Burano...island of Pastel painted houses.

Just a few more pictures of stolling  down winding

alleyways and feeling the jet lag.

Strolling through the streets of Burano. 

Venice Day 1

Finally we have landed. 

It's 11:30 the next day, and we are going to try to stay up as long as we can till we crash. We decided to take a water bus to our hotel which is one of the first stops when we get to Venice. We bought our tickets from a machine/kiosk at the airport, and there is someone there to help and guide you through the process. It's  Euros for a one way ticket. I thought I would be super efficient and buy a 3 day water bus for 40 Euros while I was at the airport. This pass will get me to St. Marks Square. a ride down the Grand Canal and even get me to Murano and Burano. It's unlimited for 3 days.  Once you walk out across the way you will see little booths where you can buy these. 

Just follow the people to get to the water taxis. They will  tell you which line to get into. It was a little bit of a wait for the water taxi. So be prepared, it moves slow. It was about a 45 minute ride to our hotel Ca'Pozza which was right by the Guglia stop. This location is the northern part about a 10 minute walk to the train station and 15 minute walk to the people mover for the cruise ships. Our hotel is down one of those very narrow little alleyways at the end, but the hotel is very updated and clean. 

Ca' Pozza Hotel

The front desk is very helpful and informative. No elevator which I already knew, but I was only on the second floor, and they will help you if you need it. 

After we unpacked and settled in we decided to venture out. I made tours for the next day in case we had any problems or unexpected delays. So I thought we could go to Murano and Burano, knowing it was a short water bus ride away. Lucky us we caught the water taxi right outside our hotel to Murano, the glass blowing factory island. It was about a 15 minute or so water ride to the island. We of course started buying souvenirs in some stores, and most every store is full of Murano glass, what it is infamously known for.

I like to not bring any earrings, go into a store and buy earrings to wear out. So I bought some cute Murano Glass earrings as one of my souvenirs. It was a pretty hot day and the clouds were coming in, so asked a few people for direction to the next water boat to Burano. It's easy to get disoriented in the twisty little alleyways and streets. So we took a 35 minute boat ride to Burano which is known for lace making and pastel colored houses and store along the way. Whenever you see paintings of Italy and the multi colored painted houses it is usually Burano.

By now we are getting hungry and tired so stopped at a little restaurant for beer and pizza.

We didn't buy any lace and headed back to the boat to get back to the hotel. We were both worn out and started to nod off even

 on the boat.  We transferred to another water boat and headed to the 

hotel to crash out. I never fell so fast asleep in my whole lie. 

My wish to time travel......or just win the lotto so I can fly first class.

Flying Hacks

If only I could transport myself halfway across the world, or be like "Bewitched" and wiggle my nose and time travel myself from Los Angeles to Venice, I would be one happy traveler. 

But in reality it's a long flight averaging around 13-15 hours. The older you get, the harder it is to travel those long distances, especially when you can't go first class. Economy feels like sheer torture, and the worst part of the whole trip as far as I'm concerned. So, I'm always trying to figure out some gimmick to make my flight easier. After listening to other well seasoned travelers, I decided to try their method of doing a stop over in the middle just so I can get up and walk around and eat, move, and break it up.  I also bought a leg sling for around $10 dollars on Amazon that you can hook up to your tray table to raise your legs. It only works if you are short or short legs. If you are tall like my husband, it won't work.

But this is what it looks like. 

My husband bought an inflatable pillow that was extremely easy to pack and blow up. You can put this on your lap and rest your head on it to fall asleep. You can put your arms in the holes and cross them over. It looks like this below that you can get on Amazon. for around 20-25 dollars. 

And of course we have the neck pillows that are great for not getting neck cramps when falling asleep. One other thing we do now is book aisle seats so we can get up more. And if the person by the window needs to get up, I certainly don't mind getting up and standing till they come back. I've tried Excedrin P.M.'s to sleep when I'm on the plane, but my husband doesn't like me taking them because it makes me groggy, and had to wake me up when he said I was cuddling up to the old man sleeping next to me. (I'm pretty sure he was exaggerating). 

So geared up for our long flight we start from L.A. to New York, and leave on a morning flight at 8:00 in the a.m. That seems kind of painless, and I watch movies all the way there. Our layover is 4 hours, but I'm fine with that as we stop and eat at a restaurant in the airport. It's not the greatest food, but I wasn't expecting much anyways. 

The next leg of the trip is like a red eye flight. It leaves at 9:00 p.m. but will arrive in Venice at 11:30 a.m. the next day. I want to sleep as much a possible so get all my gear ready. Sleeping sitting up in cramped airline seats is worse than going to the dentist and having a root canal as far as I'm concerned.  I keep wishing I won the lottery just so I could fly first class all the time. I would be in heaven if I could fly international in one of those pod loungers. I'm going to keep trying. 

Mediterranean Cruise from Venice to Barcelona

Mediterranean Cruise #2 Starts Now

I wanted to take a cruise that started in Venice so I could spend a few days in this romantic, historical and amazing city before I can't for some reason. The last time I was there was over 20 years ago, so now was a good time to revisit with my husband. I went in July which is probably the most crowded and the hottest months of  the year. 

Note to self: never go in the summer again! I will only go there in May or maybe September/October. The crowds were ridiculous and the heat wave was unbearable. It will zap your energy, and I usually have a pretty good amount. But it wasn't like I was surprised by the amount of people and crowds. I just know that in the future, I think I would rather be in cooler weather than hot and humid while travelling to hot places. 

Our itinerary was similar to below map. But these were our ports listed below.

Day1 -Venice

Day 2- Dubrovnik, Croatia

Day 3- Sarande, Albania

Day 4. Katakolon (Olympia) Greece

Day 5 -Sea Day

Day 6- Naples, Italy

Day 7-Civitavecchia (Rome) Italy

Day 8- Livorno (Florence/Pisa) Italy

Day 9- Monte Carlo, Monaco

Day 10- Toulon, France

Day 11- Sete, France

Day 12-Barcelona, Spain

#Mediterranean #Venice #Greece #Cruise

The Vacation that wasn't. The year of disruption.

So 2020 isn't turning out quite like I planned. I had a 2 week vacation on a cruise out of L.A. up to Alaska in July.  There would be quite a few sea days, and my 3rd time to Alaska, so was really looking forward to a relaxing time.  Then came March.  Cancelled cruises were happening. I thought it was not big deal and it won't affect mine. It'll all  be over by July and I should be good. 

I was wrong.....boy was I wrong.

I went from working normally-to working at home and quarantined -- 2 months later----furloughed at home, still quarantined---wondering when life will return to normal....if ever. 

Everything was cancelled. Restaurants, gyms, events, gatherings, and yes....cruises. All of them.

Okay, no vacation this  year. I'll wait till next year. At least I have my health and being careful to wear my mask everywhere, wash hands, and pretty much stay at home. 

But what I am going to do is blog about my amazing vacation I took last year, and never had time to blog about it. While on vacation I write every night into my "evernote" app, knowing that I won't remember later and everything is fresh on my mind from the day. Never knowing when I will put it on my blog.

So the Covid 19 times have put me in a reflective mood, thankful I have taken the approach of "travel while you can, you never know what tomorrow brings". And listening to my friends now repeating my mantra, wishing they would of followed my lead, I know I have done the right thing.

I'm fortunate my husband has taken to traveling and truly enjoys it. My kids are twenty somethings so were able to do some travelling with us when they were in their teens. Now of course they would rather not because they have their own lives. But I'm happy that I could offer them those amazing opportunities with great memories. Traveling is the one thing that makes me the most happy, so while I won't go this year, I can always plan for next. 

Coming up next : my summer Mediterranean in the biggest heat wave ever.