05 October 2013 Friday – Airplane

We got up at 2:00am in order to get to the airport early. After showering and doing our final packing, it took us a long time to haul our luggage down the four flights of stairs. We stood near the steps at the bridge and waited for the taxi nervously. Kathy was startled when a rat scurried nearby, which made us all talk about how the rats of Venice started the Black Plaque, where the Plaque killed millions of people in Europe.

Much to our relief, at exactly 4:00, a water taxi pulled up to the bridge! We hauled our luggage and our selves on, and it sped away. We got to the airport without incident.

Today we're flying back home. To simplify things, we decided to put our coats into our luggage for the ride home. That turned out to be a mistake; the airplane was unreasonably cold. I was huddled under a blanket, trying to stay warm. At one point I turned to Kathy and said, “I'm freezing...My nipples are so hard I could cut glass.”

It was a long ride back home. There were two women sitting next to me and they talked the entire flight. I was tired and burned out because we got so little sleep, so their talking was like a woodpecker tapping on my head for eight hours.

Things to bear in mind: Venice is a very expensive place to stay and eat.