It was a lovely day to begin our adventure. We checked in at the counter at British Airways and the lovely lady told us that our luggage was checked all the way through to Rome. There we would have to get them to switch airlines. What a nice lady. OK, no problemo. Boarded the double decker airplane and find our business class seats (amazing!), play with all the buttons, lay down the beds. This is going to be great! But, the flight attendant told us to straighten our seats and get ready for takeoff. Only then would we get our champagne. So off we go to London for our first leg of the journey. Why, you ask, didn’t we go straight to Rome? Good question. Still haven’t figured that out. During our flight the lovely flight attendant tells us “no, you don’t have to get your luggage in Rome. It’s checked all the way to Sicily”, even better. I’m really starting to like all these British Airways employees. But, we’re in our big comfy seats drinking our champagne and innocently oblivious to the gremlins at work. We land in London. Charming airport, but long ass haul to find the Euroclub. Guess it keeps out the weaker of the herd. Once there, we’re given free alcohol (Holly really likes free alcohol) and yummy snacks to wait for our next flight, 3 hours away. On our way to the gate hubby decides he should exchange $600.00 American for Euros. For this lovely service he was given 360 euros and told to bend over and take it in the arse like a man. Away we go to our gate. Holly stumbling from all the free alcohol and hubby wincing from the assault. Board the plane, excitedly waiting to head for Rome. And we wait. And wait. And wait. Finally the gremlins handiwork was found, fixed and we take off. Ah, Rome. Lovely city. Big ass airport. We run to find customs, to get our passports stamped and run to find our flight to Sicily on Alitalia airlines. Beautiful young thing with the prettiest green eyes tells us, “I’m sorry, your seats have been cancelled. You’re on standby”. Hubby doesn’t like the sound of this coming from the pretty green eyed girl. He starts to snarl, but catches himself and keeps it together. We run to find the standby counter. She says “wait over there”. So, we wait over there. But, thankfully the stars were in our favor and we received our original seats on our flight. Life is good. Soon we will be in Sicilia! After a short flight we land and move with the herd towards baggage claim. And wait. And wait. And wait. Finally a rep from PennMutual finds us and we go to the lost luggage counter. LOST LUGGAGE? REALLY? We will fill out the forms and are assured they will be found and sent to our resort. So the lady drags us out of the building and hands us over to the driver and we head to Taromina. As we drive along the driver gives us the audio version of a tour. First we go through the bad part of town. “You want drugs,” he said, “this is where you go”. We make a mental note of the area because at this rate, drugs may be the only option. We pass Mount Aetna. Huge, amazing! “erupted last month” he says. Huh? “Watch for smoke. No smoke, not so good”. Maybe we should go back for the drugs now, not later. Better to be prepared I always say. We get to the resort right next to the Greek Theatre! It’s beautiful! But, we’re the last of the group to check in. Yes, we have a room. But, where is it? Right under the outdoor restaurant with tile floors! Oh, this is going to be fun. But the room has a great view of the Mediterranean Sea. Probably the prettiest view we’ve ever had. They bring us dinner and we pass out. We wake up the next day and check on our luggage. No luggage. The airline hasn’t found it yet. Thankfully I had packed some clothes in my carryon and was prepared. Hubby wasn’t so lucky. That night is the formal dinner at the Godfather Mansion. I bought a dress for that dinner! And shoes! But, that along with hubby’s suit are somewhere in Europe, god knows where. By this time, others in our group were hearing of our plight and offering to loan us clothes. I had a dress that would work, but hubby was still in the clothes he had on 2 days ago! Starting to get a little ripe. But, a nice gentleman loaned him a sports coat (2 sizes too big) and we went. Glad we did, for the experience not the food. Beautiful mansion from the movie, over cooked shrimp and what they call beef for dinner. The next day hubby decides to buy some shorts, a t-shirt, sandals and a swimsuit. While checking on luggage another guy finally got his luggage. It was shredded and the $7000.00 custom made suit is ruined! Is this going to be the fate of my new luggage? It was brand new, young, had it’s whole life ahead of it. No, HAS! I must stay positive! Finally, our luggage is found, you guessed it, in ROME , where we didn’t pick it up because the hag on the plane told us not to!!!!! At least hubby has his clothes. And clean underwear! Thank goodness. Just in time to leave for VENICE!
Ah, Venice. It must be beautiful this time of year.
