camanoescape – The Wagnerson's Travel Adventures

The Wagnersons met each other at 6:00 a.m. in the lobby of our hotel for a quick walk through the rain to the subway station.  It was a 14-minute subway ride to Milano Centrale, the main train station in Milan.  From there we took a two-and-a-half-hour train ride to Tirano, a small Italian community on the border of Italy and Switzerland.  Walking out of the Italian train station, we crossed the street and entered the Swiss train station.  Our reserved second class seats aboard the Bernina Express were waiting for us in Coach 23.  What a delightful and bright coach to travel in through the Swiss Alps.

As we settled in to our respective seats in Coach 23, we soon learned that our coach was also housing an escapee from a local tuberculosis clinic in the seat behind us.  Poor dear, she obviously was on her last legs and wanted to see the Swiss Alps before she passed on.  If we all could’ve gowned, gloved and masked up, we would have just to avoid any expelled lung tissue that might happen to be lying around.

With tight subway and train schedules, there had been no time for breakfast which meant around one hour into our two-and-a-half-hour train ride the ladies of our group were restless – and hungry.  In fact, their restlessness soon turned into a demand for action, any action that might score them some nutrition.  Now Doug and I are maybe not the brightest guys in the world, but we did understand that desperate times call for desperate measures.  So off we go, passing through the various train cars in search of the snack bar.  One crowded train car after another, we excused ourselves and fought our way through crowds searching for the elusive snacks to put a gleam of thanks in our respective wives’ eyes.  As we passed through another car and the door shut behind us, we saw that we had reached the engine and could go no further.  Turning to go back, that door had shut and locked!  We were now stuck…. Captured between the engine and the first passenger car.  Would our wives rouse to rescue us or would this become our own personal Swiss prison that we would eventually die in?  Looking at the bright side, Doug and I both realized that we at least had found a tuberculosis free zone.  We won’t bore you with the details but soon we were out of our short term prison and heading happily back to our wives, thankful that we had escaped a most certain death.  When Doug and I returned to Coach 23, our joy at simply just being alive was rapidly swallowed up by questioning stares of what do you mean you came back empty handed.  To make a long story shorter, let me report that we did find some snacks and nourishment for the four of us and everyone grew much happier at that accomplishment.

Arriving in St. Moritz, we took a taxi into town and our driver recommended a couple of restaurants to visit for lunch.  He gave us his business card, “Baren Taxi” and said to just ask any business in town to make a phone call to him and he will pick us up immediately.  We said goodbye and headed into a restaurant to eat a traditional Switzerland meal according to our waiter.  It was quite delicious but the capper was that they also had two different kinds of tequila and some of that was also ordered to sip with our meals.  After lunch we went shopping while I went searching for an ATM to replenish the cash in my wallet as we would soon be heading back to Italy.  I put my debit card in the ATM and requested 500 euros.  What emerged out of the ATM were definitely not Euros.  I was now the proud owner of 500 Swiss Francs.  What in the heck am I going to do with 500 Swiss Francs, an American dollar equivalent to $514?  That still remains to be seen.  I caught up with the group and we had 30 minutes before our train was leaving to return us to Italy.  We thought briefly about just hoofing it back to the train station and avoiding the taxi altogether but with less than a half hour before our train pulled out the decision was made to pull out the taxi card and find a local business to call our driver.  We walked into the nearest little business we could find and the proprieter looked surprised to see anyone.  His little yappy dog escaped out the door and while Doug tried to herd the yapster back in the shop, the gentleman was perplexed at the arrival of four tourists to his fine business establishment.  “Zies eez a travel agenzy” he kept repeating.  I finally said “I know, I was wondering if you would place a call to this number?”  He took the card and handed it back shaking his head saying, “Baren…..zay are closzed”  “No call…walk up zayer zru zee tunnel for zee taxi.  Zay vill come.”  May his little yappy dog run for a long, long time and never come back!

Rebuffed by this Swiss travel agent, we walked up through zee tunnel, I mean the tunnel and found the taxi stand.  As time ticked down before our train was pulling out without us, Lynda went into another business and the wonderful Swiss proprietor immediately called for us and told us the taxi driver would be with us in 2 minutes.  She apologized for our experience with the Swiss travel man.  Soon we were back onboard the train and heading back to Italy.  The rain and fog from our morning train into Switzerland was replaced by sun and blue sky immediately improving our return views.

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As our train is now pulling back into Tirano, Italy, I will temporarily end this post for the time being and pick up when we get back to Milan.

We found out upon our arrival in Tirano that our 6:08 pm train from Tirano to Milan was changed to 7:08 pm.  We now had an extra hour to kill in Tirano so what better way for killing time than to find a bar with appertivos (free snacks when you purchase a glass of wine).  So that is what we did.  The time flew by and we soon found ourselves on the train back to Milano.  The good part about all of this is that Doug was the only one with Euros still in his pocket and so he paid for everything from here on out.  What in the world to do with 500 Swiss Francs?  Doug has offered to give me 20 cents on the dollar for the value of each franc I have.  He says he is just trying to help me out.  What a guy!!

We finally arrived back home in Milan.  We stopped and had a quick dinner near the Duomo (the massive cathedral) that was all lit up and beautiful.

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We’ve now made it back to our hotel for some much needed rest.  Our plan is to head out in the morning for Florence and a day with Sam and Ruby who are there now waiting for us.

On Monday we had a down day, with a lot of walking, talking and laughing.  We also learned a lot of stuff….stuff like 1) museums are closed on Mondays, 2) you have to pay to poop sometimes, unless you threaten to do it right there, then the pay requirement goes away, 3) the language barrier is no barrier when it comes to basic human kindness (referencing the customer of a restaurant who walked out of his way to show us where we could find a taxi stand for taxi ride), 4) there are some people from Bangladesh who don’t show up even when you are giving them money, and 5) Lardo is delicious.  All in all, however, it was a great day.  We were all very tired and went to bed around 10:30 pm with a train trip through the Swiss Alps planned for tomorrow.

They made it!  We were waiting out by the taxi drop when Doug and Barb made it here to Milan.  After a brief stop in their new room and some tequila that Doug brought with him from home, we descended…..after a few miscues, to the pizza place we tried out last night.  They have now headed off to bed and we are soon following.  Don’t mind the rubble pile you see in the background.  There’s a lot of construction going on here.  This is great.  All seems right in the world!!!

Sunday morning arrived in Milan all too early.  In fact, by the time we realized it was Sunday morning (around 10 a.m. here in Milan but 1 a.m. back home), our hotel breakfast room had closed.  We’ll chalk that one up to the time change!  Undaunted, we dressed and headed out for some exploring of this first city of our Italy adventure.  We took the subway, visited the main train station and just enjoyed the sights and sounds of Milano on a Sunday morning.

Doug and Barb are still winging their way to us.  Their flight should  arrive here in Milan in about five more hours.  Time for us to rest up until they get here.

Flying due north out of Seattle, our Emirates flight would be crossing over the north pole.  Thanks to Rocky for that information who has taken this flight to Dubai several times.   As we were saying goodbye to little Ivy yesterday before we left, we told her that we were going to be flying past the north pole.  She wanted us to keep our eyes open for Rudolph the red nosed reindeer flying next to our plane.  We looked while we were going by but sure didn’t see either Rudolph or Santa Claus.

We arrived in Dubai after a nice Looooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnngggggggg flight.  After more than 14 hours on the plane we were in little mood to explore Dubai.  We headed to the Emirates business lounge where we hung out for the next 4 hours.  We saw very few women inside the lounge.  Weird.  The lounge had free food and drinks, showers available, and even sleeping sections which we tried to take advantage of (without much success).  I would describe the Dubai airport as a series of really nice and long Quonset huts.

Before long we were on our next plane and headed to Milan where we arrived at 8:30 Saturday night.  After a 40 minute and $125 taxi ride we arrived a little before 10 pm Italy time at Hotel Galileo, our home for the next six days.

Though absolutely dog tired, we (as good little hummingbirds do) headed out to explore the culinary delights of the area.  We discovered Mozzarella Basilico Trattoria Pizzeria.

We sampled a couple of their wood fired pizzas and a couple glasses of their house red and we were ready to head back to our new temporary home for some sleep.  At this point in time Doug and Barb are winging their way towards us and will arrive in Dubai in about another 8 hours and then show up here in about 21 or 22 hours.  We can’t wait until they get here.

Reciting the Wagnerson travel motto “attitude is everything, enjoy the journey,” the two advance humming bird scouts left our hotel on the 6:30 am shuttle to the airport this morning to begin our 25 plus hour flight to Milan Italy.  Lynda and I were on our own for this leg of the adventure because the other half of the Wagnersons are flying out on identical flights tomorrow.  Checking in at Emirates Airlines for our boarding passes was easy.  Next up was getting through security and the massive lines that were three deep and one and a half football fields long.  It was at that point that Lynda pulled out the “business class flight we were on” card and therefore eligible to go through the TSA “Premium” line which consisted of absolutely no line and no one in front of us.  Nice card play Lynda!!!  I love the Alaska Airlines mileage plan award seats that we have.

With 90 minutes to wait until our flight boards, we checked out the Emirates business class lounge where we’re sitting now.  It’s a comfortable, quiet and relaxed atmosphere.  Plus, with the lead scout hummingbird Lynda on an exploratory mission in the lounge, she soon came back with expresso and biscotti for us both.  Next stop – Dubai, where we will arrive just before midnight tonight our time.  This is starting out as a great day!

John Denver sang a song, “Leaving on a Jet Plane” that starts out, “All my bags are packed, I’m ready to go.”  Those lyrics pretty much say it all for the four of us as our trip to Italy and Greece comes near.  The excitement is building the closer our departure date approaches.  Only 14 days remain until we grab our carry-on suitcases and head out the door.  We are flying to Italy by way of Emirates Airlines requiring a stop in Dubai in the Middle East thanks to our use of 75,000 Alaska Airline miles to acquire tickets to fly business class to Milan from Seattle.  It’s a 14 hour, 15 minute flight from Seattle to Dubai.  After a 4 plus hour layover in Dubai, we board another Emirates flight to make it to Milan after a 6 hour and 45-minute flight, arriving there a little over 25 hours after leaving Seattle.  In a quirk of fate (read that as a limited number of award flights available) although the Wagnerson’s are traveling on identical Emirates flights, Emirates Airlines had only 2 business class award seats available for our designated departure date, Saturday May 7^th.  Undaunted by the absence of sufficient seating for the 4 of us, the Wagnerson’s opted to send Lynda and Dale ahead, one day early on identical flights where two more Alaska Airlines mileage plan award seats were available.

This reminds me of a story.  Lynda looks forward every spring to the return of the hummingbirds to Elger Bay.  She is convinced that you must have your hummingbird feeders full and ready in very early spring because they always send out “scout” hummingbirds to search for food and then report back to the group so that the rest will come knowing there is good food available at the destination.  We have not been to Milan Italy before.  Apparently although they are pretty sure it is there, Barb and Doug wanted to make absolutely sure there was good food available in Milan.  So, they’re ushering Lynda and me out to Milan first to act as the scout hummingbirds and report back to the group.  Hmmmm, one additional day of fresh Italian pasta?  Mission accepted!

Only 14 days, 1 hour, 4 minutes and 22 seconds until our plane is pushed back from the terminal and we are on our way!

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through Elger Bay,
The Wagnersons are preparing for that big travel day.
All the tickets are purchased, for their flights overseas,
And the hotels are all booked, for both Italy and Greece.

Our passports are stored in a safe place with care,
In hopes the departure date, soon will be there
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter
Tanks and scuba lessons are what now matter.

Certified divers for the Greek waters we’ll be,
That’s Lynda and Barbara and yes even me.
And who clapping loud on the sidelines is he?
That’s Doug, already certified, for diving you see.

I’ve exhausted your patience, with this forced rhyming bit,
So relax, take a breath, or why don’t you sit?
Now Douglas, now Barbara, now Lynda, now Dale
In May we will travel, bon voyage, we set sail!