A magical Meditteranean vacation - the Italy road trip COMPLETED - Page 33 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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That is a curious thing to think about. Do those who live in the little mountainside villages have to venture into the bigger towns regularly? And to do that on those roads on a regular basis.... you'd better not be prone to being carsick!
I honestly don't know, but I guess it's no different to some of the villages (I can't call them more than that) that we drove through in Wyoming that were only home to 300 or so people. We'd drive for another half hour before seeing a bigger area that might have a shop with some of the basics and we wondered about their lives. You know what though? If that's how you've always lived, it probably wouldn't bother you, as that's what you'd be used to....
Beautiful shots again!
I can't imagine what Venice is thinking about banning wheeled luggage. As you have shown, getting around is hard enough with the wheels. Also, people who travel to Venice are often traveling other places as well. You don't travel with "alternate" luggage, so those people would be dealing with the inconvenience the whole trip. I think it might make people think twice about visiting Venice at all.
Beautiful shots again!
I can't imagine what Venice is thinking about banning wheeled luggage. As you have shown, getting around is hard enough with the wheels. Also, people who travel to Venice are often traveling other places as well. You don't travel with "alternate" luggage, so those people would be dealing with the inconvenience the whole trip. I think it might make people think twice about visiting Venice at all.
True. I hadn't thought about people travelling to other places, but of course we were and anyone cruising out of Venice is as well...
Friday 18 July – part seven: you just couldn’t make it up!
We were trying to find a supermarket, so we could buy some bread, cheese and meat for a light dinner, but we had no luck, missing the car park for the one we saw. However, it took us out on a road overlooking the town beneath us, and wow, this is a big place, and reminded us of Monaco with all the large yachts in the harbour below.
We made it back into town, and headed along the waterfront, which was absolutely packed. We marvelled at people parallel parking, trying to get into spaces that seemed too small for them, yet they managed it.
We all commented that we were glad our hotel was a bit further out, as this was certainly a thriving town, and I’m not sure how well we would’ve slept had we been in a hotel in the thick of it all.
Finally, we were moving out of town, and found the hotel with no issue. There was one parking space left, which Mark quickly nabbed, with us all declaring the car would not be moving again tonight, as we’d never get that space back again.
It was a bit confusing to get into the place, as there were steps up to reception. Mari and I headed up to check in, while the guys waited downstairs with the cases. We both got our room assignments, and we went to hers first. It was lovely and big and on the basement floor, but the second she walked in, she turned round to me, and said “I can smell smoke in here”. I hate smoking, and I have a radar for it, so I walked in, and confirmed it. It was as if someone had been smoking in there about an hour earlier.
We decided to check out our room, just in case we had the same issue. Thankfully we didn’t, although it was a smaller room from the one they’d already been allocated, but perfectly adequate for our needs. I got some photos…
The view from our room
… then headed out to find the guys. I told them I’d take the elevator down to the parking lot, and work out where it came out, so that they could then come in that way. That done, we all headed to our respective rooms for some downtime.
We reconvened at 8:00pm in reception, and the first thing we discovered was that Mari and Raleigh’s new room now had ants in the bed! You just couldn’t make it up! Their room was being fully fumigated, although they were staying put in it. They really were not having the luck here.
We ordered some drinks, after being told that we’d get snacks with them, as that was really all we wanted, and we grabbed a table outside, with me liberally using Mari’s bug spray, as I did not want any further bites.
In the end, another set of chairs, that were more relaxing, like loungers, became available, so we moved around there.
We’d already polished off one of Mari and Raleigh’s bottles of wine that they bought at lunchtime and we then made it through the other one as well. We ended up calling it a night about 10:00pm. It had been lovely to just sit there chatting, and enjoying each other’s company.
The weather today was hot and sunny with temperatures in the low 90s. The best thing today was the Cinque Terre. The worst thing today was not being able to find parking in Lucca. The funniest thing today was was the whole evening we were sat outside actually, as we just laughed so much! Today we tried driving the Cinque Terre And the result was it was exhausting for Mark, but wow, what great views! The most magical moment today was seeing the views along the Cinque Terre.
Ack! Poor Mari and Raleigh! I'm not sure I'd have slept in that bed. And instead of cigarettes they were probably smelling the insecticide later on. Whew!
The flower photos are so bright and beautiful. It's a shame the hotel rooms weren't that great. At least the relaxing evening and fun made it a great night!
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Tanya
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Ack! Poor Mari and Raleigh! I'm not sure I'd have slept in that bed. And instead of cigarettes they were probably smelling the insecticide later on. Whew!
The flower photos are so bright and beautiful. It's a shame the hotel rooms weren't that great. At least the relaxing evening and fun made it a great night!
I have to say I smiled posting this update as it brought back such wonderful memories.
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