All Too Soon

And all too soon, it was time to leave. The getting to Venice had been quite easy. There is an overnight train from Vienna that leaves at around nine o'clock at night. I had booked a triple sleeper, so the children and I hopped on the train, put on our jammies, brushed our teeth, went to sleep and woke up in Italy. Brilliant way to travel, if I do say so myself.

The trip back was more complicated. The notion had been that we would spend the day staring at the beautiful Austrian countryside. The bad news is that there isn't a direct train that takes you back during the day on a Sunday. So, we had to ride a bus for the first four hours, then transfer to a train for the last four. Not a terrible day, all in all, but it started early in the morning - we were on Murano, of course, and had to get to Venice to even start the journey - and unfortunately, even with a thoughtful stop at the Co-op the night before to stock up on provisions, the children didn't get a hearty enough lunch to suit them.

Leaving Murano in the morning

And, true confession time, I find traveling can be stressful. I know, blinding glimpse of the obvious, eh? But - and I am not complaining here, so don't take this as a complaint - I find that the idea of having to shift from one mode of transportation to another, particularly when the instructions you have are in, say, German, and you are not so very clear on that language, particularly the particulars of transportation. What I also realized on this parenting solo trip is that when Jeff is around, there is a sounding board for travel concerns.

Which, technically is me, since he does all of the actual navigating when we travel together. He works out where we are going, how we are going to get there and then does a two second verification with me. Without him, I was the Captain and First Mate. Jobs for which I am not really ideally suited.

But, such is the life of the Global Nomad in search of Pizza and Pasta, n'est-ce pas? The children were well armed with books, homework, audio books and my brand spanking new i-Pad complete with Angry Birds, so they managed. I had my knitting and I am listening to the audio version of Game of Thrones, so consider myself well occupied for the next three years or so.

We left Murano aboard the Vaporetto, arrived at the People Mover just outside the main train station in Venice (the People Mover is a monorail - nifty thing that takes you over to the bus station), hopped the bus, rode it for four hours, transferred to the train which took us to an U-bahn stop in Vienna, upon which we rode home. And stopped for pizza for dinner. Hey, were were on holiday!

Which brings me to this week. A week where I have been quietly building up to a full blown panic attack. We leave on Friday night for three weeks in Patagonia. I booked the entire trip myself, which includes stops at no less than nine different flophouses and four different flights inside of the country. It is, of course, summer time in South America; but not necessarily shorts weather everywhere, as we will be as far north as Rio de Janeiro (Brazil! I know, not Argentina or Chile, but we're stopping for a few days on our way home) and as far south as Tierra del Fuego, which is as close to Antarctica as you can get without actually being there. Plus, we'll be driving through the Andes.

My panic encompasses packing, the enormity of the itinerary, and, there's that Christmas thing stuck in there. So, quiet panic time. Hey, I'm not looking for sympathy, because, let's face it, it's going to be a great trip, even if I do forget to pack the sunscreen. But, I'm just telling it like it is. I'm feeling a little like a deer in the headlights right now.

 

Comments

[Debbie Hanson]

Gorgeous photos...I shall assume Jeff took them. ;)