Day -1
Tuesday, December 5, 2023
There's nothing like some serious pre-trip drama. This was in my email this morning.
We are sorry your flight has been cancelled. Because of a technical issue, we can't use the aircraft you would be flying with. We realize that this has a big impact on your travel plans. We will do our utmost to rebook you and inform you shortly.
Our apologies for the inconvenience.
Fortunately, the KLM agent on the phone was able to rebook me on a later flight. I definitely would have preferred to get into Venice early in the afternoon than evening. At least it beats staying home.
Early in the afternoon, I was out running a few last minute errands and stopped into one of our local breweries for a pint before heading home. I wound up in a long conversation with one of the other semi-regulars. He had been to Venice back in the '70s and loved it.
Whether you call it a gift or a curse, if there's music playing on the PA, I can't help but notice. As we were talking, Luke Graham's song "7 Years" starts playing. It's all about his life from childhood to today. 2:50 into the song is the line "Soon I'll be sixty years old." At that point, my birthday was only four days away. Weird.
Day 1
Wednesday, December 6, 2023
As a little kid, I was a big fan of Richard Scarry. His book, "Busy, Busy World" had one story based in Venice. Ever since, I've wanted to go. What better place to spend my impending sixtieth birthday. Since my flight home involved changing planes in Amsterdam, I tacked on a few days there as well. Simply getting there was turning into it's own adventure.
I decided to pack as lightly as possible. This meant leaving the big camera and lenses at home. For this trip, I was relying on my phone and an old pocket sized Canon Powershot.
It was early evening when I pulled out of the garage and headed towards the airport. There's a new parking garage being built at the Atlanta Airport. Since it's using existing space, this means you now have to reserve a parking spot, and those lots fill quickly. I had a good experience with Peachy Parking before and dropped off the car there.
The passenger drop off area, decked out for the holidays...
There was plenty of time to my flight. so I decided to walk all the way from security to Terminal F, one of the international departure areas. According to the airport, it's a little under a mile walk. Considering the long flight, it felt good.
Eventually, boarding began for the flight. It seemed strange no one even looked at my boarding pass. Instead of having it scanned at the gate, they now take your photo.
Day 2
Thursday, December 7th, 2023
After crossing five time zones, the flight finally landed in Amsterdam around 2P. While I do realize it's been six years since I traveled internationally, it felt a little strange just deboarding into the main concourse area. No Customs. No one checking my passport.
Expecting a three hour layover, I grabbed a coffee and pulled out my phone. Sure, it was a bit damp and foggy outside...
But, it caused my three hour layover to suddenly turn into eight hours.
I probably should have found a quiet place, set my phone alarm and tried to sleep. Instead, I walked laps around the inside of the airport. This story was on a local newscast. Apparently these people were trying to take a selfie in a gondola and tipped the boat over. I wasn't fast enough to catch the first font. Funny how the word "selfie" is pretty universal across languages.
I stayed in the main concourse area for awhile, eventually heading towards the new gate. I did have to go through Passport Control at this point. Lines were short, but the persona in front of me was getting the third degree and getting some detailed questions.
After the drama, I was rewarded. This wasn't my assigned seat. No one had it and no one seemed to mind.
Finally, after all these years, coming into Venice!
Now, I realize I was flying within the EU. But, there was no Customs in the airport.. We all simply walked through the terminal and out.
Venice isn't that big, so Marco Polo Airport is on the mainland. To get to the hotel, I had some choices. For reference:
The blue marker obviously is the airport. The closest you can drive or ride a traditional bus is that purple marker. The red one is my hotel.
You can take a water taxi. Just as a taxi in a traditional city, it's going to cost a bit more. You can take the water bus, but it's going to make a lot of stops. Or, you can hire a water shuttle, which is what I did. I booked it through an app called GetYourGuide.
The shuttle service's sign was a bit underwhelming and easy to miss. But, they were waiting for myself and another passenger from my plane. I shared the boat with an Italian businessman. Part of his job has him coming to Venice for two days every month. He loves it.
We walked out to long walkway to the docks and settled in to wait. Our ride arrived within fifteen minutes.
The businessman pointed out a few places of interest along the way. At this point, I had no geographic point of reference and had no idea how I'd get to them. He was dropped off first.
This was my initial encounter with Venice's Grand Canal... Not bad considering they were taken from a moving boat.
At some point, he did cut across on one of the smaller canals. There are strict speed limits here, and with no other traffic, I managed to get one of my favorite photos of the trip.
The driver dropped me off on one of the city's water bus stations, something that's frowned upon during the day. But, it was after 11P and no one seemed to care. The one canal crossing before the hotel.
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