2 October 2023 Montenegro: Podgorica to Budva

 

We seem to be having an unlucky run with our transportation.  After the TAP airlines debacle we hoped to get back on the good travel track.  We got to the Rome airport with plenty of time.  That was smart because we stood in the Wizz Air que for over an hour.  When airline representatives have to call out specific flights so that they can pull out the people that would otherwise miss their flight, that is a sign of a poorly run organization.  We saw this happen for three different flights while we were in line.  This was not a problem for us as we arrived early enough.  Going through security and immigration was easy and we were eventually bussed to the plane. The airport in Podgorica was miniscule and we were one of only two planes there.   The immigration line took two minutes at most and our bags came out super fast as well.  The problem was that our pre-arranged van to Budva was an ordinary taxi and a old beat up one at that. Supposedly the driver we were supposed to have got caught up in traffic. The Montenegro countryside is quite beautiful but we had a hard time enjoying it, as the taxi driver was a bad driver.  Twice we got honked at because he was texting and swerved in front of cars.  Several times he chose to drive in the lane for oncoming traffic to make the curve easier to navigate.  This behavior was unsafe and at one point it necessitated a hard turn on his part to avoid a collision.  We were ever to happy to pull up to the AirBnB.  Montenegro is mountainous and we drove up mountains and down mountains, through several tunnels and on so many switchbacks that we could not count them all.  Our first view of Budva was from the top of a mountain pass.  There is a bowl of a bay with the town nestled between the water and the mountains.  It was breathtaking and beautiful.  Our AirBnB hostess was there to meet us with a smile and a smell.   Our apartment is modern, spacious and has a great view from each of its balconies.  

The line at Wizz Air

Upstairs by the gates

Louis Viton plane

On the bus

A tiny island off the Italian coast

Real living on the edge, the edge of a volcano!

Mountains in Italy

Squishing in the luggage

Texting while driving

Driving in the wrong lane

Very tall mountains

A pyramid of dancers

Roundabout art

Limestone hills

Craggy mountains

Villages nestled in the hills

A house here and a house there

We see the Adriatic Sea

The first view of the bay

The mountains go right up to the sea

A small island off of the coast

Old town jutting out from the mainland

Our place is somewhere in here

Lots of boats

We will have to take a boat ride on these placid waters

The church steeple

The bells were ringing

https://youtube.com/shorts/kdw1W9uQP48

The sun is setting on our travel day

So peaceful from our balcony

The magic hour light

Our host left us some wine,  30 points?

It has a heartbeat

The marina

A giant bell 

A fortress in the old town

Perhaps a water taxi

It has been 1 year and 119 days since we began our Migration

1 October 2023 Rome: In Italy for One Hot Minute

 

We were in Italy for only 36 hours but 15 hours were spent sleeping and 4 hours were spent in the airport getting on our flight to Montenegro.  So we did not really have much time.  Our original plan was to head into Rome and take the hop on hop off but we slept as long as we could on Sunday since we did not get to bed till 2AM Sunday morning.  Had we gotten to Italy on our original schedule, we could have seen Rome.  But as it was, had too little time to get into Rome.  It is a good thing that we will be spending two months in Italy in 2025.  

The entrance to the hotel

A huge wedding was going on

Hooded Crow

Pale folks by the pool

Great light fixtures

Mural

Sphinxes

A classic Mercedes 

Our door knob came off

One of many issues we had with the hotel

It has been 1 year and 118 days since we began our Migration

30 September 2023 Lisbon to Rome With an Unexpected Stop in Barcelona

 

We finished our packing with the full moon on Friday and were ready to fly on Saturday morning. The AirBnB host even showed up to help us with our bags.  He hefted the 30kg bag on his shoulder and went down the 60 steps like it was nothing.  We checked our bags and headed up to the TAP lounge.  It was super crowded and we barely found a space.  Leslie motioned another couple over to sit next to us who knew at the time that we would really get to spend serious time with Heath and Thuanny.  They came from a Miami flight  that landed just as their next flight to Rome took off.  So they were re-booked on our flight and were also flying business class.  Heath is a Navy pilot and Thuanny is a Brazilian IT consultant.  They caught a few minutes of sleep in the lounge and had a Aperol spritz drink.  Once they announced the gate, we boarded the plane and everything seemed to be going fine.  The drink cart was almost to us and the food was smelling great when the pilot announced that the service would be ended due to a "technical issue."  That was merely odd but things soon got ominous when the flight attendants grabbed their personal oxygen tanks, strapped them on and sat down in their jump seats.  Our minds raced, wondering what could be happening, loss of cabin pressure or bad fumes?  I thought we would continue flying but we soon started to descend and landed in Barcelona.  Our landing was greeted by firetrucks, paramedics, armed civil guards and airport representatives.  The flight attendants were examined, the civil guards were intimidating people and cutting off any photos or videos and the firemen came on and sampled the air.  It seemed like we may just take off again but then the busses arrived!  The pilot did not make any announcements except to start the disembarkation process. So we got on to the bus, then off the bus in the terminal.  We tried to keep up with the TAP representative but she was off to the races.  By the time we caught up to her she had already made her announcements. We heard from others that we would have to meet up again at 6PM for an update.  In the meantime we found that the new flight had been scheduled to take us to Rome.  We waited for the update that never came and so we decided to head to the lounge.  Our group pf four added another couple and we swapped travel stories and had a few drinks to while away the time.  The departure time went from 9:50 to 10:15 to 10:50 and so on.  It was after 11 by the time we took off again and past 1AM before we got to the hotel.  What a long crazy day that was. 

Nice sunset on our last evening in Lisbon

Full moon packing

A cool dog carrier seen in the lounge

Red lights mean no bathroom breaks for anyone

A third oxygen wearing flight attendant

Descending into Barcelona

Emergency and fire

Civil guard

Still breathing the oxygen 

We had a big turnout

Flashing lights all around

Off everyone goes... Where to? We do not know

A long line of passengers trying to keep up with the TAP agent to get some answers

In the club with Ben and Cindy

Heath and Thuanny club #2 with this pair

Off we go again

Back on the plane

1:30 AM and we roll into the hotel

Big and spacious

All this beauty wasted on our tired brains

Off to sleep

It has been 1 year and 117 days since we began our Migration