Advertisement
Published: August 20th 2006
Ok...we're here and just about finally settled in. I was beginning to feel like the hapless hero of the old TV series "Get Smart." I apologize for not posting during the last few weeks since our departure. The last few days leading up to the daparture were frentic, frantic, and frenzied. We were operating mostly on adrenaline and very little sleep. Many thanks to Muhammed and Carolyn for hosting our "Buon Viaggio" party at their wine bar Piazza di Vino. (For those of you in Boise and those of you that stop in Boise, Idaho, I highly recommend their wine bar.) Thanks to our friends Steve and Debi for feeding us dinner the night before our flight. That was a life saver.
I'd like to say that everything went smoothly, but that would be a complete fabrication. The minute we arrived at the airport things began to go downhill. We had the misfortune of flying on United (one of the worst service providers in my opinion) and the double misfortune of encountering a rude, unhelpful, and totally disagreeable check-in clerk. We were bringing our dog with us and this employee began to object to virtually everything about transporting the dog. The clerk insisted that the dog was not confirmed for the international flight and could not vouch for what happened when we arrived at O'Hare. We ended up having to call (at 6AM!) my wife's sister to come get the dog. At each stop along the way, we were asked "Where is your dog?" I thought my head was going to explode!
As soon was we landed at O'Hare, we began working the logistics of shipping our dog. During the planning of the trip, I had looked up pet moving companies I could contact should an emergency arise during the trip. I called the company whose number I was carrying - No good! A recording told us that we had to submit a quote bid first. Next, the wireless signal was weak in the airport and it took us a while to find a spot where we could get a signal. We submitted the info and then left on the next leg to Germany. The subsequent stops were quite short and we were unable to do much more than to make a call back to Boise to make sure that the dog was ok.
We arrived in Brindisi at around 2PM. We went straightaway to the apartment and met the landlord. A great guy by the way. Afterwards we were starving and set about looking for a restaurant or grocery. The shops were closed and were finally able to find a small grocer that was open. In fact, this is August...the vacation month. Quite a few of the shops have been closed and just recently have begun to reopen. It also has taken us a bit of looking to determine the operating vacation hours of the stores that are open. We always seemed to arrive at a time when they were closed.
We began each morning with a list of objectives that had to be accomplished. At the top of the list was trying to arrange the shipment of the dog. Compounding the problem was the difference in time between Italy and the US. In addition, the car we bought wouldn't start because it had sat for two months. This left us on foot or on the bus. It seemed like each day something went wrong. For example, we couldn't find a map! The tourist information office didn't have a map of the entire city! We finally found a book store that sold maps. We kept asking for a map for the bus routes at different locations. We kept getting told that they didn't have any, to try somewhere else. The actual answer is that there isn't a map, there is no "somewhere else" one can look for a map. It always felt like we missed it by "that much." It was starting to really irritate me.
Fortunately, things have started to get accomplished. Yesterday, (Sunday) we went out for a drive and did some shopping. I haven't had an opportunity to take any photos yet. We finally have internet at home, but are still hunting for a power cord that has a plug for Italian sockets. We asked the guy at the internet point where we could find one. He said it would be easy. Hah! We've been to several places including a large electronic store - no luck. We have been using the internet at school but it is slow and somewhat unreliable.
We report to school next week, although we have already been coming to get our classrooms in order and do some planning. I hope to begin a regular schedule of posting once we find the "easy to find" power cord. I hope that I can get caught up with all my mail and then start posting about eating, drinking, and traveling.
Ciao Ciao
Advertisement
Tot: 0.114s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 8; qc: 63; dbt: 0.0831s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Mark Schoenfeld
non-member comment
Would You Believe!?
Wow! After just now getting to read your journals for the first time, it all seems very overwhelming! I hope you're soon allowed to relax a little and settle in before your first day of school. I'm sure, before you know it, things will fall into place. Beth (what is your fiance's name?) Greenway and I miss you both!