Ten Most Memorable Travel Moments

When we get beyond sightseeing, travel allows us to get to know people from near and far, marvel at our similarities and embrace our differences. Such moments make up my richest travel memories.

1. Being driven back to our hotel by the bus driver and his wife after accidentally riding the last bus “to the end of the line” in an Austrian village.
2. Getting to know our hosts and friends in Spain over a sun-soaked welcome lunch of homemade paella.
3. Hanging out at a tiny bar in Kufstein, Austria, meeting new friends as they gulped down a (then) mysterious concoction of Red Bull and Vodka from IV bags hung above the bar.
4. Learning how our young Russian tour guide’s mother developed her art appreciation with weekly visits to the St. Petersburg museums.
5. Becoming part of the Sunday family stroll along the Mediterranean in Spain.
6. A delicious Moroccan lunch, haggling over carpets and getting to know the other couple on our Tangier tour, who happened to be from our hometown.
7. Running across the corporate table at Oktoberfest and getting invited to sit with “coworkers” from Germany for beer and pretzels.
   
8. Bustling among the local ladies tasting and purchasing our weekly produce at the city market in Denia.
   
9. Watching all the kids in universally-popular costumes parading through the streets at Carnavale in Venice.
10. Wistfully listening to stories of many expat entrepreneurs who decided to turn travel adventures in to new lives.

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Venice

by Bryan


On a recent side trip from Spain, we spent a long weekend in Venice.


Venice is beautiful, old, truly unique and yes, is sinking into the sea. There are no cars in Venice-- if you are not on foot, you are on a boat. The Vaporetto is Venice's main public transportation, water "buses" that travel along major routes covering anywhere you want to go. A 24 hour unlimited pass is around 10 euro and well worth it. A great way to see the city is to board at Plaza Roma and ride the number 1 boat all the way down the Grand Canal to St. Mark's Square. I recommend doing this twice, once during the day and then at night to see Venice lit-up in all its splendor.


We were there during Carnival, which made it more festive than it would typically be in the "off-season". However, Venice doesn't really have an off-season as compared to other places. During the winter it's just not completely busting at the seams with people. The manager of our hotel told us that in the summer it can take 15 minutes to cross the small pedestrian bridge out front.

You will get lost in Venice. The windy, tight streets and bridges connecting different areas over waterways create a maze which is not easily navigated. It is hard to get your bearings in the tight spaces with no views of the horizon, but getting lost is half the charm. There are signs everywhere directing you to major areas, so just keep wandering and you will eventually find your way. Remember, you're on an island and you usually circle back to where you need to go whether you intend to or not.

We stayed in a nice apartment that was run by the hotel. We usually opt for these type of places when we can find them. It makes us feel a bit less like tourists. Hotel apartments typically have a private entrance well removed from the hotel and give you a lot more space than a cookie-cutter room. They have separate living rooms and often come with a full kitchen or kitchenette, so you can save some money and do some cooking if you wish. Not that we used ours - we were in Italy after all, but it's nice to be able to store some cold drinks in the refrigerator if nothing else.

Speaking of food, there is no shortage of fantastic places to eat from old restaurants off-the-beaten-path to specialty shops selling sweets, gelato, pizza and hot sangria. I consider pizza a major food group of its own, and Venice did not disappoint in that department. On our second day, we ate lunch at Ristorante La Piramide and this was by far the best pizza I've ever had. Like Spain, Italy has it's tapas, specifically called Cichetti in Venice, and on our second night we wandered the streets ducking in and out of Cichetti bars sampling a few things at each place.

There were many events going on throughout the city to celebrate Carnival. Two that stand out are the boat parade and the wine fountain in St. Mark's square. The boat parade was a little like Gasparilla in Tampa minus the beads, pirates and drunks... ok, it was nothing like Gasparilla. Each boat had a theme and sailed down the canal with it's dressed up, singing or dancing. I think my favorite was the soccer themed boat equipped with ball, goal and crew of "players". The only thing that would have made it more complete is its Captain head-butting someone from another boat.

The wine fountain in St. Mark's Square was pumping wine instead of water and the servers would fill pitchers directly from it to serve to the crowd.

While at St. Mark's Square, named for St. Mark's Basilica, we rode the elevator up 50m to the top of the Campanile tower and took in some fantastic views of Venice. We had downloaded a few free Rick Steves' audio tours before our visit, and he gave a great overview of St. Mark's Square that helped us understand the sights and history (and expensive cafe scene) better.

St. Mark's Basilica is a must-see sight, and apparently waits can be up to 5 hours. We were fortunate during this off-season to get right in, shuffle and marvel along with the crowd. The Doge's Palace next door is also a must-see, but we visited the Museo Correr first to get a combined ticket and see some of the many archeological treasures and art work before visiting the personal and official chambers of the city's Doges. The prison is also attached to the palace and you walk over the "Bridge of Sighs" from inside, peeking out at all the tourists taking pictures of this famous site where prisoners walked from their sentencing at the palace to the gloomy prison.

To really understand the sights, listen to a good guide, read a book or watch a show about the city's history to get some context about Venice. This is a city built upon the water, an early example of modern democracy, once the trade and wealth capital of the world with a vast reach bridging the East and West, which developed in to a city of pleasure and excess, and now a city steadily losing its residents as it decays in to the sea. Besides holding some of the great treasure of architecture and art, Venice is to thank for many of our modern institutions such as banking and the stock market.

Although Vince is sinking into the sea, it does so extremely slow and should be around for many more generations. However, the rising sea level doesn't help and as one walks through Venice they see constant reminders of this. There are raised platforms sitting around through out the city and at first, we thought this was connected to Carnival and the making of stages. In fact, these are always here in preparation for very high tides that flood the city. When flood waters descend upon Venice, these "stages" become raised walkways and allow pedestrian traffic to flow in flooded areas.

Bring your walking shoes and your sense of adventure. Don't be in hurry to get where you're going in Venice, get lost on purpose and enjoy slowly finding your way there.

Ryan Air

by Bryan


Ryan Air is the low-cost European carrier that wanted to offer "standing room only" fares, says they will charge customers for use of the toilet during flight, suggested the co-pilot isn't really necessary and was most recently in the news for the baggage incident (and retaliation) with the group of Belgian college students. Granted, a lot of Ryan Air's bad reputation is self-inflicted but on our recent round trip from Valencia, Spain to Venice, Italy we found the airline to be efficient, fun in a quirky way and well beyond our expectations. Our expectations were admittedly very low.

When we told people we were flying Ryan Air to go to Venice we got a lot of rolled-eyes in return. Which is the other part of Ryan Air's bad reputation, that lies with consumers expectations. I think they somehow forget they chose to be on a low-cost, no frills airline. I will admit that 30 euro ($42) for 1 checked bag is expensive, but only when compared to the 12 euro cost of the ticket itself. There are administration fees, online check-in and booking fees, but they are not much, all disclosed before you book and nothing is hidden. In total our two round trip tickets were less than 165 euro ($230) and considerably less than the same flight on other carriers. For about 50% more to fly a different airline we could have flown into the closer Venice airport saving us about 30 minutes and 8 euro total for the bus into town, oh and got a free in flight soda. The point is to remember why you chose to fly Ryan Air in the first place.

The in flight sales pitches are frequent, although harmless and kind of funny. The Flight Attendants parade the isles selling watches, perfume, smoke-less cigarettes (which are allowed on flights in Europe), lottery tickets (the Ryan Air Sweepstakes) as well as food and beverages. I didn't see anyone buy anything except drinks. This may sound annoying, but not at all different (just more frequent) than the "duty free" shopping time on our much more expensive trans-Atlantic flights with major carriers. With earbuds pumping my favorite tunes into my head, this was nothing more than Flight Attendants walking the aisles. It does however, seem to explain the cabin baggage limitations... they need more room in the plane for all the stuff they are trying to sell.

Ryan and most other low-cost European carriers also save money (and you money) by not having gate service. When it's time board or disembark everyone uses the airplane's steps and walks across the tarmac to/from the terminal. Everyone is allowed one carry on bag and it must fit into that little metal sizing cage that you always see by the gate, but always ignore. They are serious and look at every bag. If it doesn't fit, pay to check it or it doesn't fly... no exceptions. Everyone got a cheap flight, there are no classes, no preferential treatment, no one gets away with anything and there are no exceptions. Firm but fair and egalitarian.

One round trip in no way qualifies us as Ryan Air "frequent fliers", but our 737-800 flight was comfortable, cheap and on-time. In fact, our return was 15 minutes early. I'm sure, just like every other airline, there are occasional hiccups. Just remember going in that you get what you pay for and I don't mean this in a negative way. You didn't get a free Coke. You didn't get two ounces of peanuts. You didn't get half of an overhead bin for all of your crap. You paid for a safe, comfortable and hopefully on-time flight from point A to point B... and if that is what you received, what is the problem? Try to remember the ad slogan for Delta Airlines in the 80's, "we get you there". Ok, bad example.

Lastly, here are tips for flying Ryan Air, or any other low cost European carrier:

• Pay the extra few euro for priority boarding. For this Ryan Air flight it was 8 euro round trip and we were well ahead of the masses.
• Arrive early, to save costs there are only a couple agents and lines can be long.
• Get to the gate early. Remember the days of lining up early at the gate for Southwest flights and be happy you are "experienced" in this ritual.
• Pack light, seriously. If you don't need it in the plane, put it in your checked bag. If you didn't pay to check a bag, don't bring it at all.
• Headphones and enjoyable audio is a must.
  
• If after you do your research and find that Ryan or whatever low cost / no frills airline you chose is the best, do not forget why! Booking the ticket usually happens weeks, if not months before the actual flight. Remember you chose this option and you need to set your expectations accordingly.
  
• Forget that motivational saying about focusing on the journey, not the destination. If you care about the couple hour journey so much, pay more for it. In this case, it is all about the destination and getting there to enjoy it.