The Venice adventure looming.
by Gerard Oosterman
We thought it wise to continue our travelling. The seventies are marching on and one just never knows. We still have all our limbs and can walk unaided. But for how long? Our intestinal organs are floridly in good health and have kept us away from any precarious situations so far. Lately though, I have found myself scanning available public toilets. Just in case! I would hate to be running through Venice and over a steep bridge, in search of one. I remember vividly and was desperate for one in Paris. No paper, no water and just my cheque book slips for use while squatting above a very odoriferous and gloomy hole. I had trouble contemplating over the beauty of gay Paris. It took a train trip to the Château de Versailles and gazing at chandeliers to get over that one. I even had a full plate of ‘Raw Steak Tartare avec un raw egg’ after that.
From our last trip to Bali and the lack of food and water, we will be sorely tempted to fly a plane whereby the passengers will be kept alive as much as possible. The worst aspects are the miles and miles of walking through the acreages of getting through customs,, the ignominy of taking belts and shoes off, the padding up, down, and across, then, to the gates and again be padded down before traipsing inside to the plane. The hoisting of bags over-head and selfish knees protruding in such limited spaces. Duty free emporiums, and the hopping about in socks and dropping trousers before even getting on the plane. Why can’t the duty free be separate from the airports for those keen on buying yet another watch or pearl earring? Do people travel now in order to do the same as at home, ‘shopping’?
Soon there will be airports where people can mow a lawn or put out the garbage, pay the rates and go to Aldi.
Venice is beckoning as never before and am already speaking per favore et grazie to our postman who comes from Messina. We are prepared.
We can’t wait!
Window Dresser's Arms, Pig & Whistle 
Mrs A and I are starting to think of our trip overseas sometime well I don’t know. We have to decide where we’d both like to go. I had lunch for a farewell for a colleague on Friday down near Barangaroo. Mostly expensive chips. One there is semi retired and goes to Spain nearly every year. Our meals at $23 were about $10 overpriced for mine. He mentioned that in Spain in a similar setting you could feast for the equivalent of $10. Perhaps the Mediterranean could be a fairly inexpensive holiday I don’t know.
However, Gerard, Venice does look nice.
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Watching Rick Stein in Spain (a welcome repeat) – I say Spain or perhaps Greece.
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Yes, that mass snail eating in Spain really got me hungry, so I put on a large pork roast and barbequed it for two hours with lots of pumpkin and spuds. Loads of oregano. It was almost as nice as those snails in Spain. I got a bottle of Penfold’s, St Henri Shiraz for father’s day a 2006 number which we will keep for our diamond wedding anniversary. Does anyone remember the date we got married?
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No I don’t remember Gerard but gees I hope I’m in Bowral at the time.
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Have you asked Merv or granny
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Yes, you are all welcome and snails with garlic are on the house.
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Yum.
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For the typical tourists travelling to tourist hot-spots such as Venice, it might be expensive. However, if you go there and try and live like the locals, rent an apartment, do local shopping and visit their cafes and restaurants, it is not anymore expensive than for the natives living there. This is according to people that live there regularly.
I am sure you and Mrs A will love Spain.
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Try AirBnB, we stayed in quite a few in Italy, cheap, and the locals enjoy meeting ‘exotic’ foreigners.
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Tempting, isn’t it? I work with a nurse who retired, then came back to work as a casual. Bought a house in mid-Western North America for a song at the height of the GST, so stays over there two or three times a year. If only I had the same plan for Venice.
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I went to Venice once. My dream was to ride in a gondola however they don’t go out in the rain and it rained the whole time we were there. Have one for me and Tutu Gerard. 🙂
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Yes, it can rain there as well. We might give the gondola a miss Hung. I have seen too much footage of those already. We have been promised a possible apartment near the Peggy Guggenheim gallery. As long as it is near cafes and locals, we are happy to take things easy.
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I was trying to tempt Mrs M onto a gondola when we were there. She had been in one back in the 80s. reckoned it was like travelling down the gutter in a plastic boat. Over-rated at a hundred Euros per couple, plus tip, for less than an hour.
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Airports – I agree Gerard. It isn’t what it used to be anymore. Going through the airports is a torture.
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I’ve only been at airports to send off or welcome home a friend or a daughter in recent years. Not flown for 26 years and then it was a 4 seater plus pilot – there and back from Sydney. When we first came to Albury you could still get on your flight with just a couple of minutes to go. Throw you suitcase on the trailer yourself as it headed to the plane and then run for the plane. How things have changed. That same local airport terminal was a shed and been rebuilt twice, full of security and you can’t even wait and watch outside as the plane came to a halt about 20 metres away.
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Yes, apart from insane security there are miles and miles of duty free shopping to trail through. One gets channelled through all those isles not unlike Ikea at Mascot. You can’t even take a shortcut but are forced to run the gauntlet past acres of bottles, perfumes, earrings, cigarettes, watches, suitcases and shoes, socks, finally food . On our trip to Bali a couple of weeks ago we should have bought food because on board (Jetstar) there was none except for the well informed who knew the ropes and had ordered some food with their ticket.
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Yes, I bet there are now ambulances waiting nearby for those, especially the elderly, that just don’t have the strength anymore after a long flight to go through all the security, and just collapse with their legs sticking up like flies that are in their final death frenzy.
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When do you depart for Venice Gerard? Love your take on airports.
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We will avoid the height of the tourists season which is all year around but is a lot less hectic in autumn or early spring. So..,either Oct/Nov this year or April/May next year.
With the increase in security, heaven know how it will be at airports. Already now, at least two hours before the flight is the norm to be at the airport. Getting off the plane is also fraught with security checks and more security checks. It has gone crazy.
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Yes, Gerard, the highest security alert in the history of Straya. They’ll be sniffing your orifices with bomb detectors, whilst cute dogs run all over the terminal sniffing out heroin and grass (whilst bikie gangs down the road are making ecstacy and ice by the tonne).
Take a walking stick, try to look infirm, they’ll have you on the golf buggy in no time, whisking you past all of the duty free, and deposit you right next to the boarding desk.
Hope you two have a great time!
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