Does the fire at the Nairobi airport have an effect upcoming flight to Kenya?

Posted by worldwide-admin on August 7, 2013 with 0 Comment

As reported in the today’s news, a fire at Kenya’s main airport in Nairobi has shut down the airport.

Watching the news on TV on the few English speaking channels we have access to in Boveglio, Italy, inspired us to consider how this may have an effect on our upcoming flight to Kenya on September 2, 2013, only 26 days from today.

Departing from the Marco Polo Airport in Venice, Italy, we’ll have two layovers on our flight, luckily none of which are at the Nairobi International Airport.

Here’s our flight itinerary:

9/2/13 – Departure 2 stops

Total travel time: 15 h 25 m

Venice	Istanbul	2 h 25 m
VCE 10:45am	IST 2:10pm Terminal I
Turkish Airlines 1868
Economy/Coach (S) \| Confirm seats with the airline *
Layover: 4 h 5 m
Istanbul	Kilimanjaro	6 h 55 m 3,110miles
IST 6:15pm	JRO 1:10am +1 day
Turkish Airlines 673
Economy/Coach (S) \| Confirm seats with the airline *
Layover: 1 h 0 m
Kilimanjaro	Mombasa	1 h 0 m 180miles
JRO 2:10am	MBA 3:10am , Arrives on 9/3/13
Turkish Airlines 673
Economy/Coach (S) \| Confirm seats with the airline *

In a prior post I had mistakenly quoted our flight as being 17 hours long (please excuse the error) when in fact it is only 15 hours and 25 minutes. That’s good news!

Reviewing our itinerary once more, it makes me cringe at the long wait, we’ll have on the second layover. How in the world will we stay awake, waiting at the Kilimanjaro airport for almost 7 hours? Yikes. If we were on the plane, we could sleep. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

The only issue for us could be any delay when we arrive in Mombasa, Kenya at 3:10 am if flights are still being diverted to other airports. As it is we’ve read online that any arrivals in Kenya may result in long waits going though customs and acquiring visas for our extended stay.

Bottom line, if we arrive in Mombasa safely, subsequently to arrive at our rental house, however many hours later, we’ll be grateful.

With all the embassies and consulates closing in various parts of the world, there is no doubt cause for concern for travelers. Kenya was not included in these closings, which provided us with a little peace of mind.

The world is a scary place. We don’t take any of our travels lightly. With neither of us fans of flying, preferring cruise ships as a means of transportation, the less commotion, the better.

Hopefully, less than a month from now we’ll be comfortably situated in our vacation rental in Diani Beach, the ocean a mere 300 steps from our door, feeling content, and looking forward to arranging a safari to see the Great Migration, our major motivator for visiting Kenya.

On high alert…Traveler’s warnings…What’s our plan?…In 30 days, off to Kenya…

Posted by worldwide-admin on August 3, 2013 with 0 Comment

A kindly reader of our blog posted a comment that we received overnight, inquiring as to our concern over traveling to Kenya with the recent embassy and consulate closings in countries all over the weekend. For the full article, please click here.

Yes, we’re concerned. How could we not be? It’s this level of concern that prompts us to do all we can to ensure our safety to the best of our ability. There are always unknowns.

Looking up stats on various countries worldwide, we see that Belize had a higher homicide rate per capita than Kenya. After spending almost three months living in Belize, aware of the risks, we never let our guard down, never taking our safety for granted.

Such will be the case when living in Kenya for a few days short of three months from September 3, 2013, to November 30, 2013, when we depart for South Africa. We’ll be exercising extreme caution, none of which is a guaranty of our safety but reduces the risks.

Having registered for the Smart Traveler Program at the US Department of State we’ll be receiving any warnings via email that may require us to leave Kenya or later South Africa if the tension in our area escalates.

A few portions of our travel plans to Kenya give rise to added concern; our arrival at the Mombasa Airport in the middle of the night and, the subsequent over one hour ride to our vacation rental in the middle of the night. Most crime occurs in the dark in these high-risk areas. Yes, we’ll be nervous until firmly ensconced in our new location.

Have we considered changing our plans? Yes, we have. But we’ll continue to carefully watch the world news, reports from the State Department, online posts and comments. Should these next few weeks bring rise to added concerns in the areas we plan to travel with warnings from the State Department to cancel travel plans, we’ll do so.

We realize that doing so will cost us around $6000 from loss of paid-in-advance rent and non-refundable airfare. This is a big loss to incur but our safety supersedes money, doesn’t it?

What plans do we have in place to ensure our safety, the reader inquired? Here are what we have thus far:

1. Destination contact: We’ve established a plan with my sister that we will notify her by email when we depart any area and immediately when we arrive, having provided her with the address, contact person’s name, phone, and email plus travel arrangement information for our destination. If she doesn’t hear from us within 12 hours of our estimated arrival time, she is to begin the process of finding out what’s happened to us, contacting the embassy, state department, etc. (if we have airport delays we will contact her as they occur).
2. No rental car. We’ve been made well aware that driving in Kenya can be risky, even in the tourist area we’ll be living. Once arriving, we’ll make arrangements with a driver for weekly trips for shopping, daytime dining out and any touring.
3. Deciding on safari trips based on safety in a specific area, airports, etc. The property owner suggested we wait until we arrive to decide on safaris as he will assist us in making arrangements with people he knows and trusts.
4. News updates: With no TV at the property (as we have here in Italy with a few English speaking news stations: BBC, France 24, and CNBC, we’ll be watching news updates on our computers on a daily basis.
5. No venturing out after dark. Period.
6. No wearing of jewelry, watches, any items that may attract attention.
7. Dressing “down” when out during the day, jeans, shorts, tee shirts, no clothing that attracts attention.
8. Keeping money and documents secure at all times. We carry very little cash, mostly using credit cards.
9. Staying together at all times when out and about.
10. Never, ever, loosening our guidelines for what appears to be “special circumstances.” Neither of us is naïve. It is unlikely that we’d fall prey to some “scammer” attempting to divert our attention. Keep walking, don’t make eye contact, be guarded with confidence and astuteness.

There is nothing anyone can do to be exempt from danger. Where we lived in Minnesota it was only a 30-minute drive to an area where one wouldn’t dare get out of their car at night, let alone during the day. Tom’s mother’s home in a less desirable area in North Minneapolis had bullet holes in it when it was finally taken by the city by eminent domain.

Over the years, while she still lived in the house, he and the family worried that she could fall prey to drive-by shootings occurring all over the neighborhood. Luckily, she got out in time, living to be a healthy 98 years old.

There are risks wherever one may be at any given moment; a movie theatre in Colorado, a train in France, or running a marathon in Boston, MA. We can only hope and pray for safety, exercising caution to the best of our ability while allowing ourselves the privilege of reveling in every moment of our world travels

No seat assignment available for us on Turkish air…A letter from Expedia.com…

Posted by worldwide-admin on July 28, 2013 with 2 Comments

With the midsummer heat, few flowers remain in the gardens.

With our upcoming flight from Venice, Italy to Mombasa, Kenya on September 2nd, arriving 17 hours later on September 3rd, we’d expected to be able to sit together.

When booking the flight several weeks ago, trying to choose our seats for the three legs of the flight, a message popped up stating that seat assignment will be available at a later date, unknown at this point.

As I walked through the gardens, the bees swarmed around me.

The thought of the possibility of that long flight without being able to sit next to one another was frustrating for us both. Playing Gin and dining together (yes, they serve meals) makes the time pass quickly, an excellent diversion.

Knowing little about Turkish Air other than reviews we read online, we have no idea what to expect. The reviews varied from “hate them” to “loved the flight” more on the favorable side. There were few flight options to Kenya.

The honey bees love the lavender, still in its full glory.

Yesterday, concerned about the lack of seat assignments, I contacted Expedia.com from whom we purchased our tickets. With the usual good customer service, I expected a response within 24 hours. Within hours, they responded to our request with the following:

"Dear Expedia Customer,

Thank you for contacting us about your seat requests for your flight reservation. The airline has not made seats available for a pre-assigned seat request at  this time. The airline will assign seats for you when you check in.

Meanwhile, your seat assignment requests have been sent to the airline. Please be advised, that the airline ultimately controls, seat assignments and we cannot guarantee every request will be honored. Confirm your specific requests with the airline before departure.   If this does not answer your question or solve your problem, feel free to reply to this message or  call us at 1-800-EXPEDIA (1-800-397-3342) or 1-404-728-8787 (for callers outside United States and Canada) and reference case ID: ????? Thank you for choosing Expedia.  Dennise Expedia Customer Service Team"

All we can determine from this message is that when checking in at the airport, we’ll have to stand in line, hopefully, early enough to get seats together, which may or may not be possible. Why? Why do it this way?

The shade of the overhanging vines creates a pleasant patio area in our yard.

If their online system is not sophisticated enough to allow seat selection? If that’s the case, are their planes updated and maintained to meet modern standards?

Each time we encounter a possible stress-inducing situation, we develop a back-up plan to ease us through the scenario. In this case, very early arrival at the gate in Venice is our best option.

However, when we were departing on our last ship, the Norwegian Spirit in Venice, we were warned not to arrive at the airport over three hours before a flight’s departure. One would not be allowed into the terminal if earlier.

We’ve noted our calendar: arrive at Marco Polo airport in Venice at 7:30 am on September 2nd, considering our 10:30 am flight.

A good soaking rain would bring all of the vegetation back to life. It rains a little a few times a week but not enough during the summer heat in the 90’s each of the past several days.

Also, checking online for information about that airport, we discovered that they have a technology kiosk where we’ll be able to recharge our laptops and smartphones prior to departure. At this point, we’re unable to determine if any of the three planes we’ll be flying have “plugins” at our seats (what seats?) for recharging digital equipment.

Having our equipment charged will enable us to read Kindle app books, play games, and of course, write about our travel experience as it transpires, posting it on the blog in real-time. If the plane doesn’t have plug-ins, we’ll recharge our equipment at kiosks at the two other airports along the way, Istanbul, Turkey, and Nairobi, Kenya, at each of which we’ll have layovers and plane changes.

Plan in place. Stress reduced.

The next flight stress inducer is overweight luggage, especially since we don’t want to pay the extra $700 in fees when we flew from Dubai, UAE to Barcelona, Spain. The process of reducing our load has already begun as we’ve disposed of more and more items each week, including making a pile of items we may ship to Kenya, after all.

In checking with the owner of the house in Diani Beach, he’s agreed to accept a box of items for us. It will be insured. If it’s stolen, we’ll be covered. We shall see how this rolls out.

More evidence of a need for rain. This grass was lush green only a few weeks ago.

Tom has expressed his desire to drop off whatever rental car we have at the Venice airport the day before our departure. With the two hours it took to originally pick up the car, he feels more at ease doing it this way.

At first, I disagreed with him. Why bear the expense of transportation back to the hotel the previous day? With the hotel offering a complimentary shuttle to the airport, we’d have to pay the one way. As these other concerns have materialized, I agree with him.

In any case, we would have done it “his way” whether I agreed or not. To avoid arguing over any such item, we always acquiesce when one of us is adamant about a particular issue. Thus, we don’t argue, making the assumption that either of us is smart enough to make reasonable decisions.

The ongoing process of planning to reduce stress and surprises well in advance takes time and careful thought. With that in mind, surprise, often occurs, forcing us to ditch our best-laid plans to begin again. I guess that is the way life is in general for all of us: “Expect the unexpected.”

Road trip tomorrow! To heck with waiting for the rental car agency to let us know where and when to swap out the rental car. Not a word from them. Off we go, back later in the day with photos and the story of our expedition.

What?…Rental car issues!…Classic European cars guessing game…Please help…

Posted by worldwide-admin on July 21, 2013 with 0 Comment

#1 Is this an MG? Year? Notice at a distance, the red Ferrari or Lamborghini.

This morning as we sat on the veranda Tom pointed out a procession of classic-type European cars coming up the winding road, fast approaching our area. Were they on their way to a car show? Running in my bare feet to take photos, I grabbed the camera and dashed down the stone steps, unlocked the front door (which is tricky), and headed outside, barely in time to take these shots as the cars buzzed by.

There is only one road leading in and out of Boveglio, one heading north, the other south, requiring anyone driving the general area, travel this option, directly passing our house.

Standing on rocky steps, I did my best shooting these photos as the cars whizzed by at surprisingly fast speeds for such a narrow village road.

Tom’s expertise is in American cars, not foreign cars. He’s identified these the best he can.

Can you identify any of these cars for us? The make.The model? The year? Correct us if we’re wrong! Please comment using the assigned #’s for each car, at the end of this post. We’ll make corrections based on your comments.

#2 Is this a Mercedes? If so, which model, year?

#3 Is this a Porsche? Model? Year?

#4 Is this a Porsche? Model? Year?

#5 Is this an MG? Model? Year?

#6 Is this a Mercedes? Model? Year?

#7 Is this a Triumph? Spider? Year?

Please read below for the ongoing unbelievable rental car situation!

Without an actual phone number with us, with access to Skype, only my sister had offered that we use her cell phone number when a number was required such as for a car rental, airline reservation, etc. If she received a call for us, she’d only need to email us the name and number to return the call and we’d make the call via Skype.

On Thursday, she received such a call from Budget Car Rental at Marco Polo Airport in Venice. They called to inform us that our rental car was sold and to immediately return it to Venice, a five hour drive each way.

Are you kidding me????

Prepaid until September 2, 2013, do they expect us to drive for 10 hours, stand in line for another two hours to get a different car, pay for gas at US $7.50 a gallon, tolls along the drive, meals, la la la???

Only a week ago, after an excruciating week of trying to reach someone who spoke English, they sent us a new extended contract, charged our credit card US $1356 to extend to our desired date when we’ll return the car to Marco Polo Airport in Venice when its time to fly to Kenya.

Trying to reach an English speaking person at Marco Polo by phone was fruitless. The thought of beginning that painstaking process again made my stomach hurt. Thus, I began an email campaign, sending no less than two messages a day requesting management respond to address this issue.

Finally today, Sunday, a manager returned the message saying they will either bring us another car to Boveglio in the next few days or they will require, we bring the car to a closer location such as Florence, which is still a two hour drive each way. The manager said he will work on it and get back to us.

With a hotel reservation booked for our upcoming road trip on Tuesday, we had no alternative but to change our plans, leaving us and the car-free to respond to their decision.

Immediately upon receiving this message this morning, with a 48-hour cancellation policy on our hotel reservation, I knew I’d better get to work to cancel the reservation. That in itself was not as painless as one may think.

Our reservation check-in time is 1:00 PM Tuesday, giving us more than 24 hours to cancel. Ha! Inexperienced traveler such as I in staying in hotels booked online (with little travel over the prior 15 years while living in the US) didn’t think that the 48-hour cutoff began at midnight last night, as opposed to check-in time on Tuesday. Our 48-hour window no longer applied.

Having booked the reservation with Hotels.com I immediately logged into their website in a pointless attempt to cancel, leaving me no alternative but to call using Skype. After a half-hour on the call, our reservation was canceled at no charge, freeing us up to deal with the car.

Now, we’ll wait to hear back from Budget as to how we’ll get the replacement car. I can’t imagine how this is not going to cost us something, gas, expenses, or arbitrary charges. We had read reviews of potential issues when renting a car in Italy.

Reminding myself to take a deep breath, I know this is a part of the experience, perhaps a price one pays, literally and figuratively, for having the opportunity to travel the world, as unencumbered as possible. So it goes.

I settle myself down having vented here, realizing in the realm of things, its really a small inconvenience. We have our health, we have each other, the weather is beautiful, we have “our people” who love and miss us as we do them, and the future is open and bright for us two homeless wanderers.

With our road trip now on hold, pending the car situation, we settle back into our routine, playing a little Gin, lounging on our chaise lounges in the sun for an hour every other day, walking the hills in the neighborhood, taking a trip to Pescia for groceries tomorrow and enjoying a fabulous dinner we’re preparing for tonight.

Hope to hear back from you car aficionados!

Potential car rental nightmare…

Posted by worldwide-admin on July 13, 2013 with 0 Comment

While in Dubai from May 21, 2013 to June 4, 2013 the time had arrived to arrange the rental of a car for the summer in Italy. Our objective was to pick up the car at the Marco Polo Airport once we arrived in Venice, Italy by cruise ship. Once in our possession, we’d drive the five hour journey to our awaiting home for the summer in Boveglio.

Although we weren’t particularly concerned about renting a car, we had several factors to consider:

When it was time to leave Italy on September 2, 2013 to fly to Mombasa Kenya, which airport would provide us with the best fares, best flights along easy access to return the car?
Which car rental companies would we feel most comfortable after reading reviews as to renting a car in Italy?
The total cost for the lengthy period from June 16 to September 2, 2013, any potential “hidden” costs. (Renting a car for two and a half months isn’t typical. This is a totally different scenario that the usual one or two week rental while on vacation).
Which types of available cars that would allow enough room for our over sized luggage?
Which cars were most economical in regards to gasoline usage, priced at roughly US $8.50 per gallon in the Tuscan region of Italy?
With us no longer owning a car with it subsequent insurance that typically provides coverage for rental cars, what would we do when the average cost for the “extra” insurance is US $10 per day.
The time of day we’d pick up the car and reserve it to ensure we didn’t have to pay extra fees for a late drop-off or in some case, an entire extra day.

Shopping online at several familiar sites, comparing prices, reading reviews and conditions of the rental agreements, it proved to take a lot longer than we’d expected. Since quite ill while in Dubai, I left most of the research up to Tom. He went at it with gusto.

While conducting this research, we also had to shop for the best airline prices to get us from Italy to Mombasa, Kenya from the several options in Italy which proved to be a huge factor in determining where we’d drop off the car in the end.   Would it be Venice, Rome, or Florence, all within a five hour drive of our summer home in Boveglio?

It took several days of reviewing all of these factors until, until we found the best overall conditions, considering the above factors.

We ultimately decided that we’d pick up the car in Venice at the Marco Polo Airport with the goal of eventually flying out of the Marco Polo Airport to Mombasa, Kenya on September 2, 2013.

Of course, with the five hour drive from Boveglio, we’d have no alternative but to spend one night in a hotel in Venice close to the airport. (A week later we booked a nearby hotel, offering free shuttle service to the airport, allowing us to drop off the car a day early, if we so chose, to reduce the stress at the airport on our flight day). Good plan.

As we continued on in the booking process from RentalCars.com, a site more user friendly for Italy, we discovered a fact that threw us for a loop:

Based on the lengthy period of time for the contract, the rental car company, in this case, Budget, would require two and a half times the cost of the long term rental, to be held on our credit card for the entire duration.

Upon realizing this fact, we jumped to other rental companies to discover that these circumstances were common, especially in well known rental car companies, such as Budget, Avis and Hertz. We’d decided that under no circumstances, would we use a small local company after we’d read many negative reviews describing nightmarish circumstances for long term rentals. The more well-known companies were definitely the way to go but, as it turned out, all of them required this credit card “hold.”

At the rate of US $830.00 per month over the summer in Italy, our total rental would be roughly US $2075. None our credit cards charge an exchange rate for paying in Euros and, they offered “free” insurance when using the card to pay for the rental, which in itself saved us a small fortune.

However, there was nothing the credit card company could do to avert the necessity of the Budget (which had the best pricing) “holding” two and a half times of the funds for the entire rental period which would total US $5187.50!

We weren’t thrilled with the concept of Budget “holding” funds against one of our cards in this amount for this extended period. Although we use several credit cards for our travels, with future expenses, hotels, flights and rentals required to pay in advance, we were against any of our cards being tied up for this amount for almost three months.

Our only option was clear to both of us: Rent the car for one month allowing them to “hold” over $2000 which appeared to be their concern over two factors for any long term rentals; one the credit card may become maxed out during an extended period resulting in insufficient funds to pay at the end of the rental period and two, to cover the cost in the event of damage to the vehicle not covered by insurance. This is a sensible policy from their perspective, protecting their interests only. For us, quite annoying.

On June 16th, we rented the car at the Marco Polo airport for one month until July 15, 2013 which ends this upcoming Monday, with the plan to contact them on July 8, a week earlier to extend it.

At Budget rental office, we inquired as to the procedure to extend the rental with assurance that the process was simple; either call or process the extension online within 24 hours of the end of the rental period.

Here’s how it went beginning this past Monday, one week before the car was to be returned:

Sent an email to Budget confirming the procedure to extend the rental when we couldn’t find a place on their international website to extend it
They sent an email back, after they charged us $2 for the online inquiry, informing us we’d have to call the Budget desk at the Marco Polo Airport where we got the car. This had to be done over the phone.
Called the number for Budget at Marco Polo Airport, asking to speak to an English speaking representative. After being on hold, while paying for the call (no toll-free number to the location), for no less than 10 minutes, someone came back on the line, saying “No English” and hung up on me.

Add to that, the rental agreement itself was all in Italian. Using Google Translate we became further frustrated in an effort to translate the many numbers, codes and notations that could or couldn’t be our reservation number, customer number, booking number and contract number. It was nearly impossible to decipher which was which.

Hoping if we waited a day to call back, they may have an English speaking representative on duty.

Again, called the Budget desk at the Marco Polo Airport. A woman spoke poor English asking me for the reservation number. There were four numbers on the “written in Italian” form. I read all of them to her. They were lengthy, numbers and letters. I spoke clearly. She kept getting them wrong. I explained our goal to extend the contract. She said we’d get a confirmation email before the end of the day.
Two days later, no response, no email, no confirmation. Called again. Again, no one spoke English. The representative yelled at me and hung up.
Looking online for Budget’s International Customer Service, we found a number in the UK. We called, speaking to a nice guy. He couldn’t do anything since he didn’t have access to the files for Italy, suggesting we try calling the Marco Polo location once again. I did. Again, no one spoke English. Our frustration factor continued to grow as each day passed adding a certain amount of worry to the mix.

Need I say this process continued over five days? Calling back the UK office on Thursday, we were given a private email address for the Marco Polo location. Sending an email to this “unpublished” email address, copying the international corporate headquarters, within hours we received an email that stated, “We extended the contract for you.”

Of course, I immediately stored the response into the “Car Rental Italy 2013” folder in Outlook for future reference. As of this date, they’ve yet to bill us for the remaining six and a half weeks. Hopefully, they’ll prorate the balance based on the original cost and not some arbitrary amount. I’ll keep checking the balance on the credit card, knowing whatever amount they’ll charge will include the “holding” amount for the remainder of the period.

I wish I could say that we’ve learned something from this annoying experience. Is it “shut up and pay?” Possibly.  On the other hand, it may well be a by-product of the nature of our lives…to expect these types of situations to occur from time to time.

Surely, the language barrier played a role in preventing us from easily accomplishing an otherwise simple objective.

Long ago while still in the US, I recall spending hours and eventually days, on the phone, in English, with our past cable company in an attempt to resolve an issue with the operation of our service which ultimately wasn’t resolved for over a year. With no other options available in the area, we were a captive audience, as in this case…in possession of Budget’s little navy blue Fiat, not interested in driving back to Venice in a few days to stand in line for two more hours, only to turn around and drive the five hours back to Boveglio.

Now this issue behind us, we’re back to the freedom of spirit and peace of mind in which we strive to languish each and everyday. Tonight’s “taco salad night,” minus the chips, minus the shell “bowl” but with all the fixins’ will be a treat, even in Italy. Add a downloaded movie and we’re content as we could be!

A little bit of history of Boveglio, Villa Basilica, Lucca, Toscano, Italy..Flight booked for Kenya…No more tremors during the night…

Posted by worldwide-admin on June 22, 2013 with 0 Comment

On our hilly, heart pounding walk this morning, the simplest views caught our attention.

Our automated emails sent to those of you have signed up to receive daily messages of the latest post in your inbox still appears to be having a problem. Many have sent us email messages and inquires in Facebook. Our web designer had assumed that the problem with Blogger was fixed but apparently not yet. She continues to work on this and we will notify you as soon as it is repaired so once again you will find the daily posts in your inbox.

However, we continue to post each day and each post may be accessed by clicking on:
www.worldwidewaftage.com for the most recent post to appear. If you’d like you can bookmark the page for one click access.

Prior posts are only one click away on the right side of our homepage, under Past Posts by simply clicking on the dates you’ve missed.

Our MiFi isn’t working in Boveglio. The Internet connection provided by the gracious property owners of our temporary home have WiFi but it is slow and unpredictable, requiring us to either be outside for a good connection. Most likely the issue is due to the three foot stone walls in this lovely property.

Thank you for your patience. We appreciate the notifications and give this the utmost concern. Please continue to enjoy our posts in the interim via this link.

Last night, close to sunset, we discovered this village of Colognora beyond the mountains.

As the sun was about to set, the moon began to peek out. Surely in the next few nights it will be full, definitely inspiring us to get more shots.

Luckily, there were no more aftershocks yesterday although we’d made a plan before bed that if there were during the night as to where we dash to safety. Also, Luca the owner wrote to us yesterday explaining that the house had been retrofitted for earthquakes when it had recently been remodeled, putting our minds at ease allowing us both to get a good night’s sleep.

Its interesting to observe the change in colors as the night falls while the cloud create shadows on the hillside.

As the sun goes down.

With all of our adapting and adjusting this past week, we’ve determined that we love it here. We’ve accepted that the long winding drive to a larger village is a part of its Boveglio’s charm and beauty. The house with it few quirks and challenges has, in this short period, become home for us.

Last night, after dinner and watching the movie on my laptop, “Under the Tuscan Sun” we couldn’t stop smiling, as we sat on the veranda watching the sun go down, knowing full well that this is the place for us. With over two months in front of us, we are peaceful and content. The owners couldn’t be more helpful and kind, responding to our every whim with dignity and grace, as we strive to do the same.

____________________________________________
Finding historical information about the 700 AD village of Boveglio was more challenging to accomplish than we’d anticipated. These villages, many of them still existing in a lifestyle reminiscent of earlier centuries, have yet to transfer information from their historical books to the Internet. How foolish we are to assume that we can find everything online?

Butterflies are everywhere here in Toscana, a rarity in the US with the rampant use of pesticides killing them off. The US uses 80% of the world’s pesticides. (OK, I’ll get off my soapbox!)

After considerable research, we’ve found this link is the best we could share with you regarding the history of this area. As we’ve discovered, the village of Boveglio is a part of the larger village of Villa Basilica, which is a village in the Lucca region, which is located in the region of Toscana, aka Tuscany.

In this area, as one leaves a village, a diagonal line crosses the name of the village. Notice the hairpin sign, one of many on our ride down the mountains to Collodi, the village large enough to find groceries, a pharmacy, supplies and sundries, roughly a 30 minute drive from Boveglio.

This Bed and Breakfast is a few hundred feet from our door.

Originally researching Boveglio, we were excited that this bar and restaurant was within walking distance. Unfortunately, we never asked the owners of our house, Lisa and Luca, if it still was in operation. It has closed down as a public facility, now occupied by its owners. The economy has spared no small businesses in Italy as we discover as we travel the world.

Rather than copy and paste gobs of information here, we’ve provided this link that you may find interesting as we did.
http://italia.indettaglio.it/eng/toscana/lucca_villabasilica_boveglio.html

Tonight, we’ll have our “date night” (goodness, every night is date night these days), heading to Benabbio to Il Cavallino for dinner, to pay our bill for last Sunday’s dinner when we had no Euros (we now are stocked with enough for our remaining time here) and to pay Vivienne for the few supplies we’d purchased on Monday prior to our outing to Collodi on Tuesday to the larger store.

A house in our neighborhood appearing to be occupied.

In the interim, we’re running out of Prosciutto, an Italian substitute for Amerian bacon. Hopefully, we’ll find Vivienne serving at the restaurant again and she’ll run across the street, open her tiny shop and bring us back a supply to last us until we go back to Collodi in 10 days.

This morning on our walk, we encountered the owner of this property which is next door to us, making a feeble attempt to introduce ourselves. She spoke no English.

Bacon, which we love and is allowed in moderation on our way of eating, has been somewhat of an issue in our travels. In Belize, they called it “butt bacon” and like butts, it was too fatty. On some of the cruise ships, the fatty bacon was palatable only when very well done but still too fatty.

In Dubai, there was no bacon at all due to pork avoidance by Muslims. Instead they sell a beefy substitute that although palatable, didn’t taste like bacon.

The houses across the street from us.

Now, in Italy, there is no bacon at all as we know it, only Prosciutto which doesn’t taste like bacon but does have a pleasing salty flavor when cooked with a touch of olive oil in a stainless steel skillet.

Drawing in stone of the Virgin Mary inside the stone wall across the street from our house.

This morning’s breakfast consisted of scrambled free range eggs, with sautéed organic onions infused with tiny cubes (no shredded cheese here) of locally made cheese. Add the perfect Italian coffee, Lavazza and we were content until we savor Alessandro’s perfectly prepared dinner tonight at his restaurant.

Tomorrow we’ll include photos of the village of Benabbio and also our meals at Il Cavallino, prices and comments.

Now for the details of our upcoming flight to Kenya.

Planning for the next step in our journey never ceases. As much as we’d like to plan and book every form of transportation well in advance, we find it make more sense to continue to research and lock it in as we go.

Planning a flight two to three months in advance is often adequate, although we’ve continued to check pricing as many as 300 days in advance (one can’t book a flight more than 330 days in advance with most airlines).

If we had our way, we’d never fly, taking ships and trains to our locations. But, at this point in our travels with our burgeoning bucket lists, we’ve decided to bite the bullet and go to our most desired areas of the world first. Thus, we fly.

Actually, our first flight wasn’t until we were almost eight months into our travels, when we fly from Dubai, UAE to Barcelona, Spain to go on our 8th cruise. As mentioned in a prior post, we loved Emirates Airlines (except for the excess baggage fees and the confiscation of two power cords).

Unfortunately, Emirates doesn’t fly all the way to Mombasa, Kenya which would force us to take an flight on Ethiopian Airlines part of the way which has many horrible reviews. I can picture cows and chickens on their flights while passengers sit in seats lined up against the side walls. Perhaps, an exaggeration but I can’t get this image out of my head.

Small houses appearing abandoned are actually often occupied.

Here is our one way flight from Venice, Italy, where’s we’ll return the rental car to the Marco Polo Airport, which forbids passengers from arriving any more than three hours before departure.

This flight will require us to drive from Bogevlio on September 1, 2013 to Venice staying in a hotel near the airport, which is a half hour drive from the area of Venice we visited last Saturday. Flight departs the next morning, is an partial overnight flight with us arriving in Mombasa at 3:10 am.

Total duration: 15h 25mArrives next day

Venice VCE 10:45am	Istanbul IST 2:10pm Terminal I	2h 25m 902 mi
Turkish Airlines 1868 Economy/Coach (S) Seat Preview Airbus A321 \| Meal Layover: 4h 5m
Istanbul IST 6:15pm Terminal I	Kilimanjaro JRO 1:10am + 1 day Arrives on Tue Sep/3/2013	6h 55m 3,108 mi
Turkish Airlines 673 Economy/Coach (S) Seat Preview Boeing 737-900 \| Meal Layover: 1h 0m
Kilimanjaro JRO 2:10am Departs on Tue Sep/3/2013	Mombasa MBA 3:10am Terminal 1 Arrives on Tue Sep/3/2013	1h 0m 180 mi
Turkish Airlines 673 Economy/Coach (S) Seat Preview

Price for two, one way: US $1468.66 (taxes and fees included).

What do we like about this flight:
1. Many of the available flights took upwards of 32 hours. This arrives in 15 hours, 25 minutes.
2. The airlines, Turkish Air, overall had good to excellent reviews.
3. The layover times were shorter than other flights.
4. By using the same airlines all the way through, it’s less likely our luggage will be lost.

What we don’t like about this flight:
1. Too long, in any case.
2. Unable to arrange seat assignments until closer to flight time. (It on our calendar to check back 30 days out).
3. The cost. There were cheaper flights, none of which were well reviewed airlines.
4. Unable to clearly define the baggage allowance in advance. We are considering shipping half of each of our belongings to Kenya, even with the risk of it not arriving. (We’ll insure it). First, we must check with the owner of the property in Kenya which we will do shortly.

Booking through Expedia.com where we have an account earning points, we feel confident in our decision.

Our rental in Kenya begins on September 1st. Arriving on the September 3rd results in our paying for two days rent and not yet moving in. Kenya has a 90 day visa provided at the airport upon entrance.

Flowers blooming near our exterior door.

By arriving a few days late, we avoid the necessity of obtaining an additional visa with our rental ending on November 30, 2013. We save on visa fees, travel costs to the closest immigration office and a tremendous amount of inconvenience. The loss of two day’s rent is well worth it.

There it is folks, our story for today. We’ll be back tomorrow with more news.

Is boredom an issue when we’re situated in one place? Dangerous roads…

Posted by worldwide-admin on June 20, 2013 with 0 Comment

Note: A small number of our readers have chosen to receive daily email of our posts, which arrive 24 hours after we’ve uploaded a new post. Since we’ve arrived in Tuscany, the daily email hasn’t arrived for some readers. We have reported this to our web designer and she is working on discovering the issue and correcting it.

In the interim, if you bookmark our page: www.WorldWideWaftage.com when you open it, the newest post will be presented immediately and you can scroll down to see the prior day’s post.

Thanks for your patience and know that we’ve given this technological problem our utmost attention. Once resolved, we will note it here on the next daily posting. Thanks for sharing our travels with us! Jess & Tom

See the two blue chaise lounges at a distance? That is another patio for our one hour of sunning time every few days. Due to the greenery, there’s a fair number of bees buzzing about. Tom and I both have allergies to bees, thus limiting our time in that spot.

We never expected that traveling the world would be a continual flow of one glorious experience after another. Without a doubt, we’ve enjoyed a multitude of outstanding experiences, many back to back, many day after day.

Then, there are the days in between where daily life, as in the lives of all of us, are simple, uneventful, frustrating and downright disappointing. Although, neither Tom nor I ever suffer from boredom.

We’ve learned at our advancing age how to easily entertain ourselves, sitting quietly in restful repose, engaging in idle chatter or picking up our smart phones to read our latest book in our Kindle app. Even now, without a solitary English speaking TV channel, we find ways to make our days and evenings, special in some way.

The view to our left.

Recently, we’ve been able to download and watch the entire 3rd season of Downton Abbey by Instant Video, setting up my laptop on the kitchen table, watching one episode per night, savoring the pleasure while we’ve dined on our homemade dinner, pausing only to do dishes.

Tonight, we’ll watch the movie, “Under the Tuscan Sun” by Tom’s suggestion as it was the movie that inspired me to want to visit in Tuscany, as is the case for many that enjoyed the popular “chick flick.” For a mere US $1.99 we’ll watch the almost two hour movie.

At 3:45 pm, our view from the veranda where we spend most of our lounging time.

While in Scottsdale, Arizona in November and December, 2012, as we prepared our final paperwork, we downloaded a few hundred movies on our two terabyte external hard drive, mainly to save for the nine month period we’ll be in Africa, here again with no TV and for other reasons, dangerous to go out at night. (Its hard to believe that in two months and twelve days we’ll be on our way to Kenya).

In Boveglio, one is wise not to travel the winding mountainous roads after dark, with no guardrails, no street lights and endless hairpin turns. When we dine out, we’ll make a point to return while still light, before 9:00 pm.

Tom will hardly be able to enjoy a few cocktails, since I don’t trust my driving skill to be the designated driver for such occasions and one wouldn’t dare drive the road after a few drinks. If I fussed over the dangerous road in Belize, it was nothing compared to the roads here. Nothing at all!

The view to our right.

I made Tom promise me that we’ll never drive on the scariest road in the world in Bolivia, listed as #1 in the top 25. (A few years ago, we watched a show about this dangerous road and it has stuck in my brain). See this link for the 25 scariest roads on the planet. Notice the two in Italy, very similar to the roads where we are located in Boveglio, Lucca, Tuscany.

The hazy view is not a photo taking issue. The vegetation produces massive amounts of humidity clearly visible in the far shots, although it is a bright sunny day.

Unquestionably, the long drive down has a bearing on how often we’ll venture out. Driving to Collodi yesterday certainly inspired us to grocery shop for two weeks at a time, planning any errands for the same time.

Yes, we do plan to do some exploring in other parts of Italy, but not as often as we’d originally hoped due to how far away we’re located. In any case, when we do travel, we’ll have to stay overnight in a hotel, adding an unplanned expense.

For the moment, we’re content staying put for the next few weeks after the last hectic two months since leaving Belize; hauling our heavy luggage, paying extra for our heavy luggage, waiting in lines, dealing with security, and on and on.

As we sit on the veranda writing, high above the roads, we’re find ourselves fully engaged in the view and the simple activities occurring below; the sound of a dog barking, the appearance of a tractor, a biker out for a hilly ride, a truck delivering goods and supplies and the endless chirping of birds.

Tomorrow, we’ll post the information about the flight we booked today from Venice, Italy to Mombasa, Kenya departing on September 2, 2013, a 17 plus hour journey with three plane changes. Plus we’ll share photos of the nuances, annoyances and obstacles we’ve encountered while living in 300 year old house.

Boveglio, Lucca. Tuscany, Italy…Visit to Collodi, home of Pinocchio…

Posted by worldwide-admin on June 18, 2013 with 0 Comment

Tom in the doorway that walks out to the garden.

Only a portion of the gardens in the yard.

Remove the running water, the electricity, and the wireless Internet, we’d feel as if it were the were now living in the 1800’s on a hillside in an old stone farmhouse in Boveglio, Lucca, built in the 17th century.

View of the road near our new home.

The gardens, prepared for an early harvest and the flowers blooming in the warmth of the sun, await our awe inspiring picking to enjoy their full beauty in our hands.

Many of the neighborhood roads are narrow, befitting a horse and buggy, never a modern day automobile. The main roads, also narrow and winding, are not for the faint of heart as one hairpin turn appears after another, as each guardrail- free curve suddenly looms before us.

The back of the property.

At night, the darkness is almost startling with nary a light in view in these vast mountains and rolling hills. In the morning, the melodic sounds of birds, new to our ears ,wafts through the fresh, clean air, inviting us to awaken early to partake in yet another blissful day of Mother Nature’s bounty.

Play and outdoor dining area.

Flowers are planted everywhere for our enjoyment while here.

Can you picture this table filled with friends drinking wine, talking loudly and dining on homemade Italian food?

Four times each hour, at odd intervals, we hear the clanging sounds of a clock tower, only steps for our door. Within hours of falling asleep on the first night, we quickly adapted to the comforting sounds, allowing us to sleep deeply without disturbance. And yet, throughout the day, we stop each time we hear the clang, giggling over its peculiar patterns, ringing one and three minutes before the hour and one and three minutes before the half hour.

This is the clock tower that chimes at odd times, next door to our home.

Our screen-less shuttered windows freely opened to the day and night, invite an array of flying insects that mostly and oddly find their way back outside before we turn in for the night, often buzzing around our heads during the day, an annoyance we are quickly becoming accustomed to.

As we walked in the yard, we encountered many trees unfamiliar to us.

With no working television, service lost some time ago to a storm, with no microwave or electric coffee pot, we rummaged through the Tuscan style few cabinets to find alternatives. Alas, an old fashioned stove top percolator, caught our eye with a smaller version to boil water for tea. Without a single small electric kitchen appliance in sight, we are fast learning to do it the “old way” whatever that may be. Without complaint.

Continuation of the walk on the property where there are other homes.

And again, a small front loading washing machine with no clothes dryer, directions in Italian, and again, a folding rack as we used in Dubai.

An old wishing well in the yard. No bucket.

Of course, there’s no dishwasher other than Tom and no garbage disposal. I’ll do all the cooking with a simple but clean newer “old fashioned” gas stove. The refrigerator is clean, small and antiquated with a tiny freezer with one ice cube tray. I dumped my earrings into a soup bowl using the ice cube tray I’d brought along to hold them.

Another fountain in the yard.

Not surprisingly, there are many utensils available for making and serving pasta, bread and wine which unfortunately, we won’t be enjoying while here, other than for Tom when dining out. We’d purchased a peeler and sharp knife in Dubai that luckily wasn’t confiscated in our checked luggage, although they took two of our power strips. Go figure.

The road outside our new home.

In order to get a decent WiFi signal we have no alternative but to sit on the upper level veranda. Our own MiFi doesn’t work here with the altitude and the three foot thick rock walls. Here is our view as we write each day.

Yes, we fit all of our luggage in this tiny Fiat we’ve rented for the summer.

Inspired by the calm of our surroundings after many months on the move, we both are finding the quiet and serenity of this magical place to have as profound an effect as any place we may have visited in our journey thus far.

The outdoor dining area of the house next door.

After a trip partially down the mountain yesterday to stop at Vivienne’s tiny market in Benabbio, five kilometers away, for enough food to last us for a few nights, she extended “credit” to us, as did Alessandro at his restaurant Sunday night, until we are ready to make the longer drive to a bank to get Euros.

The spaces between the houses are too narrow for cars, but were suitable for horses and buggies many years ago. Photos of our walks in the area will continue as we explore.

Credit cards are not used in this area. They only accept cash and credit accounts only. Today, we’ll venture out to the town of Collodi, a half hour drive to a larger grocery store. (Vivienne’s store was the size of a small bedroom with but a few items we need to cook our meals.

View from our veranda and the best spot to get a signal.

Although we appreciate her setting up an account for us, we must go to a larger grocer. This Saturday we’ll go out to dinner again, hoping to make some new friends and to pay both our restaurant and grocery bills with our new stash of Euros.

The view to a part of our yard from the veranda.

In Collodi, the home of the Carlo Lorenzini (November 24, 1826 – October 26, 1890), better known by the pen name Carlo Collodi, was an Italian children’s writer known for the world-renowned fairy tale novel, The Adventures of Pinocchio, we’ll head to the bank to get Euros, buy groceries, fill the tiny tank in the Fiat and hopefully find more contact lens solution, my nemesis. There’s no pharmacy nearby.

For Euros $23, US $30, we purchased enough food for a few days: four pork chops, one bag jumbo shrimp, four pieces swordfish, one pound of sliced ham, two heads of Bibb lettuce, one pound of carrots, eighteen eggs and one tube of mayonnaise (yellow box on the right). The villa has seasonings, olive oil red wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar.

Tomorrow, we’ll post photos of the interior of our new home and our visit to Collidi which hopefully will fulfill today’s errands. If not, tomorrow’s another day. We have all the time in the world.

Part 2 Venice…One more city knocked off our dream list….Also, update on our new home…

Posted by worldwide-admin on June 17, 2013 with 0 Comment

With the hot sun, the massive crowds, the going rate of $125 to $150 a couple and as evidenced here, the gondola traffic jam, we decided to forego the 30 minute ride in the clogged canals.

Today, we’ll post our remaining photos of Venice, first updating our current status which we’ll write about tomorrow in more detail, with much enthusiasm.

A simple doorway renovated for modern day.

We arrived in Boveglio, Lucca, Tuscany yesterday around 5:00 pm after a long and difficult drive from Venice, estimated by Google Maps to be a 3 1/2 hour drive which ultimately proved to be a 4 1/2 hour drive.

Another old door.

Reading road signs in Italy is different than reading road signs in the US. Its not about the language difference since there’s nothing to reading a word written in Italian, following a map. The difficult part was the fact that roads are not clearly marked. One can drive for a half hour before seeing a sign that confirms (or not) that one is on the correct highway.

Hard to resist. Fun to see.

Plus, there is considerably confusing maneuvering through small towns along the way to stay on the correct road. We only had to turn around twice, luckily catching it before we got too far.

Inside yet another square on our lengthy walk to St. Mark’s Basilica.

Thank goodness for Google Maps and our MiFi which worked great providing us with a good signal along the highway, during the last hour. The mountainous drive from Florence (Firenze) to Boveglio took us through 29 tunnels!

Inside the courtyard of the Universita Ca Foscari was a decoration made of trash.

The scenery inspired me to take photos but the massive guardrails prevented getting any good shots. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stop to take photos with no shoulder or rest stops on the many toll roads we traveled.

The Universita Ca Foscari entrance.

As for the rental car…I stood in line for one entire hour at the Budget Rental window inside the Marco Polo Airport while Tom waited outside with the luggage. Meeting a friendly couple from Chicago while in line, the wife was so kind to go outside to watch our luggage while Tom came inside to show his driver’s license.

Leonardo da Vinci exhibit was being held at the museum.

Tom will be the sole driver of the tiny Fiat six speed vehicle. I must admit I’m not the best driver (OK. I said it.). Although in an emergency, I could drive a stick shift but it has been 30 years since my last attempt. With the long drive “UP UP UP” to our summer home in Boveglio, with NO guardrails, no thank you.

More delectable looking confections.

We awaken this morning in a mountaintop paradise, the sound of nearby church bell chiming on the half hour and hour (not always consistent), in a 17th century renovated stone house in the true Tuscan style and we’re once again relishing in our unique surroundings, filled with contentment and joy.

Lots of activity.

Tomorrow, we’ll post photos, tell you the sacrifices we must make while here, missing some of our familiar creature comforts and the enhancements to our lives that only this step back in history can bring.

Water buses along the Grand Canal.

I’ll tell you one tidbit now…they don’t take credit cards in this area for gas, groceries or restaurants. Last night, starved after our long day, we found our way to the tiny town of Bennabio where the owner, Alessandro, of the town’s only restaurant Il Cavallino Bianco, opened an “account” for us, telling us we can pay our bill before we leave Boveglio in two and a half months.

As done in France, passersby over the Grand Canal at Ponte delle Accademia, place locks on

the bridge posts as a token of love, writing their names on the lock and throwing the key into the water.

Having used most of our Euros in the past month with no nearby bank and it also being Sunday, we appreciated not only a perfect meal (he cooked exactly following my restrictive diet) but speaking no English, we somehow managed to communicate.

This huge wood carving of a face was interesting.

During dinner, the owner of the local grocery store across the street from the restaurant stopped by to also extend credit to us for our time here. It certainly pays to know Lisa and Luca, the owners of our summer home, popular and well loved residents of this quaint community. More will follow tomorrow.

More buses on the waterway.

So here are our remaining photos of Venice, now almost seemingly a distant memory as we immerse ourselves in our new home, soon heading to the town of Benabbio to grocery shop in the tiny store owned by the lovely Vivienne. Photos to follow!

Here’s the rest of our Venice photos!

Sebastiano T. Italy location. Campo Santo Stefano.

Ah, here’s another pharmacy!

Ornate décor over doorways was appealing.

Many old apartments buildings lined the way to the square.

The food, feast for the eyes, let alone the palate.

Tight quarters. Lots of boats.

Statue of Marco Polo.

This was as close as we got to the gondolas.

A square we entered when trying to make our way to St. Mark’s visible in the background. We walked for two hours to get to St. Marks over many bridges, down many narrow streets.

More French looking than Italian, this window display of masquerade items was beautiful.

Murano glass figurines from a shop window.

Clock Tower.

Piazza of St. Mark…pretty impressive, eh?

Taking photos of people taking photos.

People and pigeons, everywhere.

Basillica di San Marco.

Tricky photo. Murano glass sailboats taken outside the store with the reflection of Piazza of St. Mark reflecting in the glass creating a cool backdrop.

Outdoor restaurant in the Piazza of St. Mark. Notice the attire on the waiter in the center.

Basilica di San Marco.

More detail on the Basilica di San Marco.

Clock at the Venetian Arsenal.

Gold angels at the top Basillica di San Marco.

Another view of the Basillica di San Marco.

Piazza San Marco.

Side view of Basillica di San Marco.

Piazza San Marco.

Basillica di San Marco.

Atop the Venetian Arsenal.

One of the many structures at the top of Basillica di San Marco.

We got a better view of this statue on our return trip, Island of St. Giorgio Maggiore, Chiesa Di San Giorgio.

Shuttles lined the docks to return passengers to one of the many giant ships at the port.

A great shot at every turn.

Waiting at the dock for our shuttle to depart.

Not appearing to be rough, the waterway was rough due to the boat traffic.

Views along the waterway on the return to the ship.

As the Norwegian Spirit shuttle boat took off to return us to the ship.

Our next crazy 48 hours….

Posted by worldwide-admin on June 15, 2013 with 0 Comment

It’s Saturday, our final full day aboard the Norwegian Spirit. Tomorrow morning, we’re #2 on the disembarking list. We’ll get in line to get off the ship, wait in another line to grab a cab to the Marco Polo Airport in Venice, Italy in order to pick up our awaiting rental car and begin the almost four hour drive to our new home in Boveglio, Lucca, Tuscany.

We’ll arrive in Venice at 2:00 pm today. Wisely planning our time to ensure we do exactly what we hope to do in Venice, adds to the excitement and enjoyment of the next few days. Disembarking a ship is one of the least favorite aspects of our travels (along with airports). Carefully planning our exit gives us both a sense of comfort and control, easing the process along the way.

The anticipation of finally seeing our new home for the summer gives me butterflies. If it were a “vacation” for a few weeks, I’d be less concerned. But spending two and a half months is a long time, as long as we’ve stayed anywhere since leaving Minnesota on October 31, 2012.

Our biggest concern is the fact that the house isn’t air conditioned. It’s hot in Tuscany in the summer. Recently, I contacted the owners, Lisa and Luca, asking about the comfort in the house in the heat. They assured us that the thick stone walls of the 17th century house stays cool all summer.

Having spent the past several months in very warm climates with much of our time outdoors, hopefully, we’ll be acclimated. As long as we can sleep at night, the warm days will be tolerable.

So here’s the rundown for the next 48 hours:

7:30 am to 8:15 am today: Breakfast in the Raffles Cafe.

8:15 am to 11:30 am today: Currently we’re outdoors on the covered patio, overlooking the pool, writing our story. Our laptop batteries last about 3 hours which always motivates us to complete our story within that time frame.

11:30 am – 1:30 pm today: Pack all of our bags, leaving out clothing and toiletries for tonight and tomorrow morning. Recharge our computers.

1:30 pm – 3:00 pm today: Spend our final time by the pool reading our books while enjoying the fact that most of the passengers are getting ready to disembark to Venice when the ship arrives around 2:00 pm, which leaves the pool area quiet and relaxing.

3:00 pm – 4:00 pm today: Now in port in Venice, our MiFi will work. We’ll head to the 12th deck to the Galaxy of the Stars lounge in the bow of the ship to do our banking, pay bills, update our budget from expenses on and off the cruise, entering all the receipts. We do this at the end of every cruise and every few days when staying put for a few months to ensure we don’t miss entering a single expenditure.

4:00 pm – 4:45 pm today: Shower and dress for the evening in comfortable clothing and shoes bringing a warm sweater for me.

5:00 pm – 6:30 pm today: Meet our fabulous friends Nicole and Gerry for cocktails in Champagne Charlie’s for our final time together with them and our favorite bartender from Bali, Gusti! What a guy!

6:30 pm today: Get off the ship to go to Venice. Hopefully, we’ll be able arrange for an evening gondola ride at sunset. This will allow us plenty of time to explore Venice.

11:00 pm tonight: Return to the ship in time to place all of our luggage outside our cabin door, get some rest, planning to get up by 6:00 am.

6:30 am – 7:15 am tomorrow: Breakfast in Raffles Cafe.

7:15 am – 8:00 am tomorrow: Return to our cabin to gather our hand luggage, placing it on one of our luggage carts, finalizing packing our of digital equipment which we always carry with us.

8:00 am – 9:30 am tomorrow: Wait in our designated area for our number to be called to disembark the ship.

9:30 am – 10:30 am tomorrow: Wait in line at the taxi stand for a ride to the Marco Polo Airport where we’ll pick up our awaiting rental car.

11:00 am – 11:30 am tomorrow: Pick up rental car. Email Lisa and Luca using laptop and MiFi telling them we are on our way and our expected time of arrival at the house.

11:45 am – 3:00 pm tomorrow: Drive from Venice to our new home in Tuscany, stopping for photos along the way, hoping to arrive by 3:00 pm, our tentative time to meet Lisa and Luca.

3:00 pm – 6:00 pm tomorrow: Familiarize ourselves with the house. Unpack all of our luggage. Find a nearby restaurant for dinner.

6:30 pm – 8:30 pm tomorrow: Dinner at the local restaurant,-presenting our prepared Italian language instructions for my gluten-free, grain-free, starch-free, sugar free and low carb way of eating.

8:30 pm – 10:00 pm tomorrow: Email family and friends that we’ve safely arrived in Tuscany and finally test out our new bed. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ (Much needed by then!)

Monday morning, awaken early as usual: Photos! Story! Trip to the grocery store! Getting acquainted with our new neighborhood! Find a health club! Do laundry! Go for a walk!

Hopefully? Grinning from ear to ear as we enter this new phase of our journey.

By the way, any of these plans are subject to change.

Tag: Transportation