Day 1
Sunday, February 5th, 2017
So we went to the trouble of booking a flight later in the day (1 pm!) with the expectation that we would be able to not have to get up so early. Sadly, as we are leaving from Luton Airport, about an hour's coach trip from London where we live, it ended up being an early day for us. It did not help that to even catch the coach we had to first travel about thirty minutes on a local city bus that, and compounded with our desire to be early, meant the alarm went off at 6 am. A long day. It does not make it any better that a short distance down the road from us is Heathrow Airport but, sadly, the cheaper flights do not leave from there.
The city bus runs 24 hours for us and the most you have to wait for it is 15 minutes so we made our way with our minimal luggage the short distance to the stop. We are flying EasyJet and to avoid having to pay for luggage we have only carry-ons this trip - A small, wheeled, suitcase suitable for carry on (yes, I checked the size) and my wife Mel's rucksack. This is probably the least amount I have ever taken on a trip…and it does make things easier.
Have you ever wondered whether your luggage wheels are going to last as you walk along the street? Something that does nag at me occasionally. They are only stubby little things and I can't figure out how they can survive the punishment of being dragged along for mile after mile. Ok, in the airport with the polished floors the wheels are fine but bumping about on the pavement is another thing altogether.
In any case, the bus trip to Marble Arch was uneventful and we were, of course, about 45 minutes early for our bus so we sat at the stop to wait. The weather is miserable. Damp and cold. Trouble is, I don't think it is much better in Venice. Looking at the forecast it seems we are not going to have any good weather except on Tuesday when the sun is supposed to make an appearance. I guess going off season has it's benefits but also it's drawbacks.
We watched one of the buses to Luton go by as we waited for ours. We were not the only ones there as several other groups of tourists headed off on various bus services as they came and went.
Eventually the coach arrived and I made the mistake of going to put our luggage into the automatically-opening hold under the bus before the bus driver saw our ticket that I left with Mel. Shame on me. The trip was quick and painless as we wound our way up to the airport. I like this bus because it goes along the back roads parallel to the motorway only resorting to that after the last stop at Golders Green in the north of the city. No WI-FI on board but it did have foot rests which we used as we got ourselves comfortable for the trip.
One of the reasons why we chose to take the bus to the airport is because it actually goes directly to the airport. The train might be quicker but you have to take a bus when you arrive at Luton station at the bottom of the hill to the airport at the top of the hill. So, all in all, not any quicker at all.
Of course, we had several hours before our flight but the airport is being renovated right now so it is a bit of a mess. Before security there only a few shops to visit so after we walked through WH Smith we had pretty much seen it all. I do like travel as it does give us an excuse to have fast food so the option here was Burger King. I don't mind their breakfasts but they were serving their dinner menu anyway so I went for a Whopper with Cheese as we found ourselves a place to eat in the rather messy dining area. I think they are not really trying to keep it up what with the construction all around - It will all be demolished at some point anyway.
Having completed our dining (!), not having any bags to check and with our pre-printed boarding passes (I even paid, yes PAID, for reserved seats on the flight) we headed through security which was quick and easy. They picked out our luggage to look at but only asked us a few questions before we were able to move on.
On the secure side of Luton is the normal selection of shops - Starbuck's, WH Smith (yes, another one), Boots, Pret, etc., etc. We grabbed a drink at Starbuck's and sat to wait for our gate to be announced. I picked up a coke for the trip as I know that EasyJet charge for everything and even at £1.80 it is likely a lot less expensive than on the plane.
Our plane was not attached to a walkway so we had to walk across the concrete to get to it meaning that we were all queued up as one big group to get onto the plane. We opted to check our carry on (for free) and were “accelerated” past the big queue waiting to be checked to the back of the other queue snaking down the stairs waiting to walk out to the plane. Given the option I generally check my luggage even if it might be possible to take it as carry-on because I can't stand the hassle of finding a space in the overhead bins so not having it meant we quickly boarded for the just-under 2 hour flight.
The view out the window during the flight was boring - Just clouds so I spent the time using one of my Christmas gifts: Wireless headphones with noise-cancellation. I had them hooked up to my phone that I stowed in the pocket in front of me. Great! Mel spent the time reading the Kindle and dozing…
As with the rest of the flight the arrival in Venice was somewhat anti-climactic as it was cold, cloudy and, unlike London, rainy. We stopped way out on the concrete and had to catch a bus to the terminal. Not a great first impression then.
The border was quick and painless though as we quickly found ourselves waiting for the bags. I had not given a lot of thought to how to get from the airport to the city as I knew roughly where the hotel was (near the train station) and I also knew there were a number of transport options available. We wanted to catch the boat as this is the ideal way to enter Venice for the first time. After picking up our bags we entered a heaving arrivals hall. I spotted a public transport desk and discussed the options with the attendant. She convinced us that taking the bus (yes road bus) was the best way in given the weather and at the same time we got three-day transport passes for use on the public water buses in the city, the “vaporetto” (€46 each including the bus transfer). The number 5 bus was waiting just outside the terminal building and was not all that busy as we sat down for the trip in. We had been told that the minute we touched in on the bus our 72 hours pass started. We are here for four days but as we are leaving on the forth day we will have to use something else to get to the airport anyway.
As most of you will know (!), Venice is what you might call a “floating city”. Venice was built on the shallow marshy water just off the coast of Italy and is criss-crossed with canals. Nowadays there are no motor vehicles allowed in the city, only boats. Venice is, however, connected to the mainland by a long causeway that terminates at a large car park and outdoor bus station, very close to the Venice train station.
The bus took about 30 minutes, stopping at various places along the way in the largely residential outskirts of the city. We could not really see much out of the windows as they were fogged up and coated with rain. Of course we also did not really know where we were going other than the bus stopped sometime after we crossed over the causeway. The causeway was easy to spot and, thankfully, there was only the one stop near Piazzale Roma. The bus station is basically just a big open space of tarmac so we were unceremoniously dropped here in the middle of the, by now, heavy rain. We quickly found an overhang from a building that gave us a small patch of dry space where I consulted Google Maps to figure out where we were and how to get to the hotel. It was just down the canal…the canal????!!!
The package for the trip had appealed not only because of the price but also the fact that the hotel, the “Hotel Carlton on the Grand Canal”, was actually on the Grand Canal and, as it turns out, it is also extremely convenient for public transport as it is only a short distance to the bus station (important in the rain) and across from the train station with a vaporetto stop just there as well.
After getting out our umbrellas we walked to the end of the car park to catch our first glimpse of the Grand Canal. It is only about 45 or so meters across with pavement only a few feet above the surface on either side. Here there is a modern footbridge leading from the bus station forecourt to the train station on the other side and is in constant use. To the right we were able to see down the canal towards our hotel. The buildings along the canal are all joined together, except where a canal interrupts the facade, and about the same height - 3 or 4 stories. There are no tall buildings (except for towers as we would see later) in the city. The canal was busy with all sorts of boat traffic with a vaporetto station to our left on our side of the water. Needless to say that despite the rain Mel was going nuts with the camera.