Lunch in town before leaving Oregon, getting in travel mode. We were hungry after running far too many errands to prepare for our trip, and stopped for lunch (does anyone really “run” errands?). A Father Sarducci sandwich was a logical choice since we are traveling to Italy, right?
“Father Guido Sarducci is a fictional character created by American comedian Don Novello. Sarducci is a chain-smoking priest with tinted glasses, who works in the United States as a gossip columnist and rock critic for the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano.” [source: Wikipedia]
People of a certain age may remember this fictional character from Saturday Night Live skits back in the day. You can find short comedy bits of him on YouTube, as well as his interview with Johnny Carson, and David Letterman.
Bags packed and ready to roll into PDX. Little did we know that was the last time we would see our bags. Our plane in San Francisco had mechanical difficulties so they had to find another plane to take us to Zurich where we would catch a commuter plane to Palermo. We were delayed while they were finding a substitute plane and instead of leaving SFO at about 1:00 pm we left at about 8:30 pm. The next 10 hours are a blur at this point. Luckily we were able to recline our seats and we all got a little sleep. We reached Zurich but our bags did not.
We missed our connection to Palermo and had to rebook that flight for the next day. No luggage and an overnight layover. Even anticipating a delay and packing extra stuff in a carry-on I realized I didn’t have a charger for my phone or watch or computer – it was in the missing luggage.
Fingerpainting. On day 3 of this misadventure, I decided to fingerpaint. Truth be told, I didn’t pack a brush or applicator for the makeup I had for touchups. In order to avoid scaring dogs and small children, I just fingerpainted on what small amount of makeup I had and hoped for the best.
Palermo. We finally made it to Sicily! But our luggage did not. So apparently the luggage is on its own vacation. The Lost and found department of the airport in Sicily was an interesting experience. We had to show ALL our paperwork so the bags could be traced from their departure in Portland. Instructions were minimal in filling out the missing luggage paperwork so it’s a crap shoot if we will ever see it again.
The reserved rental car counter was mobbed and it was unlikely that they would have a car for us since we couldn’t get ahold of them to change the reservation. Being resourceful, we saw a car rental desk that was almost empty and were able to book another car to be on our way to the BNB.
So far, we’ve had delayed flights, lost luggage, and no rental car, or clean clothes (sweated thru the extras on Day 1). Are we having fun yet?
Casteldaccia. Just 15 minutes from the Palermo airport was our BNB. Casteldaccia is a small ocean village with palm tree-lined streets and refreshing ocean breezes. The BNB is a small boutique hotel with a few rooms and Gaytano, is a delightful owner. We settled into our rooms and decided the next best thing to do was to get something to eat and drink.
Steps from our BNB we found this delightful restaurant La Rotonda. We sat outside facing the ocean and enjoying every bit of beautiful scenery our eyes could take in while sipping wine and eating our pizza and calzone. A bottle of wine later… now we’re having fun!
Stay tuned for more adventures and the mystery of lost luggage.
6 thoughts on “And the Journey Begins!”