In the title of my previous blog, I actually meant our “last day” in Palermo. So you’re in luck, there will be a couple more posts. Then you will have to start a go fund me for another trip for us (kidding of course).
After dropping Joan and Mike off at the airport, we headed to a beachfront oasis for our last day in Sicily. A bit of confusion for the taxi driver when he tried to drop us off in the middle of nowhere – until I showed him the photo from the booking – it’s on the beach! (How hard can that be to find in a tiny community close to the airport?).
Luckily he did ultimately find it and we arrived at 10am, so just dropped our bags before heading for a walk along the beach and checking out the 17th C tower.



The sea surrounding Sicily is a special shade of blue – it is so inviting. We grabbed our suits and went for a dip – it’s not that warm though! Beautiful but cold, there’s probably something poetic in there, but I am too tired to think of it just yet.
So we spent a lovely day just swimming, eating and resting up for the long flight home.

The husband came home late in the afternoon – apparently he runs a company that supplies food for ten of the airlines out of Palermo airport. He showed us photos of his facility and a sample of his packaged cannelloni – it looks so good. Unfortunately, Swiss Air is not one of his customers. I let him know that he should try to get them because their food was non bene on the flight over. He’s going to work on that.



Fast forward, and now we are sitting here at the airport – Don’s hands and protruding tummy having been swiped and found duly clear of explosives residue – waiting to go home.
Because we were successful in doing only carry on for our two flights over and our two flights from Florence to Catania, Sicily, we are trying our luck one last time so that we can be our of Vancouver Airport asap and on our way home. I will let you know how it goes. Will also be trying at the gate for an upgrade to business class on the long leg from Zurich to YVR. You never know – could happen.
Update: We waltzed on to both flights with all of our carry-on, so problemo. The transfer in Zurich was insane and I got a talking to (in Swiss German) from an older guy for butting in a long lineup (which, admittedly we did do). Luckily I couldn’t understand a word, so was able to look at him blankly like I had no idea what he was talking about, even though I did. We and another couple held our ground though (I was the only one who got a talking to) because we kind of had to. Sometimes even the nice Canadians gotta do what they gotta do. That was the most chaotic airport we have been through, most unlike what I would have expected in Switzerland. And the flight ended up being late, to boot. First and last time through Zurich. Although to be fair, it seems like everywhere was more crowded than just two years ago.
I was going to do a rundown of all the travel gadgets I bought – pros and cons, but as it happens, I managed to pick up Covid on the way home and don’t have the energy right now. So here are a couple that readily come to mind.
Apple AirPod tracker for Don (because he doesn’t have a cell phone) – this one sounded like such a good idea. I just put it in his wallet and set the thing up on my phone to tell me where it was, especially in the event that we weren’t together. There were two problems that I hadn’t anticipated. 1. Don didn’t bother to take his wallet most of the time and left it in the room safe (because he is a kept man); and 2. Even when he had it and he was right next to me, it would send me messages that he had been left behind.



So I’m going to give that one a fail. Kept track of him the good old fashioned way.
One “win” was my personal fan – could have made a lot of money with that one at the beginning of every flight, before their air conditioning kicks in.

This foot sling thing was okay for me and my short legs, but was it worth the hassle of packing it along, I’m not too sure about that.

These bottle condoms do the job, but are a pain to put on and take off, not to mention keep track of between travel days. Maybe just one or two for the most suspect of bottles. Of course, you can’t just buy one or two . . .

This cord organizer was very useful – saved a lot of detangling and searching time for the various electronic hookups.


Don hated this travellers’ wallet – it gives over the belt and then gets tucked into the pants. The things Don hated about it are the same things that make it hard for a pick pocket, so I guess there’s that.

Last, but not least, 20 million toilet seat covers (again, that’s how many in one order). Not sure how I got convinced to buy these (I must have been influenced by an influencer) because I only used one (tmi?). Just not my thing and the toilets in Italy have come a long way since we started travelling together way back in 1985. If you are a toilet seat cover sort of a person, let me know and you can have this whole bagful.

So that’s a wrap for this trip’s blog. Thanks for coming along, I enjoyed narrating our journey and will now start on the photo book project that I try to do asap after we get home, so I don’t forget the funny bits.
Until next time friends . . .





































































































































































































































































































































































































