HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS
In the nearly eighteen years (!!) that Art and I have been together, we’ve both felt that where we are isn’t all that important as long as we’re together. Having found each other rather unexpectedly, we both realize how amazing it is to find your soul mate. Even if worst came to worst we could live in a one room apartment and be happy…but of course we’d prefer a little bit more space and a few creature comforts if at all possible.
Since our move to Italy just over three years ago, we’ve seen the dollar spiral downward. We’ve seen our renovation costs eat up most of our savings and each month we struggle, trying to decide when is the most advantageous time to transfer money. We’ve seen our plans to tour Italy and the rest of Europe fade away, and are glad that we love our house, our town and the friends that surround us here.
Of course being the pessimist (note: pessimists are really just REALISTS with a plan for how to cope with the worst, should it happen) I’ve been tempted many times to throw in the towel, put the house up for sale and move back to the states. Art, being the optimist, always assures me that everything will work out. Yeah yeah, but how? When? How long do we wait?
Being an optimist is great for everyday life…I mean, we can’t always go around with a frown on our faces, worrying about every little thing, robbing ourselves of any joy in life, but then there does come a point when reality must play a part. Unfortunately being an optimist and thinking that things will get better really doesn’t have any impact on whether they really do get better. So I asked Art the other night, “Okay, so WHEN do we make the decision that it’s NOT going to get better? How many months or years do we keep thinking (and wishing) our fortunes will improve? When is enough enough??”
He suggested that if things haven’t turned around by the spring then yes, it may well be time to consider going back…but that’s not really something either one of want to do. And if we did, well, then what???
We decided that we would return to Louisville…not only do we have friends and family there, Art can also work (in limited amounts, which is a good thing) at Churchill Downs. The cost of living in Louisville is quite reasonable, and the city has a lot to offer. Additionally moving back to Louisville would mean that we didn’t have to start all over again like we would if we relocated to Florida, or the Carolinas, or some other retirement-friendly haven.
“Okay, so then what would we do? Where would we live? Would we buy something or just rent?” This question of renting versus buying has been puzzling me for a while now. Although we have a small mortgage on our house here in Italy, we are, like many others, living in (and sitting on) our largest asset….the equity in our house. What good is all this equity if we can’t access it, if it only turns to cash once we’re dead and gone? Shouldn’t we be enjoying it NOW?! Realize that this is ME, the financially conservative one saying this! Yes, I want to have something for my ‘golden’ years, but really, at what point will we be able to actually ENJOY our money?!
So we started to do the math. Of course optimist Art expects to get much more for our house than I do, but in any event we’d still have a nice chunk of change, especially if we took it back to the states. That bad exchange rate suddenly works in your favor if you’re changing euros into dollars! At the current rate of exchange €200,000 magically becomes $263,000! Wow!
We could do a lot with the money we’d net from selling our house! We could buy a small condo, or we could rent something for quite a while. We decided that we’d probably get a small mortgage so as to leave some of the money liquid….Art still thinks we could afford to travel…to actually return to Italy as visitors, but once again, I’m a little more hesitant to think that this would be possible.
Now only a few hours before this talk we’d been watching a show on the BBC entitled something like “How I Made My Fortune With Real Estate” or some such. This show just traced the lives of various people who’d had a combination of good luck, good fortune and the desire to take a chance. The people and their stories really weren’t much different from ours…they started off with a small house, made improvements, waited till the time was right, then sold for a nice profit. Those profits were then put into the next property and the cycle repeated until most of these people were living in houses valued at over £1,000,000 ($1,900,000).
Although we didn’t climb that high up the ladder we did make a nice profit on every house we owned, and in the end we had enough equity to allow us to retire early and buy a house in Italy…until the decline of the dollar forced us to re-examine the situation. Yes, others had warned us that this could happen, but you can’t always live your life expecting the worst!
As Art and I are having this troubling discussion, a light bulb goes off! If we could sell this house and buy something in the states, why couldn’t we buy something here in Italy? We’d recently looked at a small apartment that cost about €65,000 and would require maybe €50,000 to renovate. Why couldn’t we buy something like this, then we wouldn’t even have a mortgage at all?!!
Yes, we love our house…we’ve put so much of ourselves into it, but honestly we’ve LOVED every house we’ve ever lived in! When we bought our first house, a cute little Cape Cod, we called it “the cutest little house in the whole world” and thought we’d be there forever. Our friends were shocked when we sold it and built a house just a few years later, but that was such a fun project, and I’m glad we did it. And then, after a few years in the house that we’d built from the ground up, participating in every detail from the placement of electrical outlets to the landscaping to my first attempt at faux finishes on the walls, we decided that a condo would be much easier in terms of maintenance, especially considering the traveling we did. When we bought our condo, a three bedroom, two bath ranch with an attached garage, first floor laundry and small garden we thought we’d finally found the place where we’d live for the rest of our lives. And then we went to Italy.
So now I’m beginning to realize what I’ve always known….a house is just a house but home is where Art is. And so now we’re thinking about this plan….not even a plan yet, just an idea. Could this be the answer to our problems? If we could sell our house, buy something else, not have a mortgage and still have money in the bank, maybe we could travel throughout Italy and Europe just as we’d dreamed. Or maybe we should consider renting something here…with the proceeds from the sale of our house we wouldn’t have to worry about transferring money from the states for a long, long time. Either way, we’re not getting any younger and we both want to travel while we can, to experience as much as we can because who knows what the future will bring? And either way, this house is just a house…a house that may be the key to letting us continue to live our dream.
UPDATE: Well, that dream didn't take long to get shot down! I knew there was a restriction on how soon you could sell your house without having to pay additional taxes and penalties, and apparently that period is FIVE years, not the three as I had hoped, and the tax penalty is 20% of the profit! Ouch! Seems like either way, stay or go, it's going to cost us more than we anticipated. I'm going to be depressed and grouchy for a very long time.......
UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: Now it appears that the five year rule will NOT apply to us because we've actually been living in the house and have residency....OR if it does apply it can be negated if we buy something else with a year....OR all of this could change....this IS Italy after all!
Apparently there are a lot of changes in the wind right now. The Italian government, always in flux, turmoil and scandal, is now debating many changes in these and other laws so for now we'll proceed as planned and see what happens.
Although we're in agreement about doing whatever it takes to stay in Italy, and that a house is just a house, I think at this point all of that is more theoretical than anything else. I think the idea of selling our house is still a little hard to accept, but once we have some time to get used to the idea we'll be fine. We need to come up with a price that's fair and to start looking around to see what's available.
INTERNET SECURITY PROBLEMS!!!!
Living in Italy means that we do a lot of stuff via the internet. We email friends and family, keep everyone up-to-date with the blog, converse with fellow expats and slow travelers on the message boards and take care of lots of business online. We can check our bank account balances, post a credit card payment, make a doctor's appointment, even file our taxes online.
Although I used the internet before we moved to Italy, I use it much more now, and alas, the inevitable has happened. Despite our best efforts to be vigilant, to be smart and to be secure, someone has tried to access our PayPal and eBay accounts, forcing us to cancel both of them.
A few weeks ago I had an email from PayPal saying that they had noticed unusual activity on my account, and they were just writing to verify that is was really me who had tried to access my account from......Nigeria! Not!
I notified them immediately, changed all my passwords, and cancelled the PayPal account. I checked the accounts tied into my PayPal account just to make sure that unauthorized withdrawals weren't going through, and so far so good.
Now, another scare. A few days ago eBay contacted me to verify an email address change. I immediately went to the eBay site and contacted their security department, telling them that I had NOT requested this change! They put the account on hold until it can be cancelled by me once they receive verification that I am who I say I am. Don't you love it....Someone else gets into my account and makes changes with no verification, and now I'm the one who has to prove that I'm me!!!!
And then it got weirder...I started receiving all kinds of emails, apparently from sellers who are responding to questions about the products they have for sale on eBay! All the questions seem to be related to computers for sale. I've forwarded all of these emails on to eBay, and I'm hopeful that they can get to the bottom of this.
For now the message is: stay vigilant! Keep a close watch not only on your passwords, but also on your online accounts. I regularly check all my accounts because I'm just sort of anal about that sort of stuff, but now it turns out to be a good thing. Luckily I wasn't on vacation and not checking my email regularly....Who knows what could have happened if I hadn't caught these problems immediately? Perhaps PayPal and eBay would have put a freeze on my accounts without verification from me, perhaps not.
Although I didn't receive an email asking for account verification, apparently this is quite common. This practice, known as "phishing" comes in the form of an email that LOOKS official, but if you click on the links within it you'll be taken to a different website, NOT the one you think you're contacting.
Even when I got a legitimate email from PayPal or eBay, I still opened a new window and manually typed in the address, just to be sure. Don't click on the links within the email!!!
So now I'm still a little freaked out and a lot paranoid. For us the internet is a necessity, and I'm wondering what to do to make my accounts more secure. And before all this happened I used to get really annoyed with the spam emails offering to enlarge my penis! Seems that others already have the balls to go with that penis!!!
DINNER AND SOME MOVIES
I keep printing out recipes from the internet and clipping recipes from magazines and newspapers. I have so many recipes that I want to try, and I'm really, really going to try to work my way through all the recipes I have before I add more...unless of course I find something that's just too irresistible.
Today I tried one of the many recipes I have for chicken. We all know what a wonderful convenience boneless skinless chicken breasts can be, and we also know how BORING they can be! This dish, prepared on top of the stove uses just two pans...one for the chicken and one for the pasta. It can be prepared in less than 40 minutes and is different but not weird.
In Italy there are many meat recipes that are prepared on the stovetop. the reason for this is that until fairly recently, ovens weren't all that common in most Italian kitchens. Most kitchens had a cooktop and a fireplace, and the baking was done either in an outdoor bread oven, or going back even further, in a communal oven.
CHICKEN W/SUN-DRIED TOMATOES & BALSAMIC VINEGAR
4 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, sliced
½ cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
½ cup pine nuts
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
¼ cup capers
¼ cup brandy (one of those little airplane-sized bottles is perfect!)
1 cup chicken stock
½ cup crushed tomatoes
¼ cup chopped basil
salt & pepper
¾ lb. shell pasta
In a large skillet combine olive oil, onion, garlic, sundried tomatoes and pine nuts. Cook over medium heat for 4-5 minutes.
Add the chicken, vinegar and capers and cook for 4-5 minutes.
Add brandy, stock, crushed tomatoes, basil and salt & pepper. Simmer 15-20 minutes.
Cook pasta while the sauce simmers. Drain the pasta and combine w/sauce. Serve w/grated cheese.
Now for the movie portion of our report. While we were in the states we saw several movies, not as many as I would have liked, but we did make a dent in our long list. The first movie on my list was "The Departed", directed by Martin Scorsese. Yes, I know his movies are brutal and bloody, but I just love them. "The Departed" was no exception. Another interesting character study, showing a world as repulsive as it is fascinating.
The next film we saw was "Flags of Our Fathers", the story of the flag-planting on Iwo Jima during World War ll. After about thirty minutes I thought the reviewers had been wrong...I thought I wasn't going to like the movie because I was having a hard time keeping all the characters straight. They all seemed to be mud covered men in uniforms, and I was having a a tough time. By the end of the movie though, I was clear on the characters and truly interested in the story. This is one of those movies like "Saving Private Ryan" that every gung-ho, testosterone-filled teenage boy ought to be required to see before signing the final enlistment papers. Definitely a winner.
My sister and I went to see "The Queen". Just before we left I said to Art "Why am I going to see a movie about a bunch of ruthless cold-hearted people who I already know I don't like, especially when I know this movie is set during a time when they displayed their faults for all the world to see?" Not surprisingly, I didn't like this movie. Yes, Helen Mirren gave a great performance, but let's face it, an iceberg could have portrayed Elizabeth ll and got it right. The movie just seemed pointless to me. We already know that Elizabeth didn't like Diana. That Elizabeth's a cold fish. That the queen mother wasn't quite the cute little grandma she was made out to be. That Charles is a spineless, cheating dog. Really, what WAS the point of this movie???
We also saw the latest installment of "Pirates of the Caribbean", and we may be the only two people to be let down by it, but we were. Maybe we should have re-watched the original, but somehow this second installment just didn't work for us. And I didn't really even get to oogle Johnny Depp....I'd much rather see him as the pirate in "Chocolat" than with all that make-up in "Pirates"!
We also found "Memoirs of a Geisha" disappointing. Seeing the movie made me want to read the book, but also made me realize just how much richer the book must be. Perhaps this movie is like "The DaVinci Code", with just way too much detail to fit into a standard 120 minute movie.
"The Devil Wears Prada" was cute...light and fluffy, but really, why all the fuss? Oh, and the last movie we saw was "Babel". another thumbs down I'm afraid. The movie, although apparently trying to impart a very important message just never came together. It wandered all over the world then just ended. I understand the message but thought the delivery left a lot to be desired. But at least I got to look at Brad Pitt.
BEING THANKFUL
We spent our first and second Thanksgiving in Italy at Ternana’s, having pizza. Last year we were in the states for Thanksgiving, having a very traditional, dysfunctional-family style meal. This year we had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner in Italy, celebrating with other American expats. Maybe the secret to a wonderful holiday experience is to spend it with family….just not your own.
My job was to bring the pumpkin pies, and initially I’d planned to use my mom’s recipe using bourbon. But then a discussion on the Expats in Italy message board mentioned Bourbon Pumpkin Cheesecake, and of course I couldn’t resist trying something new! The recipe is at the bottom of this posting.
There were eleven of us for dinner….Larry and Shelly, who aren’t quite expats but are moving closer every day, their son and his wife, the wife’s parents, an American couple who’ve recently been posted to Libya by a large oil company, and our friend Judith.
We feasted on roasted turkey with dressing and mashed potatoes with gravy, and also sweet potatoes brought from Libya which were white, not orange. We also had rolls, waldorf salad, green bean casserole with cream of mushroom soup AND canned onions on top! Oh, and date nut bread…reminding me that I should make some for holiday gifts.
For dessert we had the two pumpkin concoctions I brought plus a pecan pie and an apple pie that Judith had baked. The added treat for the apple pie was that we ate it New England style with a slice of CHEDDAR CHEESE!!!! Those of you who aren’t expats have no idea what a treat this was, but for expats, cheddar cheese has got to be the number one most requested, most missed food time of all times!
Is there even any need to say that we all ate until we were absolutely miserable? Man, everything was sooooooooo good! I can’t believe that Shelly and Larry managed to cook all of this food in their small kitchen, but they did. Next year they plan to have their new kitchen installed, but I can’t imagine that the food could be any better.
After dinner and dessert we loaded the cars with people and olives and drove to the frantoio to watch Larry and Shelly’s olives being pressed!
As always it was interesting to watch the process,
and when it was all done, we got the coolest party favor ever….a tin of oil to take home!
We’re thankful we have such wonderful friends, and we’re happy to have spent the day with them. We look forward to initiating the new kitchen next year!
Although the last thing most of you probably want to think of right now is Thanksgiving dinner or pumpkin pie. Because it was such a big hit though, I’m going to include it. Here’s the recipe:
BOURBON PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE
CRUST:
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup pecans (1 3/4 oz), finely chopped
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Butter bottom and sides of 9” springform pan. Stir together crumbs, pecans, sugars, and butter in a bowl until combined well. Press crumb mixture evenly onto bottom and 1/2 inch up side of pan, then chill crust, 1 hour.
FOR FILLING:
1 1/2 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin
3 large eggs
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 Tbsp heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla
1-2 Tbsp bourbon
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
3 (8-oz) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
Make filling and bake cheesecake:Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.
Whisk together pumpkin, eggs, brown sugar, cream, vanilla, and bourbon in a bowl until combined. SET ASIDE.
Stir together granulated sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt in large bowl. Add cream cheese and beat with an electric mixer at high speed until creamy and smooth, about 3 minutes.
Reduce speed to medium, then add pumpkin mixture and beat until smooth.
Pour filling into crust, smoothing top, then put springform pan in a shallow baking pan (in case springform leaks). Bake until center is just set, 50 to 60 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool 5 minutes. (Leave oven on.)
For topping:
2 cups sour cream (20 oz)
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 Tbsp bourbon
Whisk together sour cream, sugar, and bourbon in a bowl, then spread on top of cheesecake and bake 5 minutes.
Cool cheesecake completely in pan on rack, about 3 hours.
Chill, covered, until cold, at least 4 hours. Remove side of pan and bring to room temperature before serving. Can be chilled, covered, up to 2 days. Makes 12 to 14 servings.
Somewhere along the way I also found a recipe for Pumpkin Hazelnut Pie, and I thought this would be a nice combination of American and Italian, since hazelnuts are so common here. It was well received too, but I wasn’t as impressed with this recipe as I was with the cheesecake recipe. I f I make it again I may add a tablespoon or two of bourbon to it as well….
Pumpkin Hazelnut Pie
Single pie crust recipe for a 9” pie
1/3 cup ground hazelnuts
¼ cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp softened butter
2 eggs plus 1 additional yolk
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 Tbsp flour
2/3 cup brown sugar
¼ ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp salt
1 cup heavy cream
Preheat the oven to 400º. Roll out dough, prick with fork and bake for 10 minutes using pie weights.
Increase oven temperature to 450º. Combine hazelnuts, ¼ cup brown sugar and butter. Work into a paste and spread over the partially cooked pie shell. Bake 10 minutes.
Turn oven down to 325º.
Mix together eggs and yolk, pumpkin, flour, 2/3 cup brown sugar, spices, salt and cream. Pour into pie shell. Bake at 325º for 45 min.
STREAMING BEATLES!!!
When I think about it I click onto the website for WRKA to listen to the oldies in streaming audio. Today, while searching for the latest gossip on the McCartney-Mills divorce, I stumbled onto BEATLESRADIO.COM!
Now I can listen to not only the Beatles as a group, but also as solo artists while I'm working on the computer, and that's gotta be a good thing!
CHOCOLATE
When I think about Italian cuisine, sweeets aren't the first, or even the second thing to come to mind. Sicilian cooking seems to have more sweets than mainland Italy. Here in Umbria we do have gelato, tiramisu, panna cotta, and crostata, but sweets in Italy are generally not the all-consuming passion that they are in the United States.
Of course we also have the Perugina factory here, and the EUROCHOCOLATE FESTIVAL in Perugia every October. Apparently the love affair with choclate is growing, and as with chocolate lovers everywhere, more often than not it's a passion.
While in the Orvieto train station recently we discovered that the bar was a virtual chocolate shop, filled with a variety of chocolates from all over the world. You can see the displays by clicking on the link below:
CHOCOLATES
WHY CAN’T REAL LIFE BE MORE LIKE TELEVISION?
Being the cynical, pessimistic person that I am, it should come as no surprise that I’m not too interested in politics. For years I was registered as an Independent, not wanting to affiliate myself with either party. A few years ago I did change my registration to Democrat, just so I’d be able to vote in the primaries. Still, my opinion of politicians remains the same. I watch shows like “The West Wing and “Commander in Chief” or movies like “An American President” and “Dave” and think “If only there were real people like this!” I’d vote for Martin Sheen in a heartbeat, but I don’t think we’ll ever see such a man in the White House…or even in the running.
Art and I were both happy to be in the states for the most recent election, happy to be able to cast our vote against Anne Northup and for whomever it was running against her. Isn’t this part of the problem? I don’t know if I can even remember the last time I voted FOR someone rather than against someone. Politics today seem to be the lesser of two evils, the scandal that hasn’t yet come to light, or simply fear combined with large amounts of money.
When the Democrats won not only in local elections but also all over the country, my first thought was “PLEASE don’t screw this up!!!” The Democratic party has had such a difficult time in recent years finding intelligent, articulate and charismatic candidates. Maybe all the good ones are just too smart to run for office. The Democratic Party seems to be its own worst enemy most of the time.
Apparently my wish to not screw things up isn’t going to come true. After promising to clean up, first Pelosi nominates Murtha, not exactly squeaky clean, and now Hastings, another dubious choice. What…were there no other candidates available? No one without questionable connections, no one free of convictions?
Now instead of trying to do some good, instead of trying to build some momentum for the 2008 elections, Democrats everywhere will either have to distance themselves from the party (making them remarkably similar to most elected Republicans) or they’ll have to spend their time trying to justify the unjustifiable.
What the hell was Pelosi thinking??? Who’s advising her? Oh yeah, probably the same idiots who haven’t been able to mount a viable candidate for years and who have obviously lost their minds due to the shock of the Democratic wins this past time.
It’s enough to make be go back to being an Independent. Or to urge Martin Sheen to run for office.
THE LONG WAY BACK
We’ve been in Italy just over three years now. Every year we’ve returned to the states once in the spring, because Art wants to work the Derby, and once in the winter, November, December and/or January.
This year we had to accept the fact that a winter trip was just not in the budget. Well, actually I had to bring it up and sort of force Art to accept the reality of the situation. Although in many ways Art has ‘corrupted’ me, my spendthrift ways and financially conservative nature still win out most of the time.
I think the thing Art has the hardest time with is the idea of living within a budget. He’s used to working hard, putting in extra hours, and being rewarded with some extra cash at the end of the month. At the track he often got nice tips from customers, and occasionally even bet on a winner. At the Post Office, twice a year we’d get a “bonus” paycheck, during the two months that had three paydays. Although we didn’t live a grand lifestyle, we were comfortable.
The idea of living on a budget isn’t as difficult for me. I put the numbers on paper and see the reality. That’s it, no discussion, just reality. Our pension checks come once a month, with no bonus checks included. If it were up to me I’d use the good old fashioned envelope system, putting each months allotment into an envelope and when it’s gone it’s gone.
Now of course we both knew we’d have to make sacrifices when we moved to Italy, but I think the reality is harder for Art to live with. I feel as if I’m always the bad guy, always the bearer of bad news when I have to be the one to say “No, we can’t afford that.” Sometimes I resent my role, and think that common sense should show Art what we can and can’t afford, but still I end up playing the money police, mostly because I’m the one who will do it.
So….this year we had both accepted the fact that we simply couldn’t afford to go back to the states in the winter. Even though Art could work at the track, even though we could stay with my sister, even though we might be able to use her car. The cost of the flight, although less expensive in the winter, was still something that we just didn’t have the money for, nor did we have the money for the other expenses of a visit to the states…the dinners out, the movies, the things we’d buy. And so it was decided and accepted by both of us, and really, after living here for three years, it wasn’t as if we needed or wanted to go back to the states desperately. We’re content here, and a visit to the states is just a visit, just a quick vacation really.
And then our friend offered to get us buddy passes. When we learned that the cost of a buddy pass was only 10% of the “real” price we thought “hey! Why not?! Let’s splurge!” We told her to go ahead with the tickets, picking dates that would work for us, although apparently having to select specific dates is something new, something post 9/11.
The deal was that we, as friends, could fly using these buddy passes during the off season without the employee having to be on the same flight. Apparently during the high season the rules are different. We chose to depart from Italy on November 1st, the first day of the ‘off’ season, and to return two weeks later in order to be back in Italy in time to coordinate with our friends Paul and Mer. We knew we’d be flying standby but figured that during November the flights would surely have two seats for us.
Our first surprise came when we found out the cost of the tickets. USAir has just merged with America West, and apparently America West must wield a lot of power in the deal. In addition to other changes, the buddy pass system is now operated under the America West system using a zone formula. Tickets from the United States to Europe cost $100 per person, per way, so for our trip, $400 plus taxes, bringing us to almost $500.
This was a little hard to me to handle. I just don’t do well being in debt, having a credit card bill hanging over my head, but I tried to make the most of it. We were committed now, so I tried to make the best of it. Art planned to work at the track while were home, so it was some consolation to know that he’d at least make enough money to pay for the trip. My sister gave us some good news when we found out that she did indeed have a car that we could use, saving us the cost of a rental. I truly was trying to be positive.
On November 1st we drove to Orvieto to take the train to Fiumicino, Rome’s airport. Because we were on standby, we decided to leave the car in Orvieto and call Giacomo to let him know if we made the flight or not. If we made the flight he’d come to Orvieto to get our car, and if not it would be waiting for us when we returned later in the day.
November 1st, also known as All Saints Day, is a big holiday in Italy. Everything is closed and services are reduced. Services including train service, meaning that the only train running that morning to FCO was the more expensive train that ran directly to Termini, then using the more expensive Leonardo Express to get to the airport. For the two of us, the tickets were somewhere in the €50 range, about double what we usually paid. Okay, once again I tried to use the ‘in for a penny, in for a pound’ philosophy, combined with deep breathing.
Once we reach the airport we decide that we should go ahead and buy the upgrade, just in case. Standby passengers can upgrade to Business Class for $100 each, which of course is a fantastic bargain, but for me is also $200 MORE that I hadn’t planned on spending. Breathe….breathe.
The deal with the upgrade is that if there is room in economy you don’t have to use the upgrade and can get it refunded, but I knew that once we bought the upgrades Art would never agree to sit in economy. Okay…get ready to enjoy the luxury of Business class…the comfy seats, the free drinks.
But of course you have to actually get on the plane first. As standby passengers we sat, waiting while everyone else boards. We were thinking good thoughts, positive thoughts. We chatted with several other couples who were also on standby. Two of the women were USAir retirees who shmoozed with the gate attendants and discovered that eight seats have been sold that very morning, meaning that none of us on standby would be flying.
We made sure our names were on the list for the next day, retrieved our luggage from the carousels downstairs, then trudged back across the street to the train station. I called Giacomo and told him the news. We bought our train tickets and luckily I thought ahead and bought the tickets not only for our return to Orvieto, but also for the trip from Orvieto back to FCO the next day. Those four tickets cost less than the two we’d purchased for the trip that morning!
The woman at the ticket counter tells us there’s a train leaving in five minutes so we scurry over to the local platform. It’s fairly crowded, and I stop to validate our train tickets. By the time I get the machine to work and start to walk towards the train I realize that I don’t know where Art is….and the platform is empty. Then the train leaves. I feel like Barbara Streisand in “Funny Girl”, standing there disheveled, luggage in hand, watching the train get smaller and smaller. I have our cell phone but Art doesn’t have a phone.
I try to figure out if the next train will also go to or through Tiburtina, the station we need to get to. I look at the train map but can’t figure it out. The cell phone rings because of course Art has borrowed one from a fellow traveler. He’s full of apologies but of course I’m not too interested. Had it been really crowded I could have understood if we had yelled to one another to get on and meet later, but I can’t believe that he just got on the train without me even being there! Without even looking to see if I was there! I told him I wasn’t sure when I’d be there, but that he should wait for me at Tiburtina.
I went to the train information office and told the men working there that my husband has just left on the train, ‘senza di me”….without me. They tell me that yes, the next train is going to Tiburtina so I head back to the platform. Before I get on I verify with the conductor that yes, this train will stop at Tiburtina, then I settle in for the thirty minute ride.
After arriving at Tiburtina I spot Art after just a few frantic seconds. He’s of course full of remorse and we’re both relieved to be together again. I ask him what time and platform the train to Orvieto is, but he says he doesn’t know. That’s kind of odd…I figured that since he’d been there for at least forty minutes he’d have checked it out and been ready to go. So what happened? Had he been relaxing with a coffee and a croissant while I was all stressed out?
He said that he’d just arrived in Tiburtina. And then he pointed to the train that was still there…the train I’d just gotten off….and told me that he’s just gotten off that train. My brain just couldn’t figure this out! “What do you mean you just got off that train? That’s the train I just got off!”
Apparently in his panic he’d gotten off the train at the first station he saw that started with a “T”….and ended up in the Trastevere station, not Tiburtina. It wasn’t until he couldn’t find a train to Orvieto that he realized his mistake. I guess the ticket windows were inside, so he found an automated ticket machine, which would have been great except for the fact that in the airport he’d emptied his pockets of all his euro and given them to me to keep until we returned to Italy in two weeks!
Luckily he did still have a €20 note hidden away, so with that he purchased a €1 ticket from Trastevere to Tiburtina. He was given a €19 voucher which we would use to get back from FCO to Orvieto two weeks later.
Eventually we found the train to Orvieto, drove our car back to San Venanzo, and the next morning we started all over again! We did use the vouchers for Business class…..without them we wouldn’t have been on that flight either. For us it was such a relief to be on the plane, and I happily called Giacomo to let him know that our car would be waiting for him whenever he found it convenient to pick up.
Once we landed in Philadelphia we checked to see if there was any way we could get to Louisville any earlier than our scheduled 11:30 p.m. arrival but were told no. The good news was that we would be able to get on the late flight, so at least we’d be sleeping in Louisville, not Philadelphia.
For the return flight to Italy we got the last two seats from Louisville to Philadelphia. As we checked in at Standiford Field, oh excuse me, Louisville International Airport, we ask the clerk about buying the upgrades for Business class. At this point I was trying to adopt a ‘what the hell’ attitude, especially since being in Business class would make sleeping just a little easier.
The check-in for USAir is set up to be completely automated, with a human being there only for problems. We try to use people whenever possible…just to help someone keep their job. Because we were flying standby our luggage had to be specially tagged, so the agent was helping us. We asked about buying upgrades (only for the Philadelphia to Rome leg because the Louisville to Philadelphia plane is very, very small with no Business class section), but he told us to wait until we got to Philadelphia. We now think that he just didn’t want to be bothered with the extra work.
Once we arrived in Philly we had to get to the international terminal which requires lots of walking, a shuttle bus, then more walking. As I looked at the time I realized just how close we were cutting it, and any thought we’d had of stopping along the way to buy upgrades was quickly dismissed. As we approached the gate we heard our names being called!
The good news was that there was room for us on the plane, but when we asked about an upgrade we were told that it wasn’t possible….the upgrades had to be purchased downstairs and couldn’t be sold at the gate. We explained that we had specifically asked in Louisville about the upgrade but had been told that we should wait. We also explained that we hadn’t realized how close we were cutting it, timewise, but that once we realized it we came straight to the gate.
Just as the agent in Louisville hadn’t been willing to go the extra mile, most of the agents in Philadelphia weren’t willing to help us either. Don’t these people realize that the more they do the more they help secure their jobs??? Computers can’t do everything, and for some things you just need another person Luckily for us, one of the agents, a man, offered to get the necessary paperwork for us and we did upgrade to Business class for the flight home.
Bottom line for this flight? Well, let’s add it up: $486 for the original tickets, $400 for the upgrades, then about $130 for the three train trips, so about $1016 in all, or about $508 each. Yes, it was a nice visit to the states. Yes, it was nice to sit in Business class. But, had I known then what I know now I wouldn’t have done it. Although I knew we were flying standby and I knew that there was a chance we wouldn’t make a flight, in the end the costs were much more than I had planned for, and as with so many bargains, there are always hidden or unexpected costs, such as the train tickets and upgrades.
Yes, we’ll always have to take the train to get to the airport, but in this case the (supposedly) low cost of the flight would have allowed for the cost of the train and still kept the costs well under $400 total. We certainly don’t blame our friend for this, and appreciate her generosity, but next time we’ll be better prepared and will be able to decide in advance if we can afford such a bargain fare or not.
By the time we fly to the states in the spring our tickets (in regular economy class) will be paid for, and we’ll be exchanging houses so the cost factor shouldn’t be as stressful for me. After that I’m not sure when we’ll go back and maybe from now on it will be only a once a year visit. I’m still trying to convince Art that a trip in September or October would allow us to visit not only Louisville, but also to maybe plan another vacation within our vacation to some of the U.S. sites we’ve never visited….The Grand Canyon, Savannah, Seattle, or to places we’d love to go back to like San Francisco or New York.
THEY DISCONTINUED MY LIPSTICK!!!!
Okay, yes, we’ve recently participated in our first olive harvest and pressing. We’ve just returned for a two week visit to the states. We just voted in an historic election (especially in Louisville, where Anne Northup was FINALLY defeated!). But, really, let’s put things into perspective; let’s talk about things that really matter: Victoria’s Secret DISCONTINUED my lipstick!!!
Those of you who know me know that I’m definitely NOT a girly-girl. I’m not a fashion maven, and I don’t even wear makeup on most days. I’m not into “trendy”. I find what I like and stick with it, be it clothes, shoes or makeup. All the more reason to be upset! After literally YEARS of searching for the one perfect lipstick in the one perfect shade, I’d finally found Victoria Secret’s Pure Reflections lipstick in “Plum”.
Initially I bought “Sunset Rose” but decided it was a bit too dark. “Plum” turned out to be absolutely perfect, especially when combined with the Avon Glimmersticks lip liner in Iced Orchid, which they’ve also discontinued! Is this a conspiracy???
I know I’m no great beauty, and I don’t waste a lot of time trying to improve on nature, but I have found that a quick application of lipstick can really make a difference, so it’s the one thing I do wear religiously. I like having that one perfect shade…the shade that’s right for me, the shade that goes with whatever I’m wearing. The shade that’s not too dark, not too light. The shade with just a touch of glimmer, but not too much. The shade that lasts. And now it’s gone.
Apparently sometime between last May and now Victoria’s Secret came out with a new line of cosmetics….and line that doesn’t include a shade that anywhere near the color of “Plum”. What were they thinking? And don’t I have better things to do with my time than to smear lipstick samples on my hand every time I go into a store? Dammit, just when you think you’ve got one thing figured out……………….
BACK HOME AGAIN
Okay, what to write about first??? The flight from Italy to the states…including not one but TWO trips to the airport? Or maybe the trip back to Italy when the ONLY bus to San Venanzo didn’t even slow down as it drove through the station??? Or maybe I should back up and write about picking olives with Giacomo and Belinda, or about taking the olives to the frantoio to be pressed….and about how we made bruschetta at 10:30 at night to taste the new oil….oil from olives WE had helped pick!!!
Should I write about how wonderful wall to wall carpet and a forced air furnace are on a chilly fall day? Or the (regrettably) few movies we saw? Or maybe I should just write down whatever comes into my head and hope it makes sense later…..
Over the next few days I’ll try to make a start, but first things first. Today we went to the grocery for a few staples, caught up on the mail, and heard some really sad news: while we were in the states our neighbor Frank had a heart attack and died.
Apparently Frank got up, went to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee and just collapsed on the floor. I hope he didn‘t suffer. Frank was a character….our Mr. Fixit guy, the man who could fix anything, make anything….our local knife sharpener, our friend. His family will arrive soon, and although we’ve only met one of his children, we hope to meet the whole family and tell them how loved and respected their father was.
VACATION TIME
For those who might have missed us, we're on vacation in the states right now. Once we're back in Italy AND I've recovered from jetlag, I'll be blogging once again....maybe next week.
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Spina Bifida
