A magical Meditteranean vacation - the Italy road trip COMPLETED - Page 29 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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The problems with the Segway sound really scary. I'm glad it wasn't worse.
I'm glad too. In fairness, it was probably a bit of over confidence on my part. I'm happy to report I had no such issues on the Segway tour we did in Paris at the weekend.
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Love the pictures from the tour, especially Ponte Vecchio! That was certainly a scary thing that happened with the Segway. My nerves would have been shot after that. Other than that, it sounds like a wonderful tour!
That looked like the way to see Florence on a segway at night and glad you enjoyed your tour! That was a bit scary with your segway and crazy how it went out of control! Some very nice photos at night! Sorry, to hear you were so exhausted, but you certainly had a long and quite active day!
That's quite odd with some tourists climbing all over the boar statue! I guess idiots tend to multiply in certain areas that they are attracted too!
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That looked like the way to see Florence on a segway at night and glad you enjoyed your tour! That was a bit scary with your segway and crazy how it went out of control! Some very nice photos at night! Sorry, to hear you were so exhausted, but you certainly had a long and quite active day!
That's quite odd with some tourists climbing all over the boar statue! I guess idiots tend to multiply in certain areas that they are attracted too!
Friday 18 July – part one: “I guess we’re out of historic Florence now!”
I was very relieved that when I woke up this morning at 7:00am, I’d not only had a good night’s sleep, but I also felt so much better than last night. I wasn’t exhausted, I didn’t ache all over, and my insect bites didn’t seem to be sapping the life out of me, as they were last night. They still looked just as bad, they just didn’t feel quite as bad… thank goodness!
We headed down to breakfast just after 8:30am, and quickly found Mari and Raleigh. I loaded up with more cheese, yoghurt, and croissant, having a mild panic that one I tried might have been apple, but Mari confirmed it was almond. Phew! I was also impressed they had water there, so I made sure to fill up on that, as I knew I’d be glad of it later.
In the end, we checked out about an hour later, and carted all our luggage down to the garage. How on earth we are going to get this all home, I do not know, but that’s tomorrow night’s/Sunday morning’s problem… We met the member of staff, who opened up the entrance and the exit to the garage. I couldn’t believe how many more cars were in here. They’re obviously a busy place, and it had been a nice stay there.
We left through some very narrow street, which were thankfully one way…
… then we saw some more of historic Florence, as we headed along the banks of the River Arno.
We seemed to travel forever through Florence, as opposed to a couple of days earlier, where we’d come in off the motorway, and been into our hotel very quickly.
We saw some sights on the way, including some of the moped riders…
… and some unusual buildings…
This is apparently the tribunal building of Florence.
As Mari said, “I guess we’re out of historic Florence now!” Yep, I guess so… We even went past the airport, which didn’t seem to be very big…
Then we were back out into the countryside again. This was about an hour’s journey and I have to say it passed me by, as I was just enchanted by everything I was seeing as we drove along…
One thing we did notice was how horribly hazy it was. I guess sadly that’s probably the result of pollution.
Soon we were coming into Lucca, and we soon found the city walls…
We headed in, through this amazing gate:
… and the GPS happily took us along to one of the main squares, and we saw some lovely sights along the way.
However, it was a bit too easy. There was a parking space there. In fact, there was more than one, and no parking machine in sight. I smelt a rat, and a big one… we walked around trying to find somewhere to pay, then I checked with a girl at a local bar, asking her in Italian if we had to pay. she told me, but went on to say it was only for residents. Ah, that explains it then…
Not wanting to get the car towed, we didn’t take the risk, and we asked the GPS to take us to a parking garage. Simple right? Well, not really. It took us down some medieval, exceptionally narrow streets, and how Mark got around them, I do not know.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
What a scenic drive! I'm loving the look of those narrow streets. But to drive through them... um... good job Mark!
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PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
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That was a bit scary with your segway and crazy how it went out of control! 
Some very nice photos at night! 
I guess idiots tend to multiply in certain areas that they are attracted too! 
We met the member of staff, who opened up the entrance and the exit to the garage. I couldn’t believe how many more cars were in here. They’re obviously a busy place, and it had been a nice stay there. 
she told me, but went on to say it was only for residents. Ah, that explains it then…
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