The last stretch

All the tickets & vouchers have arrived now. We’re on the last stretch in our preparation for our holiday.

I’ve read about the area we’re visiting & found many exciting places to go & see.

The insurance is done. A hotel in Manchester, with parking for the duration & transport to & from the airport, is sorted.

The Fox has booked us a hire car for our trip into the Italian lakes. We’ll return it before we head into Venice itself for our few days there. It should be easy enough to get from the airport into the city by public transport. Most of Venice itself is a car free zone, especially the more touristy area where all the sights are.

We’ve both tried to learn a few words of Italian. I’m not sure how useful they will be, but we will go well armed with a phrase book & pocket dictionary to help us.

Now the Fox is trying to find good directions for the journey from Venice airport to our hotel in the lakes. That seems to be more problematic than usual but he’s persevering. We’ve already located the Manchester hotel.

We’ve yet to sort out our euros, though we do have some left after our last trip to Euro land i.e. the Dordogne last year. However Venice itself sounds so expensive we feel it would be wise to take some extra cash with us. You can hardly buy a drink with a credit card, or pay for a ferry ride that way.

And, of course, there's the packing. But that won't be done until the last minute.

We’re beginning to think travel outside this country is becoming a thing of the past. There just seems so much to organise. The price of insurance is becoming astronomical due to our pre-existing health problems & increasingly due to our age. The health of both of us seems on the decline. The stress involved in organising the holiday seems to grow. It is noticeable that the Fox’s stomach complaint seems to have got worse in the last couple of days. I can’t help wondering if the stress hasn’t got something to do with it. Maybe we’ve just left it too late to organise this holiday, but we’re wary of booking anything too far in advance, as we like to feel reasonably confident of getting away.

It has to be admitted, though, going abroad does still have its attractions. The odds of finding some warmth & sunshine are greater. We feel more away from our troubles in a totally different cultural environment. Even food shopping is more of an adventure when it’s done in a different country.

We had hoped to book a holiday in France for the autumn. I’m not so sure now. We’ll see how we’re feeling when we get home. And for that matter we’ll see what the medics are saying. Much may depend on that.