Hey everyone, hope you’re having a good day.
I am writing this post with the intention to humbly request your good offices in the form of information and insight that you may be able to provide me with in order to finalize my impending exit from Venezuela and relocation to Italy, where I hope to start a new life with my brother at last.
Your information and advice might just be the last thing I need to finalize all of this — but first:
Current status update
As I explained in a previous post, I’m currently awaiting for the substitute State paperwork documents to be processed by the Venezuelan tax authority. These are particularly important because of a rather complicated situation with this building and a lack of a proper deed to this place (tl;dr govt “misplaced” the building’s files so my neighbors and I are all in a limbo).
These documents may not fix that situation, but it’s better than nothing. They should be finished in about 2 weeks or so. A proper solution to this situation is something that maybe, probably, might present itself in the future, but that’s a problem for another time and another life.
In the meantime, I’m finalizing details with regards to our departure from Venezuela — which leads me to the point of these words.
I’m asking info and insight on the following:
I. Where in Italy should we arrive at, and where should I look for a place to rent
I have received some info and input from a few Italians (and even Venezuelan-Italians such as me) with regards to what steps I need to take to get my Tax ID (Codice Fiscale), national ID card, and other stuff of similar importance — so, when it comes to that, I know more or less what I need to do.
They have also given me some initial insight as to which city we should arrive at, but this is the part that I’m still not 100% clear about.
As such, it doesn’t shame me to say that I still don’t exactly know where in Italy should my brother and I arrive at, and where should I focus on with regards to finding a place to rent, and the rent process at all.
With the help of so many throughout these past years, and by saving money every month from the part-time job I got a few months ago, I can cover our plane tickets and I have an initial budget to arrive in Italy. It’s not a lot but I believe it’s more than enough to start anew, so money is thankfully not an issue, in the medium-ish term at least.
The current problem is that I don’t know Italy, at all.
I am an Italian citizen only because my dad married my mom and got her pregnant, but I barely know Italian and have near-zero knowledge of the country’s history — hence why I don’t even know where to begin searching.
Here’s some tidbits on what I’ve been told so far:
- Northern Italy is “more expensive” yet my lack of proper Italian would be less of a deal since I can clutch it with English and even Spanish more so than in the South, although Southern Italy is “cheaper” but English is less prevalent.
- I have been told that there’s a “99% chance” that I end up in Rome due to reasons such as the present language barriers and other considerations despite the city not being that cheap — therefore, this is where I’ve focused the most at when it comes to looking for places to rent, but, just like the rest of the country, this is a city I don’t know at all, so I don’t know what areas would I even find a modest place to rent.
- When it comes to websites to search for a place to rent, I have been suggested these three: Idealista, Subito and Immobiliare.
As I said, I got some initial information, but I don’t have the full picture yet, so I don’t know where I should specifically narrow my search. I never had much in my life so I don’t really ask for much, all that I ask is that it’s a place where my brother can sleep on a bed and I have access to decent/baller internet so that I can keep working as I can potentially go from part-time to full time once I’m outta here.
To my knowledge, there are still some members of my father’s family living in Italy, but that is a door I cannot knock due to personal reasons — so it’s just me and my brother, and I have to work and provide for the two of us. Don’t have anyone else over there.
In any case, I do need to eventually plan a short trip to San Pietro in Amantea to pick up our birth certificates sooner or later, but that’s beside the point.
Ideally, I would love to have the rental place arranged and paid for (through a wire transfer I guess?) before I even board the plane here. That way I get to minimize the amount of days spent at a hotel once we arrive, and I bleed less of our budget.
That’s another thing, I guess I do need to book for a hotel to initially arrive at for a day or two, but that is something that I have to worry about once I actually know what city we are ending up at. The same goes for transportation between the airport to X or Y destination, is that something I can pre-arrange and prepay somehow?
II. The Flight Plan (not CIA’s)
When it comes to the plane tickets and flight route, I have narrowed it down to two airlines: Iberia and Air Europa.
Presently, and as a result of Venezuela’s political crisis + lingering COVID-19 travel restrictions, there are no direct flights between Venezuela and Italy. They’ve been engaging in talks to resume them, but I’m not going to sit here and wait for that to happen.
As such, the cleanest, and I guess, most painless route by far is Venezuela -> Spain and then Spain -> Italy. These are two different flights, one is almost 9 hours long, the other is roughly 2h30m if I recall correctly.
This is by far the most straightforward route, even if it may not be the cheapest, but it sure beats having to make several stops across different countries and potentially facing delays or other complications.
It also allows me to spend a bit more on an extra luggage, which I plan on filling with some more of our clothes. 3 luggages (about 20 kilograms each) is all we’ll be able to take, everything else stays here.
The only things left to nail down is the exact date (once I get the State paperwork and secure a place to rent, and making sure that the timeline of the Venezuela -> Spain and Spain -> Italy flights lineup and allow for a margin of error when it comes to delayed flights (I know my people, there’s a high chance that the Caracas -> Spain flight does not depart on time, so I have to always factor that in even if it does end up departing on time).
I am still aiming for a late August or a more realistically September departure date. October would be “full circle” for me due to personal reasons.
Due to my limited banking/payment options, someone else is holding my plane ticket money, and will be assisting me in using it to purchase our tickets, so that’s not a problem.
Any information, tips, insight, or advice that you can provide me with regards to this subject will go a long way, trust me.
I actually am not sure if taking a train from Spain to Italy would be a better option.
Worst case scenario, if a problem arises in Spain, at least I speak Spanish lol.
III. Where to get a new laptop
Tl;dr. I can’t take this 11 year old desktop with me, and my 12 year old laptop is on its death throes, so once I’m over there I need to buy a laptop asap. Nothing out of the ordinary, just something that I can use to work first and foremost. I also need to get my brother a new laptop or even tablet because he’s been using this old 2009 HP laptop.
If there is a store in Italy, or perhaps some sort of online Italy/EU store where I can buy a cheap (even used) laptop from then please by all means, point me in the right direction. I’m not buying anything here because it’s just too expensive and most of them are overpriced e-waste sold by totally not laundering fronts.
Worst case scenario I should, in theory, be able to get a laptop shipped from the United States before I leave from like Amazon or something like that.
—
I’m not going to lie, there’s a fair amount of fear and anxiety in all of this because whatever I choose and do will determine not just my life, but my brother’s. I’m essentially venturing into unknown lands to start a new life, and I don’t wanna fail, I’ve already failed too much in my life, to be honest.
That is why any information, insight, tips, and advice are something that I’ll be really grateful for.
Feel free to reach me out through whatever medium fancies you, be it Twitter, Email, Discord, or what have you. I will gladly respond asap.
Even if you particularly don’t have info to share about all of this, just helping spread the word does wonders, so by all means, feel free to do so.
Thank you so much in advance,
-Kal
