Four years ago, Brenda and I walked the Portuguese Camino with our friends, Anita and Ernie. Ever since, we've bounced around the idea of doing another Camino and, in August, we pulled the trigger and bought our flights to Italy for round 2.
Why this year? Well, I turned 70 in January, and, as we grow less young, we see more and more of our friends and acquaintances contracting illnesses or leaving this world. We figured we had best start scratching things off the bucket list while we're still fit enough and able to do them.
As it turned out, I've had some health issues of late (not serious enough to keep me at home), and Brenda's recurring back problem reared it's ugly head three weeks ago, and, up until this week, it wasn't clear whether she'd be able to fly. Fortunately, thanks to a good physiotherapist, Brenda diligently performing her exercises, and a little luck, she was given the all clear to travel this past Thursday. Phew!
But the travel gremlins weren't done with us yet. Yesterday, we checked in to our flight to Rome and managed to snag decent seats, with a short stopover in Montreal. I woke up this morning at 6:00 only to learn that our flight to Montreal was cancelled, and we've been rerouted through San Francisco. AND, the only seats available were middle seats for the San Fran leg. Not ideal for me with my long legs, and Brenda's need to stretch her back out every hour. We spent the next couple of hours trying to find an alternate route, to no avail. On the plus side, we have good seats on the almost 12-hour San Fran to Rome flight, so, despite breaking my promise not to set foot in the USA for the moment, everything worked out in the end.
We arrive in Rome at 1:40 PM tomorrow when we'll head straight to the train station to catch a ride to Lucca.
September 20 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C