Why So Quiet?
I haven't posted anything online for 15 days and in an online social media saturated world that's a long time. I have been travelling to a magical place of brides, blues skies and little or no internet. I have climbed mountains, sought out wildlife, and photographed the local people as I travel to Italy and I want to share it with you all.
Departure
Despite our best plans it's morning, we are still collecting everything for the plane. We lug the bags into the boot of the car and leave Truro 20 minutes later than we had originally intended. First stop is to pick up my 16 year old brother in law so with the early morning mist we head out and towards Lanjeth. Surprisingly his bags are quite compact and once we add his bags to the car as well we say our family goodbyes and hit the road to the next destination, Plymouth. This pick-up stop is for the next brother in law. I reach for the playlist and whack Muse on the car radio, driving music to help me try to pick up the pace and make up some of the lost time. Fortunately I remember the most direct route to get to his parking space... but he's not there aahhhh! With a quick call to his mobile we discover he was ready, all be without his passport which he had just run back for!!! At this stage the road is jam packed with no parking spaces, the only place I can find to pull over is on some double yellow lines where the road is fairly quiet and wide. While pulled up I decide to use the chance to whip the phone off the dock and check the map for road updates. To my surprise, a lady pops her head into the car and asks "Can help you". We looked up to see a grinning traffic warden right at us. I think she thought we were trying to park or lost. Being accosted by a traffic warden asking us if we were lost, before travelling to another country is to me a little Ironic at this stage so I do my best to refrain from giggling at her.
Airport
We collect Bro number 2, drive to Bristol Airport, park the car drag our bags to check-in and board the plane all with very little to mention about...Wait ok rewind that..
On arrival at Bristol airport we checked our bags in at the main desk with no delays thats true but as I walked through to the security lounge and I start to get concerned at all my camera equip. The laptop goes separately in the tray along with my shoes and the whole rucksack. However we are not told what to put in the tray and therefore in all the rush and confusion I have a brain fart. I step through the metal detector and it goes off like that alarm you forgot to disable early on a Sunday morning. I am ushered to the side and I realise that in my pocket I have loose change and on my hand I have my wedding ring....doh. In the past you get scanned with a wavy paddle but this time I am asked to step into a futuristic booth and raise my arms above my head. Two scanning arms spin around and I can only describe this as a mixture of a CT scanner and a Futurama suicide booth.
After a slightly uncomfortable pat down and discovering that the cause of the alarm is the metal in my belt buckle security is satisfied I am not a threat and I am allowed to carry on my journey.
The rest of the boarding onto the plane went smoothly and we climb and bank to cruise at 39thousand feet. The pilot tells us that we are currently burning through 45 litres of fuel every minute! That's insane most of the plane must just be fuel...and they used to let people smoke on these before the 70's/80's??
When we land in Venice we meet family have a quick drink and step outside to be greeted by a burning sunset.
Being driven anti-clockwise around a roundabout is going to take a bit of getting used to. As we head north towards Udine I spot buildings some in good condition, some derelict on flat land that looks like farms. Despite travelling on the motorway and the low light I just manage to get a shot for my travels.
At Udine we stop for a meal and enjoy one of the best pizzas in my life at 150cm this is a sharing pizza Italian style!!
After copious amounts of pizza we manage polish off some Limoncello and then head North to our destination, the town of Paularo.
As it's dark and the thunder clouds are lighting up the skies high in the distance I can only imagine what the surroundings look like and the majority of the journey looks like this. I cant wait to wake up tomorrow and take the SLR for a spin!!
Motorway runs from the south of Italy right up to Russia and takes a lot of heavy goods vehicles transporting goods across the continent.
Venice Airport | Udine | Paularo