Our time in Sicily to an end..and frankly, we were ready. Our last stop in Palermo rekindled our warmth for the province, but still, we found ourselves eager to move on. With many years of international travel, we had faced many hurdles, but between being eager to depart Sicily and the challenges we faced, it made for some frustration. When you travel, things will occasionally go awry, but this travel day had special challenges.
It would prove to be a test of our travel mettle and for us, that is saying something. We had arranged with the hotel for a taxi to pick us up in Palermo at 430am and take us to the airport for our flight to Sardinia. The taxi didnt show up so we made a call to another and they said they could pick us up in five to ten minutes. About five minutes later, our taxi rolled up and off we went, still arriving with time to spare. Our flight on Easy Jet was our first and last. We knew we were booking on a budget airline and would pay for luggage, but the fees were higher than
expected because they made us pay the baggage fees for both legs of the flight. We assumed we would only pay once. Here is the kicker.what we didnt realize is that even though this was not an international flight, we had to pick up the luggage in Milan and then check the bags again through to Sardinia and go through security again. Sigh thats one on us for not knowing. Lessons learned. We got our bags in Milan and headed to the check in desk. When we looked at the one bag, the luggage lock and two zipper handles had been torn off somehow and the luggage was now opening with no way to close it. We travel with duct tape, but it was in the other bag, which we had checked first and there was no retrieving it at this point.
The agents at the desk were not helpful in the least- need we say a bit testy. They said there was no way to get the bag from the conveyor belt. We needed to scramble to find a way to secure the bag to keep it closed. We inquired about a place in the airport where you
could wrap the bag in plastic, but they did not seem to know anything about that. Again, our first and last time flying with them. There was no empathy that their machines had wrecked the suitcase. We finally found someone who could wrap the bag in plastic which would hold it together until Sardinia. OK, thats two things gone askew.there must be a third.and there was.
Once we landed in Sardinia we headed off to Nu car rental. The agent was in a hateful mood and could not understand why we didnt have an International Drivers Permit (IDP). Weve driven in England, Scotland, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Canada, Greece, New Zealand and Australia and never needed one. They refused to rent us the car without one. Dave had to apply for one online on his phone and then wait 20 minutes for the application to be accepted. Some minutes later, we were off in our Fiat Panda.
Seems like we are starting off with some bad travel Karma. Good news!... that was the end of it. Once out of the airport, we found ourselves with very nice highways and some lovely scenery to boot. The
spring flowers were in bloom and things were looking up. We arrived in Alghero, a cute seaside town on the northwest side of the island and checked into our hotel.well sort of. When we got there, no one was at the desk, and it appeared that this would be the case for a while. We saw our paper and key on the desk along with many others and decided it was self time and we would deal with the details later. Strange end to a travel day, but we had shaken off the bad juju and set out in search of a cold beverage. We didnt have to go far as the hotel is connected to a caf.things were looking up!
Our time in Alghero was filled with wandering the town, taking a small day trips out to see the Capo Cassia Vertical Cliffs and another site that contained what we called the giant egg and also replacing the ruined suitcase. When we finally met the staff at the hotel, they were more than helpful.
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