Italy

We have been collecting frequent flyer miles for about 25 years and blew the wad for this trip to Italy.  In keeping with the Roman theme, we travelled in patrician class rather than our usual pleb class and that is why it took the whole accumulation of frequent flyer miles to take these flights.  What a difference Business-First makes on a long haul flight and on short haul, for that matter.  We usually end up starving as there seems to never be any time to eat between flights.  We are notorious for tight connection times, which does not help.  On this trip we got food on every flight, except for the sardine can plane which we flew out of Regina to Chicago.

As is the way of the world, we were allowed to get on the aircraft ahead of the plebs, as they give the patrician flyers priority boarding.  Well we felt like imposters but went with it.

Business class on the big plane across the Atlantic is something else; given that we are cheapskate travellers.  They have pod type seats with controls so you can put up a foot-rest or lie completely flat.  There are full sized pillows, blankets, amenity kits and as many alcoholic beverages as you like.  Then there is the food, served on glass and the whole nine yards: appetizer, salad, entree, cheese plate and for the sugar freaks, which we are not, an ice cream Sunday cart.  It was all just wonderful and made for the best long haul flight ever.  The long haul originated in Newark, New Jersey and we landed in Munich.  Then we got a flight from Munich to Naples, four planes in all.

There is way less rigamarole in the EU than in North America as far as security and customs goes.  Of course, the Germans have the cleanest airport on the planet.  The floors gleam, it is orderly, has great signage and is spacious.  The Lufthansa flight was multi-lingual of course.

Naples airport is from another century, in keeping with archaic ruins and so forth.  You have to get off out on the tarmac, then get on a bus to take you to the terminal, nothing gleams in this one.  We had to catch an airport bus to the train station and had to figure out that it was the red bus and when we spied it, we walked over to catch it.  My first Italian word today was ‘due’, pronounced dew-eh, for the number two, as I wanted two tickets.  The driver then told me in English to stamp the ticket in the machine on the bus.

Then we got off somewhere near the train station but could not see it, we may have gone around the block or something and it was there.  First, we dropped into a TIM store and got a cell phone and SIM card.  They spoke some English so we were good to go.

Then we went to the train station and bought a ticket to Salerno from the ticket machines, we picked the cheap Regional train so had to wait 45 minutes.  I tried to call the owner of the apartment we are renting but could not get the call to work.  I went into one of the shops and asked the clerk in brutal Italian if she spoke English, she said a little bit, so I got instructions from her of how to dial a number.

While on the train we connected with the apartment owner and we said we would walk from the train station and try to find the apartment with a google map we printed.  We goofed, asked a guy on the street, who spoke not one word of English and he sent us back a bit, then we totally winged it dragging our luggage up a zillion steps and ended up in the right location by fluke.  The Italians are great for helping out, they won’t take off until you say okay.

Italian shops are open in the morning then close in the afternoon until about 5:00.  We headed out into the streets to find local shops for groceries.  The old historical centre of Salerno is really cool, narrow streets and lots of people out.  We found a butcher, grocer, wine shop and a general grocery type place and got our provisions.  We flub along in minimal Italian and it all works out, we know some numbers and some names of food and we point.

The streets are decorated with lights, it must have been for xmas but they are not what we would consider xmas lights, we will get pics tomorrow night.

We are dead dog tired so need to sign off. Ciao.

Click on pics to enlarge...