Friday, October 24, 2008

Mediterranean Cruise - Part 1 (Venice, Italy)

So, here we are in Venice, Italy. The flight was uneventful! The water taxi ride, well...there is a story there.

See, Venice is on an island and only accessible by boat. We took a water taxi from the airport to the hotel. This is when things started to go south.

We got to our stop and the water taxi driver dropped my suitcase into the water. Yep, that is what I said. DROPPED. MY. SUITCASE. INTO. THE. WATER. I mean, seriously people, the suitcase was bobbing up and down in the water when the guy grabbed it before it sank to the bottom! I am not sure what I would have done had the thing gone to the bottom…shopping spree, I suppose. I did not freak out or say bad words, but actually laughed and thought…this would only happen to me!

The driver only spoke Italian so we let the hotel negotiate with him while I proceeded to unpack my soaking wet suitcase, panties and all, in the hotel lobby.

Of course, I had to stop and take a picture, as I knew this would make the blog!
You see, water taxis are very expensive (95 euros to be exact or close to $130) and I refused to pay someone that much money for dropping my bag into a body of water. The driver did not see it that way and wanted his money. Finally, he walked out of the hotel after he got the picture that I was not going to pay him. The hotel offered to do all of my laundry, for free, if I would take care of the housekeeping lady who was staying late to take care of it for me. I absolutely agreed and will take good care of this sweet lady!

The hotel staff has been amazing, especially when they had nothing to do with what happened to me and took it upon themselves to do my laundry! We are staying at a really nice place and I would highly recommend it to anyone planning a trip to Venice. It is the Hotel a La Commedia.

So, after all of that excitement, Pam and I finally made it to our room! We then went out to dinner, had gelato, went on a gondola ride, and then had more gelato!

4 comments:

  1. Venice is fun I used to live about an hour from there. The water buses not nearly as expensive but take alot of people though. I remember seeing that hotel and always wondered if it was nice. I hope your cruise is great and keep your suitcase away from the edge!

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  2. Anonymous2:08 AM

    Tippa~ I swear later the soggy suitcase will be worth it just for the story...dropped your suitcase in the water...you can't make this stuff up!
    I love the pictures! Saying prayers for safety and loads and loads of fun!!!

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  3. Anonymous11:55 PM

    Unbelievable. At least you got the laundry done! I can't wait for the rest of the details!

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  4. Oh wow. That is awful. But it does make a nice story (and blog post), right?

    I ordered a desk that was 9 inches bigger than it said on the website, and 1/2 of the desk felt unfinished, so a new one came and something was chipping or peeling, and #3 should come this week.

    Someone left lip gloss at J's apartment in SB and his sheets were completely covered (never came out) and they were Calvin Klein.

    This is just SO something that would happen to me. Hopefully my stories helped? :)

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