Thanks, MaryAnn. It truly was everything we wanted from it. All the planning and research went pretty much to plan. I had each thing we'd scheduled printed out, (vouchers and such), and in chronological order in a manila envelope. On a given day, I took the next page(s) in the stack and carried it with me, as a backup in case my phone battery died, or something. I had a small daypack I carried, and on the back side of it was a flat zipper pocket too small for anything bulky, but a perfect place to slide that day's printed pages. It worked great.
Carry-ons was a challenge, and the first time we tried this. We packed easy-care clothes we could wash out in hotel rooms, but the weather was so humid, that didn't work out very well. We ended up finding a laundromat in Florence (a block from our hotel), and then we also did a bag of laundry on the cruise ship. We stretched things out. I took anti-sweat polo shirts that actually worked well for me, and I was able to wear the same shirt several times before it needed to be laundered. I wore shorts every day, and only wore long pants on the planes, and the days we were going to churches. (They have dress codes in a lot of locations.) By the time I got home, the only thing I had left "clean" was two pairs of socks.
Next time, we'll check a bag and deal with it.
The eSim from Airalo worked flawlessly. Piece of cake. We'd previously changed our phones to eSims instead of a physical SIM card. So no physical card to hassle with. A few days before the trip we bought an Airalo eSim and installed it, but didn't activate it. (They have a time stamp from when they're activated, and expire at the end of that period.) When we boarded the plane for London, I put my phone in Airplane Mode, and switched from the Primary eSim from our cell carrier (Consumer Cellular) to the "Travel Airalo" eSim. Then I turned the phone off.
When we landed in London, I turned the phone on. The Travel Airalo eSim kicked in, it found a local network it wanted, and life was good. (On the way home I reversed the process.)
However: Everywhere you go has WiFi, and we didn't use much data at all. We connected to local WiFi as often as we could. We were able to send and receive emails and texts normally. We made voice calls back home using WhatsApp, which worked great. We didn't need to call any restaurants or tour people or anything, so didn't need to call anybody locally. On the occasions we needed a taxi, we asked the hotel desk clerk or shopkeeper if they'd call a taxi for us, which they were happy to do. That worked better, because they had a relationship with the taxi companies. Hailing a taxi on the street doesn't work. You need to go to a taxi stand stop, which may not be convenient.
We bought 10gb Airalo eSims, and we used the heck out of things the whole time we were gone. My eSim has 8.12 gb left on it. Jeff's has 7. So we could easily have purchased a lower eSim, and saved that cost. So I'd go with the cheapest eSim Airalo has available, knowing you can top-up if you run low. The Airalo phone app will tell you how much data you have left, and offer to top you up if you run low.
We took $500 in Euros with us. A few days before we left, our bank sent us a mix of Euros and British Pounds overnight (for a $10 fee), so we'd have pocket money. We used about half of the Pounds, but we used all of the Euros. We went to an ATM in Civitavecchia and got another $250 in Euros, because we'd used up what we took. We came home with only a 5 Euro bill left. The assorted Euro coins we accumulated was used as best we could, and we ended up leaving the rest of it behind as a tip for housekeeping in our last hotel, so we didn't have to carry it home.
When you use a credit card to pay for something, if any machines asks if you want them to make the exchange rate, or let your credit card make the exchange, always tell it to let the credit card or your bank make the exchange - you'll get a better rate. If you let the merchant or the ATM do it, you won't get as good a rate. Avoid EuroNet ATM machines - they're common, but they have sneaky ways to trick you into paying extra costs. When possible, use an ATM associated with a bank, and not in a merchant shop or on the street.
We used Euros as needed for things, as you suggested, but we used a credit card when we needed to pay a higher amount. Everybody takes credit cards, and has the little machines where you tap to pay. The credit card was never out of our hands.
As for toilets - we only needed to pay one time. Every restaurant and many shops have a toilet. All you have to do is ask where it is. No charge.
Tips: Make note that in Italy and Greece, tipping is not expected. Waitstaff are paid well, and tipping is optional. Only do it for exceptional service.
BTW, I know you were concerned about Mt. Etna. Our cruise ship went between Sicily and the tip of Italy's boot. The skies as far as we could see over Sicily were blue and clear. No sign of anything volcanic was going on.
Have fun!
Dave
