Feeling of the Day: Many people have said that with a book you are never lonely. Paper or electronic books can also make time pass more easily. I learned these facts during my first few years in the Canadian Navy when you often have to wait for the next thing. Sometimes you have to wait a long time. Paperbacks could easily fit into a Naval combat jacket and, when the uniform changed, in the side pouches of our pants. Those books became a miniature vacation, from whatever was going on, and were always appreciated. Today I started and almost finished one book.
Full Day’s Events: Although I mentioned savouring moments, yesterday, today had its moments of panic and frustration. Everything started perfectly fine. I had pre-bought my airport vaporetto from Alilaguna (open ended boarding time and a generous expiry date), and crossed my last Venice bridge while imitating a pack mule with all my items.
The boat arrived a tiny bit late and, after boarding, we cruised North then West along the Grand canal. Looking at the palazzos, those intact and those not, and the side canals with their bridges I was going to miss this city. Once we were about to pass the train station the boat turned North through one of the canals I had walked down previously. Once the canal was transited the boat hugged the coast of the North side of Venice. We passed by areas that I did not see, either because they were private or there were no bridges. Pick your reason as I would have to look at my map to get a hint.
With one last stop the boat turned NNW and, after an acceptable distance by Venetian maritime law, the pilot gunned the motor. Our time was spent passing a few small private islands, in various states of order. One of the better kept small islands seemed to belong to a boat repair company with lifting and shore storage facilities beside large buildings for mid to small size boat repair.
Once docked at the airport I knew there was a people mover on the second level. So far, so good. I entered the airport, on the second level, and looked for my flight and which numbered counter I needed to check in at…but it was not showing on the departures board. Curious. Worry. Panic. Checking my email for my airplane ticket, I looked up the three-letter airport code, plugged it into a search engine and…I was in the right place! The other airport, Treviso, is closer to Venice but smaller and mostly serves Ryanair.
I was downgrading my panic to worry. I still needed my check in booth and went searching for a gate area labelled Iberia. There are large TV screens above each desk and I thought I could hunt around both levels for the airline. Nope. I figured out, after going to every area with a check-in counter, that no airline “owns” or “rents” specific check-in booths. I went to the information booth and showed my email with the airline, flight number, and time it was to leave. She pointed in the direction of a side hall I had just wandered in from and said my booth would be displayed, on the departures board, 45 minutes before the plane would be boarding. Very similar to the trains in Italy so now my worry was downgraded to curious.
Heading to that side hall I sat on a bench, pulled out my book and started reading. I was deep into it and missed the people lining up at a previously unmarked gate, towards the end of the hall, where attendants had put up their flag of the airline before logging into their computers. I ended up being the 45th to 55th person checked in, after the board displayed the booth number to go to. I didn’t mind because I had the book.
When I reached the booth, and put both of my bags through, the attendant said that I had to check in my backpack because of limited room. I had my laptop, story folder, and extra clothes in there so I took the first two and placed them in the small bag I use to go through security easier while I internally waved goodbye to my handy Cotopaxi backpack.
Security was a breeze, as it was mostly empty of travellers, so I searched for a portable sandwich place so I could sit and eat near my gate. As I did, while passing by the gates, I noticed that not only were there few places to sit there but there were few places to sit anywhere. Also, my gate would not be displayed until 30-15 minutes before boarding so I chose a healthy-looking food place, ordered a sandwich, and ate there.
Once done, I vacated my place and stood near a departures gate board looking up every two pages. Eventually the blank space for the gate number was filled and, being two gates away, I filed in line. Since I was zone 4, for boarding, there was a little wait made just fine by book reading. After boarding the flight was flawless and even left early.
I was hoping we would land and I would get my luggage before 3pm. The carousels at Madrid airport can be a wait when a lot of flights have landed. About 25 minutes after landing, all three of my bags popped out at nearly the same time. As the Alsa bus at the airport, bound for Almazan, had already left I needed to wait for the next one at 715pm. I scouted the route to the bus station, headed back inside the airport terminal, sat down, and read until I ate a simple supper.
Time passed quickly with the novel. With the ticket bought, and bus boarded, I dozed off for the first leg of the 135-minute ride. The inside of this express was very comfy with a washroom too. My friends, R&J, awaited me upon arrival as the bus company provides updates on bus locations so people know when to pick people up when the bus nears its destination. Pretty cool.
Back at their place we briefly chatted, moved my luggage to the little hacienda in the back, made a fire, set up the basics, and went to bed for a deep sleep. 5.5km, one flight climbed, and one last Venetian bridge I had already crossed before.
No comments:
Post a Comment