FOLLOW ME

Follow along with me as I begin another great adventure exploring Italy!

This year, I will be travelling again with my friend Sheri Johnson who has been my traveling buddy on other occasions. We have enjoyed excursions in years past that included a fun trip to Spain on an "all-girl" adventure and a wonderful cruise with my Mom as we sailed the Mediterranean and beyond to the Greek Islands. We made some great memories and had some funny stories to tell...

It's always a perfect time to visit Italy, and we have made our plans to explore not only our favorite cities on our 12 day trip, but also to find new vistas that are waiting for us..

I hope you will join us on this blog and we welcome your comments and enthusiasm!

Ciao Bella

The Day and Night from Hell

Houdini: I want to go too...

Don't get too excited... It's all better now!

You have read about our little problem on Wednesday at the airport that scuttled our plans to leave for Italy. We eventually made it after a very early Thursday morning trek to the airport at 3:00am to catch a 5:00 am flight to Chicago. We made it that far... And we were exhausted.So being very resourceful and getting a tip from the helper at the airport, we checked in early morning at the HILTON attached to O'Hare Airport. You can rent a room for $100 for the day and while it seems like highway robbery.. We immediately went to sleep after our early morning flight. By 3:30 we were fine, and headed over to the airport to catch our overseas flight on American. It was jammed packed and jelly tight on the the flight. Ultimately Sheri got a seat a row ahead of me and we really didn't care where we were sitting. I fell asleep almost immediately.. And 3 hours later it was dinner on the plan. Not that it was anything great...actually it was pretty awful... So we ate some food we purchased at Wolf Gang Puck's before we left, so that was ok.

THere was no wifi on the plane. The gadgets to get to tv or movie were all screwed up, so I went to sleep again... And by that time, we landed at Leonardo Da Vinci Airport in Rome... About 1 hour earlier than expected.

From there we took the train shuttle to ROMA TERMINI to catch a train to Naples, Italy. We made it that far. Sheri, who had not been to NAPLES was clinging to the straps in the car as our taxi driver broke all records and many laws to get us to the Port of Naples. WE had to wait one hour to catch the hydrofoil to CAPRI... Again, both of us fell asleep on the ship, waking up in the Port of Capri. It was worth the travails of our day and night flight to be on this beautiful island.

In Capri, we caught up with friends ADA and her daughter Cheryl who had already been there one day... (Like we were supposed to be) we walked down to check into our lovely hotel LUNA overlooking the blue sea.. From here we marvelled at the flowers, trees, old monastery and get ourselves Esconced in our Courtyard Room at the LUNA, we have finally settled in after a pretty brutal day.

PHOTOS TO FOLLOW!!!

Off to a Bad Start!

Packed and ready to go, Sheri and I headed to the airport in Wichita. After standing in line for quite a while, we finally figured out that we were going "nowhere"!

Our noon flight to Chicago had been cancelled and people were scrambling to find a way out of Wichita! Image result for Wichita eisenhower airport

Image result for Wichita eisenhower airport

It was a VERY SLOW line...due to the fact that about 30 people ahead of us were trying to fly somewhere...anywhere...just to get out of town. The "official story" from American Airlines was there inclement weather in Chicago had stumped us all... Because there were quite a few people ahead of us, they had managed to scramble to the flight that was scheduled earlier but that had been delayed. We were not among the number saved ...

Our evening flight to Rome from Chicago was not possible. We spend over an hour on the phone with American Airlines on Line...and at the ticket counter the amazingly docile agents scooped up as many seats as they could. We tried every permutation of how to get to anywhere that had a flight to Rome. American doesn't service Atlanta and there are no flights from Dallas to Rome. We tried flying to Philly...to Washington DC...to JFK in New York.

Finally screaming UNCLE... we settled for a flight on the next day.. requiring us to take a 5:30 am flight to Chicago, waiting all day at the airport and finally getting to our flight only to find out the seats were almost totally booked.. We had to settle for 2 seats that were open in the Business Class Section. Unhappy, yes. So, what do you do now?

We called UBER. They arrived in a split second.. We rode back to my house, carried our bags in that weighed too much anyway.. then went shopping in WICHITA. Obviously shopping in ROME would be better.. but we did get a few things and then rearranged our suitcases to under 50 pounds... I cam in a 42 pounds which doesn't leave much room for any fabulous Italian goodies...

We will be up at 2:00 am. Uber at 3:00 am. To the airport before 4:00 am and I swear, the trip is OFF. if we have to make anymore changes.

We land a day late and a few dollars short on Friday morning.. missing our first night in Capri. We are still looking forward to the trip from hell.

We will let you know our whereabouts as soon as we leave the planet!

Intrepid Travelers signing off for now

Nola and Sheri

COME FLY WITH ME

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We leave from Wichita before noon on September 21, 2016 for Chicago on American Airlines and then on to Rome, Italy.

Image result for rome termini train station

Our flight to Rome will be approximately 8 hours long... an overnight flight arriving at Leonardo Da Vinci Airport FCO (Fiumicino) at about 9:15 am. From there, we grab our bags and head out to the ROME TERMINI where we will board the fast train for our stay in Naples. It's about 1 hour by fast train.

Image result for hydrofoil from naples to capri

Once we arrive in Naples at the Central Terminal, we will head out by taxi to the Port of Naples where we can catch a hydrofoil for the trip to the island. It's about 45 minutes as the large ship skims along the top of the water. You can see the blue waters surrounding this idyllic island...a place that I visited with my mother a number of times.. and it was the place that she loved the most!

We arrive in Capri - a four day holiday!

Capri, an island in Italy’s Bay of Naples, is famed for its rugged landscape, upscale hotels and shopping, from designer fashions to limoncello and handmade leather sandals. One of its best-known natural sites is the Blue Grotto, a dark cavern where the sea glows electric blue, the result of sunlight passing through an underwater cave. In summer, Capri's dramatic, cove-studded coastline draws many yachts.

HOTEL LUNA - CAPRI

Gazing over the intense blue sea surrounding the Faraglioni rocks.

Immersed in gardens abundant in bougainvillea and pomegranate trees.

Only steps away from the fashionable Piazzetta

and the islands glamorous designer shopping district.

We can be in no other place than Capri’s Hotel Luna.

Tell me if there is another spectacle on earth which can compare with thiswrote Alexandre Dumas as he gazed at the Faraglioni rocks way back in 1816.No, there isnt you instinctively want to answer, as you sit on the sweeping terrace of Hotel Luna, watching the setting sun paint the legendary sea stacks a shade of fiery red, or stroll through the gardens on a summer evening, in the silvery light of the Capri moon.