Posts Tagged ‘Panicale’
Made It
It took a good night’s sleep in “our own bed” in Panicale to drain away a good portion of the travel thickness that weighed upon our minds and muscles. We got out of Las Vegas with some of its money – not me, but Bev‘s purse was about $80 fatter and Ross cashed several hundred dollars worth of tickets before he drove us to the airport on is way back to San Diego. I dropped $19.65. Our Mandalay Bay room was only $35 (a special Bev got thru her many jaunts into Las Vegas via airlines and online). Our Virgin Atlantic premium economy seats were just fine for the 9hr 6 min flight. We were among the 44 passengers sitting in the 747 bubble right behind the cockpit. And we had two flight attendants.
Landed in Gatwick with plenty of time to catch a 1 p.m. BritAir flight to Bologna. There was space on it but our tickets weren’t changeable, even with a change fee, and we were told, “We’re very sorry but you’d have to buy a new ticket for 199 pounds — each.” I asked if that was both ways and she just winced. This is typical unwavering British Air bureaucracy. Polite but thoroughly customer unfriendly. So we opted to stick with our original plan and spend 9 hours in the airport. (When we booked the flights, we asked Virgin res agent if we would make that 1 p.m. flight since our Virgin sked called for landing in Gatwick at 10:30, a 2 ½ hour gap. He said, “It’s possible but not likely” since any delay – Las Vegas weather or problems, Atlantic storm, problems at Gatwick with landings, customs, anything — would throw us way off schedule. So we booked the 19:30 flight and, as it turned out, landed in Gatwick shortly after 10, about 30 minutes early..
On an earlier Virgin flight from Vegas, we had a 2 ½ hour window for a connecting flight to Pisa but we ran late ‘cuz of a delayed takeoff and some weather and flight attendants had to let us dash out first so we could make our flight. That would not have worked this time because we booked all legs of the flights online ourselves and would have had to await our bags before heading to the connector.
Could have bought some time – 3 hours for 30 pounds each – in the Avianca public lounge, which included some fruit and snacks and a well-stocked self-serve bar. Because it was so slow, the attendant said we could stay as long as we want. Problem was, I didn’t seek it out until about four hours before our departure and it wasn’t worth spending all that dough that late in the day. Did pick up a bottle of duty-free scotch and we had a quiet meal before taking off. More to come…
On the Brink
Our luggage is enroute to Las Vegas with Ross. We’ll be the same tomorrow (Monday) afternoon. Bev’s looking forward to sharing some quiet moments with a casino machine and settling into a brightly lighted meal afterwards. I’ll sink my limit and then people-watch until it’s time to go to bed. We’ve arranged for Ross to bring back “laundry” – the clothes we wear on this first step of the trip.
Picked up a voltage converter for Peg Leon, for whom we also packed away a jar of peanut butter. She has an old printer and it needs a converter, which was smashed just a week ago when it tumbled onto the tile floor of her home in Paciano, a neighboring village about 3 ½ kilometers from Panicale. Picked up an all-purpose plug with a built-in surge protector for myself to use with the netbook. Had purchased a converter and grounded plug at Radio Shack with assurances from the staff that they would do everything I was asking: the converter serves the printer and the grounded plug works throughout Europe. Bev read packages at home and made it clear to me that the converter was for NON-ELECTRONIC appliances only and spelled out clearly it was not to be used with computers, telephones chargers, laptops, printers, etc. The grounded plug I bought was made for use throughout Europe EXCEPT Switzerland and Italy. No questions please, because I didn’t get any answers when I returned them. All I can tell you is that the round prongs on the Italian plug are “thinner” than those on the all-Europe type. Got the correct ones (replacing the grounded plug with the all purposes plug with surge protector) at a nearby travel-supplies store.
Niggles like these can gnaw at you when you’re on the road. Before our freighter trip. Bev went to multi troubles to make certain she had a phone that works anywhere in the universe. When she tried to make a call in Southampton, the port where we boarded the vessel, it didn’t work. So she called the service number and spent an hour or so chatting with a pleasant service technician and followed all instructions and it was working in Southampton. It never worked after that. Back home, we learned that the knothead who sold Bev the phone hadn’t opened a switch enabling international calls, which Bev made clear and emphasized as the priority when she bought the thing. Similar thing happened to friend of ours from Toronto when he spent a couple of weeks with us in Panicale. So you buy telephone cards.
A Little Help
Our son Ross is driving to Las Vegas Sunday to spend a couple of days supporting the Nevada economy. But the good news is he ‘s taking our luggage with him. He’s staying at the Luxor and we’re booked next door at the Mandalay Bay, both at the south end of The Strip. So we don’t have to manhandle our luggage for the first leg — San Diego to Las Vegas — nor do we have to pay USAir the baggage fees for that flight. We fly there Monday afternoon for an overnight and board Virgin Atlantic Tuesday afternoon for Gatwick, spend much of Wednesday there and get into Bologna Wed night where Barbara Brill will be waiting for us. She gets there, from Amsterdam, a half dozen hours ahead of us. We plan to eat our way around town Thursday and Friday and picking up our car Saturday morning just around the corner from our hotel — Hotel Mercure, across from the railroad station. It’s about a 3 1/2-hour drive to Panicale.
Packing Reminder
Sudden arrival of cooler weather reminds us just how chilly/cool/downright cold it can get in Panicale so we’re re-examing and re-adjusting our piles of clothing prepared for packing. And brings to mind the fact that it rains quite a bit more there than it does here
Another Opportunity
Had breakfast with a Swiss tourism team and group of travel writers this morning and tempted to take a skiing jaunt while we’re in Panicale. Highly unlikely, but possible. Swiss border’s only about a four or five hour drive away.
Mature Life Features 