Italy Trip Preparation

Italy

September 3 – 4, 2012

Background

After my brother-in-law, Patrick had a brief stay in the hospital last spring, his wife, Lou decided that life is too short and that they should plan a trip to Italy NOW. I saw the brochure and suggested that Greg and I would like to go along. Since I was the experienced traveler after my “eight week, 11 countries, 40 people on a bus” tour 30 years ago, I suggested that we book a tour company rather than try to plan a trip by ourselves. After a long ordeal of booking a trip with one company, which was cancelled, Lou came up with the idea that we should book a Rick Steves’ tour. He produces a travelogue on PBS. We quickly researched and settled on a 10-day tour of Venice, Florence, and Rome. We decided to arrive in Venice two days early to recover from jet lag. I was thrilled to go in early September, not just for the good weather, but because I would miss two weeks of work. I was not about the give up some of my unpaid month off just to go on vacation.

The Preparation

About a month before we left, I started to prepare for the trip. Actually, I became a nervous wreck worrying about being prepared for the trip. I don’t like surprises, so I tried to learn everything I could about what to expect on the trip. I drove everyone including myself crazy. My biggest fear when reading the Rick Steves itinerary was that it called for walking 2-8 miles with lots of hills, stairs and uneven terrain. That seemed like a huge range. 2-4 miles I could handle but 8 miles? Hopefully this was just Rick Steves way of weeding out the weak. Greg and I started training at the gym so we would be up for the task. I bought a pedometer so I could keep track of the total miles walked each day of the tour.

Besides training, there was shopping to do. I bought five different suitcases, before I settled on two. I shopped in stores and online for every travel gadget that I could find. I bought a whole new wardrobe of quick-drying clothes and practiced wearing them for two weeks. I visited every travel website I could find, especially the extremely detailed site that Rick Steves put together for travelers just like me. I researched such topics as “going through customs,” “what Euros look like,” “pick-pocket schemes.”  I watched videos about how to pack. I made Greg “practice pack” with me three different times. This was important because we were each expected to bring everything for two weeks in one 22-inch carry-on suitcase. Finally, I was ready. Interestingly about this time, Pat and Lou started to get anxious while preparing for the trip. I was able to calm them saying “I figured that out weeks ago. Here is what you need to do...”

I was so prepared I had time to write a song about our trip to the tune of “Two Ladies” from the musical Cabaret. Also, to keep my 92-year-old mother-in-law from getting anxious about all of us leaving, I created a 35-page itinerary, using the two-page one we had been sent, and inserting photos from the Internet every time it mentioned something we would be seeing. I then put each day in a separate envelope so she would have something to look forward to every day.

Monday, September 3 - Labor Day

Lou’s sister, Adele, hosted a going away party at her house. It was so nice to get to visit with family before we left. I premiered my song for the group with help from Lou. It was a big hit on Facebook. We had an early evening so we could do our final packing and be rested for our flight the next afternoon.

Tuesday, September 4

We drove to Pat and Lou’s home where we would leave our car. Her sister, Patti, and her husband, Denny, gave us a ride to the airport.  

Greg, Valerie, Lou and Patrick, ready to go!

We got to the gate with plenty of time for me to stress about my favorite thing…FOOD. Time to eat. I had a mediocre breakfast sandwich and a doughnut from Dunkin Donuts. It would be a long flight, and even with the carefully selected snacks I had packed, I didn’t want to get hungry on the plane.

While we were waiting by the gate, Lou was showing us her neck pillow and on a whim ripped off the tags, which made a hole and caused the beaded stuffing to fall out. Not to worry, I whipped out my TSA-approved sewing kit and fixed it right up.

Our first flight to Philadelphia left on time at 1:15 p.m. The plane was small and full, and we were forced to check our carry-on bags because there was little overhead storage space. Unlike regular checked bags, these were checked right at the door to the plane and would be returned to us as we exited the plane in Philly. During the flight, we ran into a storm. There was lots of turbulence and circling of the airport. The pilot at one point announced on the intercom that we were running out of fuel and that we would either have to land soon or be diverted to another airport. EXCUSE ME, another airport?! We had a flight to Venice to catch. Thankfully, we were allowed to land in Philly, an hour late, but we only had a two-hour layover before our 6:30 p.m. flight. Oh, there was one other little problem--lightning. The ground crew can’t be outside if there is lightning, so we sat in the plane for 40 minutes, 50 feet from the jet way.

No problem, we had 20 minutes to retrieve our bags, get on a shuttle to our concourse on the other side of the airport, and find our gate. I watched my dream of getting something substantial to eat vanish as we stood in a long line waiting for our bags. At this point, we had a brilliant--or more like a desperate--idea. We would tag team. Pat and Greg would wait for the bags while Lou and I ran ahead. We found where the shuttle was and then Lou went back to get the guys and showed them where it was. Next thing I knew we were all on board the bus to the distant concourse. When we arrived, Pat and I took off for the gate while Greg and Lou followed behind with the luggage. While on the moving sidewalk leading toward our gate, we heard the final boarding call for our flight. I almost jumped over the railing to get there faster. Amazingly, we all got on board and ironically sat for half an hour while they waited for other passengers that were held up by the storm.

We were frazzled, but happily settled into our seats that would become our home for the next ten hours. Pat, Lou and I were seated in the center, and Greg was across the aisle. Lucky for him, the window seat was empty so he could stretch out. Here are the highlights: the molten hot container of chicken, mashed sweet potatoes and green beans they served us for dinner, the odd range of movies, from chick flicks to the remake of the Three Stooges that was shown on one large suspended screen, playing Scrabble on Lou’s iPad, and the odd muffin top pastry that they served us for breakfast. They kept the lights low in the hopes that you would sleep. I think I slept an hour or two. I did have a lovely chat with one of the flight attendants. On a side note Pat had told me that he was bringing Scrabble and Monopoly to play during the flight. It took me a minute to understand that he had downloaded the app to Lou’s iPad and was not bringing all those little pieces.