While the trip from the U.S. to Venice went smoothly for Betty and me, Keith and Joanne’s trip was more eventful. When their plane arrived in London from Dallas no gates were available. That delay led to a missed flight from London to Venice. While they waited for the next flight to Venice they made the best use of their extra 8 hours at Heathrow.
Keith was especially impressed with the amenities of the Priority Lounge. Free food and free alcohol make many travel problems seem small. Meanwhile, in Venice, Betty coordinated with Lucca, our host at Palazzo Abadessa, to make sure that when Keith and Joanne arrived at 11:30pm they would not have to negotiate an unfamiliar city while jet-lagged.
They were greeted as they got off the plane by a gentleman holding an iPad with their names and a Welcome to Venice message. He helped them with their luggage into a black Mercedes which whisked them off to Piazzale Roma. Piazzale Roma is the closest point to Venice accessible by land. From there they were personally escorted to a polished mahogany water taxi for the trip into Venice. Because it was low tide at the time of their arrival it was not possible to deliver them directly to the Palazzo’s water gate. Instead they were offloaded at one of the public docks where they were met by staff from the Palazzo who ushered them through the dark walkways of Venice to the Palazzo. By 12:45am they were settled and ready for a thorough night’s sleep.
Despite their long, jet-lagged day Keith and Joanne were up and ready to go early. We were met by Sabrina, our tour guide for the morning at 10:00. Sabrina’s assigned task was to show us Venice with as few bridges as possible. She did a remarkable job, ending our tour around 1:30 with a water taxi tour of the significant sights along the Grand Canal.
Happy Memories! 🙂 Enjoy!