travelling from nice to venice to pisa, florence, rome, naples and sicily. what is the best to do on travelling to save us money. we are both under 26 so not sure if we should buy a rail pass or point to point.. I dont really understand the rail pass with the days in months. We will be going for 2 weeks.
Thanks in advance!

My sister, Maria, and her boyfriend, Danny, of 4 years would travel all over the world to places such as peru columbia italy sicily Malaysia etc. They are completely in love and can be together day in and day out and never get sick of each other or want space or nething. Danny decided to go to India .. He obviously told Maria to go but they hear it was a bad place for women to go bc the men there harass them very badly. So maria said no.. danny begged her to go but she refused. So danny wasnt going to go long. He was only gonna go for like 20 days or so but then 2 of his guys friends were gonna go wit so he extended the trip to a month and a week. Then these 2 guys ditched him and he ended up going by himself. so when he got there he was like maria i can still get u a ticket u should come blah blah blah.. she said no.. soo they kept in contact as much as possible throughout the trip. He called when he got to a phone and they emailed. The last time he called it was Monday aug 11th. he said he was running low on money and he was gonna take some out of his bank accounts. maria didnt hear from him for the next 4 days. But it wasnt him she heard from. Early friday morning we got a phone call to the house. I went downstairs bc i heard someone crying. It was Maria. Danny’s mom had called bc the counsel of india or something called them and told them that they found Danny’s laying dead on the floor of his hotel room. They wouldnt give us much answers. Maria was completely devestated. no that doesnt even describe how terrible it was. Anyways, they said that they were gonna send the body back by monday. Then the next day they called and told danny;s family that they already cremated the body.. without our permission! Something is going on there. There had to be foul play. They say they dont knwo what happened to danny. and that the autopsy came back unconclusive. This is just ridiculous! I dont knwo what to do. Everytime I love at Maria my heart breaks. They were going to get married. They had so much planned for the two of them. She never went to college. Danny was planning on taking care of them both. IT was just a complete love story. They were so true and real and I just dont know what to do. She had so many problems b4 danny.. with drugs and depression and suicide attempts. And then once her and danny started goin on she was soo happy bc he made her happy. He treated her right and made her just love life again. he was her angel from heaven but now he was taken away.. and I dont know what to do to make this btr for her. I cant imagine how she is feeling. And i dont want her to do nething stupid…. help