| ADVENTURE 2006BY ARIS RUIZ It started out as a “what if?” kind of a trip discussion among friends as they compare ailments and medications over lunch. The dream tour was to include a maximum of 5 selected MALE golden boys. On the roster were two heart by- pass recipients, a Restaurateur and an Accountant from the Bay Area, one 6- stent happy-to-be-awake Limo Operator from Las Vegas and a prostate-altered Landlord from Los Angeles. Yours truly was the diabetic. All fit the criteria for the Life-is-too-Short 15-day travel. Schedules were coordinated, itineraries planned out, passes were obtained from their better halves and tickets were bought. A few jealous friends wondered how a chosen few can get away from their possessive spouses; thus attempting to stir things up. Little did they know that our wives needed the space more and time off from us. On October 5, 2006, Wednesday, our Plane left San Francisco for a grueling 12 hour flight across the Atlantic Ocean with a 2-hour layover in Amsterdam before proceeding to Milan, Italy, our first destination. Milan, as we know, is claimed as the European Fashion Capital of the world. It’s known for the Italian Clothing Designers’ haven and showcases. Women of all cultures present the latest in fashion. From the Malpensa International Airport in Milan, we picked up a 7-passenger diesel Fiat rental Van. The instigator of this trip brought with him a GPS unit and boasted its ability to direct the driver from point A to point B, turn by turn in whatsoever language you choose. In case of additional assistance, he also carries with him a talking dictionary with an outstanding Italian accent. Maps appear to be of no match at this juncture. Our GPS took us without a hitch to our pre-arranged 2-day Hotel accommodation where we unloaded our luggage to our rooms. We then headed out for our first Italian Dinner at the downtown plaza where we encountered our first fellow Filipino abroad, the restaurant’s head waiter. They served us well and even gave us a complimentary dinner drink as we savored their hearty tourist meal. A cigar session followed thereafter even at the dinner table. The second day in Milan offered us more sights to see and some shopping; at least for the spenders in the group. Storefronts after storefronts lined the streets in the populated shopping section of town. Walking was a must since finding a nearby parking space was impossible and most of the streets are wide enough only for mini-cooper size cars. Two days seemed to be too short a stay in Milan, but, our itinerary calls for a 4 to 5-hr. car run to our next destination, Nice, France down south. As we headed towards the freeway in a heavily traveled local street, a man on a scooter flagged us that we have a flat tire. We then stopped at the nearby Service Station while man in the scooter (the Good Samaritan) stopped with us and started giving us directions to the nearby tire shop. Most, if not all of us got out of the van and listened very adamantly for directions. As we were preparing to set up the spare tire, the man in the scooter is interrogated by 2 police officers who just happened to be there at the street corner. We all got startled when the man ran away from the police and the pursuit ended with this man’s face on the pavement. One of the Officers then started asking us if we had lost anything from the van. Our friend only then realized that his carry on bag with his passport, digital camera, credit cards and checks was missing. We were told that the man in the scooter most likely stuck a knife on the side of our tire, get us to park the vehicle and get our attention while an accomplice gets away with the loot. Two of our friends were then taken to the Police Station with the man (in the scooter) to do the paperwork. It took them the whole afternoon to finish and already late to shop for a new tire and most definitely insane to stay in Milan for another night; so we all voted to take our chances to drive down to Nice without a spare tire. We finally got to Nice at around 2 am. A darker area off the freeway leads you along the Riviera. At an intersection, a car in front of us stopped as the signal light turned red. Without warning, a few big figures suddenly appeared in the dark and violently trying to open our side doors and back. Our sleeping beauties jumped up as they heard the commotion and started screaming. I (driver) immediately put the gear in reverse thinking that the car ahead might be one of them and glued my hand on the horn. The noise must have scared them as they ran away into the bushes. What’s next, we exclaimed. Although most of us have already been to these places before, we just ignore the fact that this can happen to us. We’re Americans, we’re street smart! And, this never happens in a supposedly perfect stressful vacation, right? Well, looking “Asian” with luggage filling the rear of the van doesn’t really help….maybe ha. Anyway, we got settled in at a nice quiet hotel along the Riviera and slept through the horrors of that day for an early morning shopping for a new tire. Long and behold, a tire shop located only a few miles from the hotel happened to have one used matching tire. The nice Tire Shop Owner gave us some tips of what, who to watch out for and where NOT to go in European cities. He says, Europe’s biggest problem is theft and this has been downplayed for so many years to avoid scaring the tourists away. We seemed to be improving our luck as we headed to visit Monaco, Cannes and neighboring towns without any glitch. But, this time, our awareness seems to overwhelm our appreciation to the beauty around us. After seeing most of the southern part of Italy, we then proceeded to Florence, Italy where we had pre- paid for a 3-bedroom apartment next to the river and a few steps from the U.S. Embassy; a convenient location for our friend who lost his passport. A long line of American tourists awaited the opening of the Embassy doors as my friend stood midway at 7:30 am the first Monday of our stay. Apparently, this line is exclusively for victims of “lost passports”. US Passports are sold for around $10,000. in Europe, according to the Interviewers. A xeroxed copy of his passport in another bag made it easier for him to obtain a replacement; an excellent trip when traveling abroad. We then explored the beauty of Rome, Venice, Assisi, Sienna, Naples and a few neighboring cities. As always, the glory of Rome stimulates one’s imagination how magnificent structures could be built during those ages. Ok, enough of those old Churches and Castles. I knew Amsterdam would have fit better in our age group. Unfortunately, our itinerary was set up by our ex-seminarian travelmate. Famine, abstinence, dry spell, zip, reverse constipation……… GPS does wonders to a traveler. On foot or in a car, this gadget takes you anywhere for as long as you have a destination address. The only thing is that it would guide you around the City and sometimes end up at the destination just behind your hotel. Well, at least you found your way without the awkward unfolding and folding of a map; another tourist giveaway. On our 12th day, everyone was already coughing, sneezing from exhaustion and taking globs of multi-vitamins to keep up with remaining valuable time. We then agreed that going for another 1,000 miles to see other places like Vienna, Prague, Germany, Austria and then back to Milan to take our flight home on the 15th day was just plain crazy. So we decided to stay put in Florence and just enjoy the beautiful sites and restaurants. On our final day, we took our long awaited flight back home. IT IS NICE TO BE BACK!!!!!! |
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