On our way

July 5, 2008. Pittsburgh airport. 3:15 PM.

We are currently at the Greater Pittsburgh Airport waiting for the first Philadelphia leg of our trip to begin. The car picked my mother up early, at 11:45 instead of 12:00, so we were running early or on time until just a short while ago. I was rushing around at home at the last minute, as usual. Having to get Radar walked and packed and off to Mary Jo’s didn’t get me back to my house and into the shower until about 11:45. So, I was barely dressed and dried before the car pulled up. I had arranged an airport car service to drive us to save time and money. It actually ended up being cheaper to hire someone else to drive us to the airport than to drive ourselves and pay for parking.

We stopped for lunch at TGIFriday’s in the airside terminal:



My mom was hoping for a place to have a cigarette, and I was hoping for a drink to augment my Xanax, but only one of us was satisfied (me). Smoking is entirely prohibited at the airport now, so she’ll have almost 18 hours before she can have another one--unless she can find a place in Phila. At Friday’s, she tried sliders for the first time, but didn’t think that they were any less filling than a regular burger. I had the Portobello mushroom sandwich and a bowl of red pepper soup. I’m still planning, hoping, to maintain a vegetarian lifestyle while I’m away, but I’ll be flexible if I have to. The thought of eating meat now makes me sick, so I will try everything I can not to eat meat.

On our way to the gate from the restaurant, we began to experiment with Headi for the first time.



Above: our new-found friend, Headi, in the Pgh airport with the Calder mobile.

She spends most of her time wrapped in bubble wrap, but we got a shot of her with Franco Harris and a shot of her on the people movers. We were laughing so hard, I almost peed my pants and people were looking at us like we were nuts. But what else is new. We are off to a great start.



The first unfortunate news when we reached the gate is that the plane is already delayed. Right now, it’s only 20 minutes and the gate personnel are reassuring us that the delay does not affect anyone’s connections, but I’m not convinced. I won’t relax until we are on the plane to Rome. After the trip to Ireland in 2005, I think the Philadelphia airport is HELL ON EARTH, so I won’t be happy until we are free and clear of its airspace. One possible saving grace, however, is that we don’t seem to be the only passengers connecting to Rome. So, if USAir realizes that they have a number of people trying to make the same international connection, the pilot might wait for us.

The Dog of Pompeii

Several weeks ago, maybe months (I should have checked before I started this post), I heard a report on NPR about a small black and white dog that meets young couples at the Pompeii train station and trails them for the day. I just dug it up from the npr.org site and thought I would post the link here. It's an audio link, so if you can't click on it, cut and paste it into your browser to hear it. I'll let you know if we see him (or her!) The link is: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15695610

Italian Chocolate

I found the website of the cioccolateria (chocolate shop) that is right across the alley from where we will be staying in Venice and have added the link to the left. I remember feeling dizzy and overwhelmed by the selection when I was there in Jan. '06, but I was able to manage to buy a package of the chocolate covered coffee beans which were delicious and lasted me well after I returned home.

Less than a week to go!

Remote posting test

This is a test to see if I can post directly via email as opposed to logging on to Blogger.

New feature: slide show

I have figured out how to add a slide show of photographs to the blog so I can upload all photos taken during the trip. In addition to posting larger individual pictures (see earlier test post) on which I can comment specifically and in more depth, I hope to maintain a running montage to the left.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Eurail Italy Pass Saver

In addition to putting money aside well in advance for our housing, we have also bought a short duration Eurail Italy pass that is good for 4 days within 2 months. Because we will always be traveling together, we qualified for the Saver Pass which is valid for groups of 2 to 5 persons traveling together. Similarly, I made reservations for seats on specific trains to ensure we get to where we want to be when we want to be there. The reservations cost money too, but during high travel season, it's the only way to guarantee we'll get seats on a train, or get to sit together. I could have booked each individual leg of the trip separately, but if we lost any one of those tickets, we would have lost the whole price of that trip. This way, if we can make an earlier or later train, we've only lost the nominal price of the reservation--the pass preserves our ticket price. While we are planning on taking additional side trips around Rome and Florence, our transportation between cities (Rome-Pompeii return, Rome-Florence, Florence-Venice) is already taken care of--that's our four days right there. Anything else we decide to do, we'll pay for out of pocket.

Like the AAA Spiral Guide (I mentioned in an earlier post) that gives suggestions what to do in Italy, the inside jacket of the Eurail Pass folder offers a sillier selection, including:

Make gargoyle faces
Sniff out a truffle
Wink at the conductor
Get chased out of town on a goat
Chum for mermaids in the Baltic

Given the opportunity, I would like to do those things. Others, however, seem more realistic:

Miss your stop on purpose
Visit a town you've never heard of
Climb an ancient stairway
Take soccer too seriously
Get lost

I say, Let the journey begin.

Dove si trova la banca?

Or "Where is the bank?"

The days of traveler's checks have disappeared. The last two times I was in Europe (Italy and Ireland '06) I relied on my bank card and credit card to pay for things. If I needed cash, I went to an ATM and got my limit for the day. If I wanted to keep my cash and make a larger purchase, I used a credit card. I had notified all of my banks and creditors before I left, so wouldn't risk refusal at a critical time. The result felt like I hadn't really left home: no fumbling with many strange, but colorful bills, no waiting in line at exchange kiosks or in crowded banks. Not that I missed those inconveniences. I was just waxing nostalgic for the days of my first trips when those errands had to be built into my day.

Back in April, when the dollar was dropping in Europe, I took some available cash and headed to AAA to purchase some traveler's checks in Euro to lock in the exchange rate before it fell any further. Despite the fact that I hadn't been using the checks on recent trips, I still thought they existed. They don't. But now AAA sells the real thing. So, over the past couple of months, I've been taking a portion of my paycheck up the road and buying cold, hard Euro for the trip as a hedge against inflation. Now, I've got all of the money for our housing set aside and have a few hundred dollars put away as spending money. This makes me feel a little as if I've won the lottery, because I'm not going to have to pinch my pennies as much as I would have if I waited until I got over there to budget. In essence, I feel as if the rooms are going to be free because I've been paying for them slowly over time. I know it's not that way--some of the rooms, especially the one in Florence, are quite expensive. But, I'm not usually a saver for tangible things (like the way I am for retirement), so I'm quite satisfied with myself this time around.