Well, I've done it! I booked myself a flight to Italy yesterday!
How come? I hear you ask.
Well, I was invited to join Martha (FS) and Sue (Suberbabe) and the rest of a party of US tourists in Milan, spend a week with them touring the Northern lakes and Western coast of Italy and Rome in September - and after I saw the itinerary, could hardly stop myself from drooling.
Imagine a lakeside hotel with views either over the Italian alps or the lakes, a hotel in Rome with paintings on the ceiling that is barely 400m from St Peters, or cruising to an island in the middle of Lake Maggiore!
Sighh.
How could I say no - and to such lovely ladies?
Since this means I'd have to fly half way round the world ( the flight is about 25 hours) , I decided to make it more worthwhile by spending a further week there and seeing more of this incredible country.
My tentative plan for my extra week takes in the Amalfi Coast (Sorrento and Pompeii), Tuscany (Florence and the Cinque Terre) and Venice.
I must be crazy. Right?
Remember my last blog entry? The one where I got lost in Melbourne - which is a mere 500 km away, where they speak the same language as me?
This is the woman with no sense of direction, no knowledge of Italian past what you might find on a menu or dredge up from some schoolgirl Latin (and we're talking nearly 40 years ago now), a hatred of big cities - but a love of all things Renaissance, thanks to my HSC European History teacher, Miss Gibson- and a very BIG tendency to unwittingly attract disaster.
Yup, that's me.
But I'm nothing if not game. And I have dreamed of visiting Europe ever since high school. When my marriage broke up I feared I'd never have the chance. But I intend to regard this trip as tentatively dipping my toe in the water of international travel for three weeks. If it goes well, I might decide to go to France or Switzerland next time around.
On the other hand, I may never leave home again.
I've only booked the international flight so far. The domestic flights and the land content are yet to be organised for my solo week. The week with the touring party only needs to be paid for. (Like that will be any easier)
It's gradually starting to hit me what I'm letting myself in for. There are so many decisions to make between now and then, such as -
How do I manage to strike a balance between seeing as much as I can, or relaxing and soaking up the atmosphere ( ie food and amazing scenery) without missing out or running myself ragged.
Do I want the freedom/flexibility to travel independently- which knowing me, could be tricky- or should I bear the higher costs and tight scheduling of organised tours since I'm on my own - in the interests of personal safety and having someone to have dinner with?
Should I opt for budget options like Youth hostels or B&B accommodation and a Eurail pass, rather than pricey coach trips and nice hotels, so that I can spend my limited cash on the actual sightseeing?
Hmm...as 'Deep Thought' put it. 'Tricky...'
So after some very determined armchair traveling in cyber space, these are the things I've decided to see that are NOT negotiable:
1 Il Duomo in Florence,
2 The Birth of Venus in the Uffizi and the statue of David at the Galleria della Arte.
3 The Cinque Terre and
4 Pompeii.
Everything thing else is just gravy. I must add though that I was really tempted with two 'different' tours in Florence
One is a small group cooking morning, where participants prepare a four course Tuscan banquet in the home of an Italian chef. It starts at the markets in the morning where the produce is selected and ends with eating the food we cook.
Frankly I'm drooling at just the thought of it.
The other tour is a three hour Segway tour around the city, checking out the various monuments. That could be a lot of fun - and be a bit easier on my feet than pounding the pavement all day.
Anyway I'm feeling optimistic that this whole trip will be fabulous. I just hope it doesn't beggar me. LOL
Now I think I better find some internet sites that will teach me some survival Italian. Does anyone know how to say, 'Excuse me I'm lost'?
Friday, April 30, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
Lightning trip to Melbourne. I'm still reeling from the experience
I have just returned from a lightning trip to Melbourne with Nick and Andrea and I feel quite shattered. We were gone from our quiet, comparatively thinly populated, and terribly laid back home state of Tasmania for a whole 24 hours to go to Oz' second largest city - and in that time had our patience tested (we don't cope with peak hour traffic very well when we are only used to peak quarter hours here), navigation skills (very, very bad) and irritability thresholds (frighteningly low).
Frankly, I'm going to need a week to get over it.
Let me go back a bit...
Both Nick and Andrea need orthoses for their feet. A few years ago I found a fantastic biomedical scientist from Queensland who used to come to Tassmania every so often. He did wonders for both of them, but alas, he doesn't come any more. He does however still visit Melbourne once or twice a year.
Now Andrea is keen to train in hospitality when she leaves school - a profession that naturally involves long hours on her feet - and her orthotics needed replacing. Nick's were worn out too. So I bit the bullet and arranged for the three of us to go to Melbourne for the day. We would visit my family overnight, get new moulds made and be back home in time for tea and feed the cats. Easy!
I set to and found some cheapish airfares with Jetstar. Well, they seemed cheap at first. But let me say that having to pay extra for seat allocation and to use my non-JETSTAR credit card was a total rip off.
Since my folks live in country Victoria, I had to work out how best to get there. After pricing all the forms of public transport we would need I opted to hire a cheap car - a Hyundai Getz - from the airport instead.
I'm not sure if it was quite the right thing to have done in hindsight.
Some of you may remember the main character in a story I wrote a while back who had a really bad sense of direction.
Well, as much as I hate to admit it, so have I. (Now for the record, this is the ONLY characteristic I shared with Fee.)
But the sad thing is that this particular lack of ability has bred true. Neither Nick nor Andrea are much chop at map reading either. So for much of our day it was the blind leading the blind.
The irony is that their Dad is a fantastic navigator. But of course he wasn't with us today.
So perhaps it WAS foolish of me to decline the offer of the GPS for the hire car, and to say we would manage with a street directory only.
Oh. My. God.
I'm afraid I lost my cool somewhat when Nick almost had us going back to the airport instead of to the suburb we needed, but at least he redeemed himself on the way back - to a certain extent. Unfortunately for him it was during peak hour. I figure that the constant stopping and starting (which drove him nuts) allowed him plenty of time to work out the maps.
But until then, we roared around the Eastern suburbs, missing most of our turnoffs and having to double back over and over and trying not to get streamed into the wrong lanes of traffic.
At one intersection, I had to try to slip into a gap ahead of a guy who was too busy snogging his girlfriend at the lights to be paying attention to what I was trying to do. I was 'ahem' a bit over it all by then - and all I'll say it was just as well for him that my window was wound up when I expressed my opininon!
Just about the scariest moment of the whole day was when we were congratulating ourselves of getting back to the airport in good time. All we had to do to finish off was find the petrol station to refill the car. Anyway, despite our best efforts I managed to be in the wrong lane and we found ourselves driving at top speed down the freeway AWAY from the airport. I was convinced we were NEVER going to get home.
There were some very bad words coming from the driver AND the navigator until we reached the first available turning point about 5km back down the road.
That really should have been the worst moment of the day - but there were two other incidents that would give it a run for its money.
1) The gear lever that would stick inexplicably in Park position, threatening to leave us stranded in several car parks. Somehow I managed to unstick it each time, without knowing how I'd done it. It wasn't until we got home that I learned that it only unsticks IF you are applying the brake! Unfortunately this little fact was not written anywhere in the manual AT ALL - nor did the hire car guy bother to mention it either.
Bastard!
2) You can imagine how pleased we would be to find an apparently vacant parking spot in a public car park not too far from our destination. That was until my return a few hours later to discover a (big) parking fine on my windscreen. Apparently I had parked in one of the three private spots in the car park. AAAGhhh
The parking guy was still in the area and so I asked him (nicely) to explain.
Now, get this...
The three slots were signposted, but he admitted that it wasn't clear and that as someone not familiar with the area, it would have been easy to miss. He actually suggested that I write and appeal the fine - and that he would support me in his daily report. I figure I've got nothing to lose so I'm going to do that tomorrow.
You might think that this trip was all one disaster after another. Well it was certainly memorable and not all of it was traumatic. Although the water main at my parents' house burst while I was actually in the shower, which was a bit of a shock to the system. But that's another story.
No it wasn't all bad. We did have some successes and besides, it all could have gone SO much worse.
Our flights all left on time. This is always a good thing.
We had a lovely, albeit late, dinner at my sister's place in Geelong last night. Note to self - next time, use the ring road properly.
We were able to celebrate my mother's birthday with family for the first time in yonks.
The gripey tummy I had for most of this week settled down just in the nick of time for the trip.
The health fund will cover about 70% of the cost of the orthotics. Pity I can't get them to come at the airfares eh - or the parking fine? LOL.
I bought some very good luggage accessories on sale - for the Italian trip later in the year - Although I have to wonder if I really ought to be let out on my own after today.
Oh and I didn't prang the car. This must be regarded as a positive in anyone's book. Of course, if I'd not paid the damage waiver, who knows what might have happened?
I think I need a lie down after thinking about that little lot.
Frankly, I'm going to need a week to get over it.
Let me go back a bit...
Both Nick and Andrea need orthoses for their feet. A few years ago I found a fantastic biomedical scientist from Queensland who used to come to Tassmania every so often. He did wonders for both of them, but alas, he doesn't come any more. He does however still visit Melbourne once or twice a year.
Now Andrea is keen to train in hospitality when she leaves school - a profession that naturally involves long hours on her feet - and her orthotics needed replacing. Nick's were worn out too. So I bit the bullet and arranged for the three of us to go to Melbourne for the day. We would visit my family overnight, get new moulds made and be back home in time for tea and feed the cats. Easy!
I set to and found some cheapish airfares with Jetstar. Well, they seemed cheap at first. But let me say that having to pay extra for seat allocation and to use my non-JETSTAR credit card was a total rip off.
Since my folks live in country Victoria, I had to work out how best to get there. After pricing all the forms of public transport we would need I opted to hire a cheap car - a Hyundai Getz - from the airport instead.
I'm not sure if it was quite the right thing to have done in hindsight.
Some of you may remember the main character in a story I wrote a while back who had a really bad sense of direction.
Well, as much as I hate to admit it, so have I. (Now for the record, this is the ONLY characteristic I shared with Fee.)
But the sad thing is that this particular lack of ability has bred true. Neither Nick nor Andrea are much chop at map reading either. So for much of our day it was the blind leading the blind.
The irony is that their Dad is a fantastic navigator. But of course he wasn't with us today.
So perhaps it WAS foolish of me to decline the offer of the GPS for the hire car, and to say we would manage with a street directory only.
Oh. My. God.
I'm afraid I lost my cool somewhat when Nick almost had us going back to the airport instead of to the suburb we needed, but at least he redeemed himself on the way back - to a certain extent. Unfortunately for him it was during peak hour. I figure that the constant stopping and starting (which drove him nuts) allowed him plenty of time to work out the maps.
But until then, we roared around the Eastern suburbs, missing most of our turnoffs and having to double back over and over and trying not to get streamed into the wrong lanes of traffic.
At one intersection, I had to try to slip into a gap ahead of a guy who was too busy snogging his girlfriend at the lights to be paying attention to what I was trying to do. I was 'ahem' a bit over it all by then - and all I'll say it was just as well for him that my window was wound up when I expressed my opininon!
Just about the scariest moment of the whole day was when we were congratulating ourselves of getting back to the airport in good time. All we had to do to finish off was find the petrol station to refill the car. Anyway, despite our best efforts I managed to be in the wrong lane and we found ourselves driving at top speed down the freeway AWAY from the airport. I was convinced we were NEVER going to get home.
There were some very bad words coming from the driver AND the navigator until we reached the first available turning point about 5km back down the road.
That really should have been the worst moment of the day - but there were two other incidents that would give it a run for its money.
1) The gear lever that would stick inexplicably in Park position, threatening to leave us stranded in several car parks. Somehow I managed to unstick it each time, without knowing how I'd done it. It wasn't until we got home that I learned that it only unsticks IF you are applying the brake! Unfortunately this little fact was not written anywhere in the manual AT ALL - nor did the hire car guy bother to mention it either.
Bastard!
2) You can imagine how pleased we would be to find an apparently vacant parking spot in a public car park not too far from our destination. That was until my return a few hours later to discover a (big) parking fine on my windscreen. Apparently I had parked in one of the three private spots in the car park. AAAGhhh
The parking guy was still in the area and so I asked him (nicely) to explain.
Now, get this...
The three slots were signposted, but he admitted that it wasn't clear and that as someone not familiar with the area, it would have been easy to miss. He actually suggested that I write and appeal the fine - and that he would support me in his daily report. I figure I've got nothing to lose so I'm going to do that tomorrow.
You might think that this trip was all one disaster after another. Well it was certainly memorable and not all of it was traumatic. Although the water main at my parents' house burst while I was actually in the shower, which was a bit of a shock to the system. But that's another story.
No it wasn't all bad. We did have some successes and besides, it all could have gone SO much worse.
Our flights all left on time. This is always a good thing.
We had a lovely, albeit late, dinner at my sister's place in Geelong last night. Note to self - next time, use the ring road properly.
We were able to celebrate my mother's birthday with family for the first time in yonks.
The gripey tummy I had for most of this week settled down just in the nick of time for the trip.
The health fund will cover about 70% of the cost of the orthotics. Pity I can't get them to come at the airfares eh - or the parking fine? LOL.
I bought some very good luggage accessories on sale - for the Italian trip later in the year - Although I have to wonder if I really ought to be let out on my own after today.
Oh and I didn't prang the car. This must be regarded as a positive in anyone's book. Of course, if I'd not paid the damage waiver, who knows what might have happened?
I think I need a lie down after thinking about that little lot.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Busy Busy - and WTF was she thinking?
I've been a bit slack on the blogging scene recently. I've been a bit busy y'see.
Since my last entry, I've had a birthday. Yay!, read a truckload of books - notably Nicola Cornick and Mary Balogh, installed new windows and AC upstairs, had a mammogram and ultrasound check up, and last but not least - been invited to join some friends on holiday in Italy for 10 days in September!
Guess which one I'm most excited about?
Of course now I'm thinking why the Hell did I choose to get the windows replaced this year of all years! Perhaps I could have left them another year... or three.
But the land costs of the trip to Italy aren't THAT high... and if I can find a cheap airfare....
In the midst of all of this kerfuffle, I'm still working close to full time and trying to recapture my love of writing.
It's not going well - the writing side of things, that is.
Granted, I've been trying to write 1500 words almost every night since late 2005 - and perhaps it is time to take a break. Lord knows I'm not managing anything like those numbers now.
But something happened a few weeks ago that has made me really cynical about what constitutes a writer. The question is, is someone a writer simply if she writes or does she need to be published to have the right to call herself one?
I used to think it was pretty simple actually. But maybe it's not.
Here's what set me off.
Someone I know has ventured into publishing on the strength of her FFs. I know this because it was trumpeted very loudly on FB some weeks ago.
Frankly I was shocked to hear this because her stories were never ones I'd rated particularly highly - for a whole bunch of reasons that I won’t go into here.
I asked myself how on earth could she have gotten herself published? And it struck me that perhaps her writing had vastly improved in the years since we'd corresponded and that she HAD managed to attract the attention of an agent - the lucky devil.
My second reaction was ‘How bloody dare she?’
Sighh. I know that makes me a very bad person. Or maybe just terribly insecure.
Now fast forward a few weeks. After the fanfare on FB died down, I discovered that this has been a self-publishing venture. Knowing this should have relieved me. But she has gone all out with it- to the extent she has set up a website to publicise and sell the book herself.
‘Hmm I don’t think so’ I thought and found a free excerpt on the site instead. This was one selected from an earlier story, presumably to showcase her talents to the punters before they part with their cash
I’m ashamed to say that I pounced on it - and then I gaped in disbelief.
Y’see, it was really, really bad. It was quite simply chock-a-block with the most basic mistakes a novice writer can make. I know this because I’ve made all of those mistakes myself. But I also know that I don’t make those particular mistakes any more.
Of course that is just my opinion.
I mean, what do I know? I’m not agented. I’ve never sought publication (although maybe one day…). It’s just me being a bit ‘sour grapey!’ isn’t it?
Well no. Actually it’s a little more than that.
This whole exercise has gotten right up my nose. She seems to believe she is a Writer (with a capital W… You know, a proper one?)and is enjoying playing Gracious Author to her fan.
She’s got the fancy website, gorgeous artwork highlighting the older stories, accompanying music, a glowing bio about her writing influences - including how she is responding to the urges of her worldwide fans to publish, her intention of using a particular linking device in all her future books etc etc.
I think I might vomit.
It’s a pity she hasn’t spent her time learning how to write well, rather than focusing her energies on 'getting her name and writing out there' to quote her.
So is she a writer?
Is she kidding herself? Is she going to take a financial bath?
And why should I care?
Is it because I desperately want to earn the right to call myself a writer - and know it is true?
I'm not sure I know the answer to this one. All I know is that seeing her stuff out there leaves me with a slightly nasty taste in my mouth.
Snark.
Since my last entry, I've had a birthday. Yay!, read a truckload of books - notably Nicola Cornick and Mary Balogh, installed new windows and AC upstairs, had a mammogram and ultrasound check up, and last but not least - been invited to join some friends on holiday in Italy for 10 days in September!
Guess which one I'm most excited about?
Of course now I'm thinking why the Hell did I choose to get the windows replaced this year of all years! Perhaps I could have left them another year... or three.
But the land costs of the trip to Italy aren't THAT high... and if I can find a cheap airfare....
In the midst of all of this kerfuffle, I'm still working close to full time and trying to recapture my love of writing.
It's not going well - the writing side of things, that is.
Granted, I've been trying to write 1500 words almost every night since late 2005 - and perhaps it is time to take a break. Lord knows I'm not managing anything like those numbers now.
But something happened a few weeks ago that has made me really cynical about what constitutes a writer. The question is, is someone a writer simply if she writes or does she need to be published to have the right to call herself one?
I used to think it was pretty simple actually. But maybe it's not.
Here's what set me off.
Someone I know has ventured into publishing on the strength of her FFs. I know this because it was trumpeted very loudly on FB some weeks ago.
Frankly I was shocked to hear this because her stories were never ones I'd rated particularly highly - for a whole bunch of reasons that I won’t go into here.
I asked myself how on earth could she have gotten herself published? And it struck me that perhaps her writing had vastly improved in the years since we'd corresponded and that she HAD managed to attract the attention of an agent - the lucky devil.
My second reaction was ‘How bloody dare she?’
Sighh. I know that makes me a very bad person. Or maybe just terribly insecure.
Now fast forward a few weeks. After the fanfare on FB died down, I discovered that this has been a self-publishing venture. Knowing this should have relieved me. But she has gone all out with it- to the extent she has set up a website to publicise and sell the book herself.
‘Hmm I don’t think so’ I thought and found a free excerpt on the site instead. This was one selected from an earlier story, presumably to showcase her talents to the punters before they part with their cash
I’m ashamed to say that I pounced on it - and then I gaped in disbelief.
Y’see, it was really, really bad. It was quite simply chock-a-block with the most basic mistakes a novice writer can make. I know this because I’ve made all of those mistakes myself. But I also know that I don’t make those particular mistakes any more.
Of course that is just my opinion.
I mean, what do I know? I’m not agented. I’ve never sought publication (although maybe one day…). It’s just me being a bit ‘sour grapey!’ isn’t it?
Well no. Actually it’s a little more than that.
This whole exercise has gotten right up my nose. She seems to believe she is a Writer (with a capital W… You know, a proper one?)and is enjoying playing Gracious Author to her fan.
She’s got the fancy website, gorgeous artwork highlighting the older stories, accompanying music, a glowing bio about her writing influences - including how she is responding to the urges of her worldwide fans to publish, her intention of using a particular linking device in all her future books etc etc.
I think I might vomit.
It’s a pity she hasn’t spent her time learning how to write well, rather than focusing her energies on 'getting her name and writing out there' to quote her.
So is she a writer?
Is she kidding herself? Is she going to take a financial bath?
And why should I care?
Is it because I desperately want to earn the right to call myself a writer - and know it is true?
I'm not sure I know the answer to this one. All I know is that seeing her stuff out there leaves me with a slightly nasty taste in my mouth.
Snark.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)