2008 ITALIAN ODYSSEY

September 10, 2008 - Melbourne

I don’t think we have ever been  so well prepared for a trip. Just another plus for retirement I suppose. We’re heading off on Monday for four weeks in Italy and are looking forward to it. We have been thinking about going for a good few years now. We still wouldn’t have made it this year but for the fact that I cannot get any Medical Insurance because of my health conditions – mainly my metastasized cancer. Italy presented itself as a good alternative because there is a bilateral agreement between Italy and Australia that provides medical cover in Italy for any Australian who is entitled to Medicare here – like us. We have also been able to get limited cover for non-pre-existing conditions so feel a bit happier.

By chance James Crone (son of old friends of ours – Sue and Mike Crone) decided to get married to his girlfriend Antonella in a little village – Loreggia - so we are all gathering there to join in the celebrations. The plan at present is that we spend the first two nights next week in Sienna, recovering from the flight and exploring that part of Tuscany. A night on the road and then four nights in Loreggia for the wedding and seeing Venice – said to be thirty minutes away by train. Then with Sue and Mike we intend seeing a bit of Northern Italy before dropping them off and heading South on our own.

The only plan we have as far as our own travels are concerned is to spend the last four nights at Praiano (Amalfi area) to celebrate our 41 years of marriage!!

Sunday September 14, 2008 – Melbourne

It was as well that we had been so thorough and ahead of time in our preparations because I woke up this morning with a very painful throat and an infected ear, after coughing, sneezing and snorting all night. I was worried about flying with a blocked ear passage, so we went up to the chemist. As I thought would be the case, she was reluctant to sell me anything as she was concerned about potential reactions with my existing drug regimen. So we went along to the emergency doctor’s rooms and the very nice doctor prescribed an antibiotic (which doesn’t seem to have done much a week later). He was concerned about the potential reaction of the Warfarin dose and suggested I got my INR test (that’s the one that shows how effectively the blood clotting medication is working) on Wednesday. I said I thought this would be difficult (as we would be in Sienna)!  I felt pretty grim all day, so thank goodness there was nothing to do.

Monday September 15, 2008 – Melbourne/Rome

I had a bad night and still felt pretty ropey when I woke up, but at least the pain in my ear had subsided, although I have been fairly deaf in that ear since then.

We took the boys out to the kennels after their morning walk. As usual they didn’t seem too upset and went off quite happily with the kennel maid. It is Rudolph’s first birthday next Sunday – he would have been going to a party organised by his breeders if we had been at home. Back at the house we had the packing done in good time and apart from being a bit ‘antsy’ about the limo not turning up on time – he was five minutes late – we got to the airport with no fuss or problems.

 

Not much to see in the interior of Australia

The first leg of the flight went off smoothly. I sat next to the window for the first time in about twenty years and as it was a clear day had some good views of  Central Australia as the flight path was virtually diagonally across the country. Both Rab and I managed to get about sixty to ninety minutes sleep before dinner and our landing in Kuala Lumpur – it was a seven hour flight. We had about two hours on the ground before taking off at midnight, local time. The Malaysian Air Business Class lounge is very comfortable and as usual the flight was an excellent one arriving right on time in Rome at 05.55. we both managed to get about five hours sleep.