seriously, I really admire you, Del. You arranged to pay for the trip...planned it out, went and had a great time....
I couldn't do that. (obviously)
I can't even get to the coast and it is only three hours drive away!!
Sure you can. It's not as easy as falling off a log, but it's not that much harder. Airlines and hotels
want to take your money, so they're going to be as helpful as possible in letting you spend it on them.
The hardest part - for me, anyway - was flying. After I survived the trip, everything else was cream on the cake.
The other hard part was finding and budgeting the money (and nowadays, the passport. It was a lot easier to get one when I did) for your trip. As I have said, if I could have afforded a hotel room by myself, I would have gone by myself in a flash.
After that, it's just a matter of studying maps and books and reading up on where you want to go and how to get there. And again, there are plenty of tour guide writers wanting you to buy their books on how to do it.
If that sounds like too much trouble, find a tour group.
Which is what we're going to do for Italy.