Monday, July 1, 2013

It's Monday So I Must Be in Civitanova

Bongiorno!

One thing I see immediately is that hardly anyone speaks English.

Another thing I see immediately is that one Euro power plug is not all Euro power plugs.  I knew already that Britain uses different wall plugs but I didn't know Italy does as well.  As with anything, there are adaptors but finding them will be a challenge.  The people at the desk were very helpful last night and loaned me one so that gets the laptop charged back up again but how that will work on in the future remains to be seen.

It seems there is commercial development along the east coast of Italy that's much like Florida although not at all as cheesy and slutty.  It was built up all the way from Ancona to Civitanova and appears to continue that way on south.  I'm reviewing the map now to see my best route as I knew what I was going to do from Brindisi but I'm floundering a wee bit here.  It appears there is some difficulty avoiding the Autostrada and it's important to stay off it as it is quite fast and it seems almost all of it requires a toll.


Looking back to Minoan Grimaldi, the ferry line, I'm pleased to have made it but annoyed over the misinformation.  A little bit more accurate information on where there the ferry was going would have been kind of helpful.  That WiFi was not available was very disappointing but the biggest of all was the outrageous price of food on-board.  That behavior was very unlike Greece and, oh yes, I'm missing Greece already.

One thing I know for sure is that taking an ocean cruise would be worse than being sent to jail.  The one saving grace was that I didn't get seasick.  There was some pause for reflectiveness at the vastness of the sea ... but most of the time I was reading Heinlein's "Glory Road" and it remains the grand adventure of science fiction although written as badly as a paperback Western with enough nauseating mush to puke out a Barbara Cartland romance.  Even so, it's still worth the read, particularly if you're on an interminable sea voyage!


So, what now ...

Well, at the moment I'm really not sure but I have a few hours to review before rolling out of here.  One thing is definite, that heading to Catania is senseless as it adds two thousand kilometers and that's much more than an acceptable risk.  The object is as originally to get to the U.K.

6 comments:

jsmn said...

Drive to Bologna airport (about 220 km) and get yourself a ticket to Londen (about 200 euro). Unless your aim is suicide by scooter.

Unknown said...

That would mean abandoning the scooter! After the guitar, it's the biggest investment I've got. I can't throw it away.

jsmn said...

From what you would save on gas and lodging, you probably could buy three scooters.

Unknown said...

Fuel hardly costs anything as it has cost me about fifteen euros all the way from Pyrgos. The scooter gets about 25+ kilometers to the litre. The lodging is costing quite a bit more than I had hoped but I'm also hoping that will improve as I get more distance between me and the beach towns.

jsmn said...

So 200 km is 15 euro. With about 2500 km to go, that makes about a one way ticket to London. Say 30 euro a night for the lodging, for 25 nights considering it takes you 7 hours to drive 100 km. Conclusion: you chose the
expensive way.

Unknown said...

That's fair but it's still the only way I could keep the scooter. I'm actually headed for Edinburgh and I have to stay there some while to establish residence so I can get medical. It's a complex problem!