Zoo Italia

Our family of four has been in Italy for 6 months now and it seems I keep forgetting details, stories and lessons learned and friends and family have to chat with each other to get the full story. So we’ve decide to start a blog, write it down, and reference to friends and family. I have 6 months of backlog of stories to tell so I will add them when I remember them and also try to keep it up to date. Enjoy and please share if you have anything to add or ask!

For today I'll share my time at the gas pump yesterday.

We are lucky enough to be able to buy up to 300L/month (each liter is 0.26gallons) of gas at a pre-tax rate. It comes out to about $1 or $1.25/liter. We get coupons in 5, 10 and 20L denominations and the gas must be used as such. They can only be used at Agip stations (a brand name like Shell or Exxon).If I buy 3 liters of gas, I don't get change when I give a 5L "coupon". If I get 6liters of gas, the gas station may make me pay gas for all 6liters with cash. It's a stressful system. With the switch in schools, I am driving a minimum of 26miles a day plus Tigers drive to and from work. So I was low on gas and can't buy any coupons until November 1st. My first attempt at not handing over pretty Euro was to pour gas from our gas cans into my tank. Unfortunately I poured it up my sleeve and down my leg, twice. Three outfits, some showers and some lemon later, I still smelled like gas and there was no extra in my car.


Gas station in Positano



So I took 40E, a little bit more than $50 and took my car to the nearest AGIP. I found no attendant but there was a man on his cell phone, smoking a cigarette and talking to someone in a car. That man walked over and directed me to a pump. I asked for "quarante euro" and showed him the bills to ensure I said it correctly and there would be no mistake. It's common to ask for gas in euro, so much so that the attendants have a button to push for 20E increments. Anyway, $50 dollars later I had a whopping 21liters of gas. Yes, about 5.25 gallons for 50 dollars! As I pulled away I noted that they had much more expensive gas (1.81E/liter) than the competition (around 1.74E/ liter) Remember to multiply the difference by 4 to get it per gallon, then about 1.33 to get it in US $.  We have decided not to take any road trips and to just learn the train system.