The Heel of Italy's Boot

We've managed to keep busy the past few weeks since returning from our quick trip to the midwest, where we explored the ancestral roots of Kathy's family. 

Back home, we've pulled our boat out of the water and stored it in our driveway with the help of neighbors. We've cleaned out our eaves troughs, harvested the remainder of a bumper crop of tomatoes from our garden, and tried to accomplish a lot of other odds and ends. The tasks do mount up, don't they?

Tomorrow we embark on our longest trip of 2022. We fly from BLI (Bellingham) to SEA (Seattle) on Alaska mid-morning. From there we fly to LAX (Los Angeles) on Alaska, part of a flight that encompasses SEA-LAX-LHR-FCO. Booked nominally on British Airways, we're flying on Alaska from Seattle to Los Angeles, from Los Angeles to London Heathrow on American, and on British Airways from Heathrow to Rome. We are crediting our miles to Alaska, and with three airlines involved what possibly could go wrong?

After a day and a half of flying, capped off by an overnight stay at the Rome Airport Hilton, we'll take a train to Italy's Puglia region. a part of that country we've never seen. We'll eventually wend our way back to Civitavecchia, Rome's port city, where we'll stay for five nights before boarding Oceania's Marina November 11 for a 23-day transatlantic cruise that is port-intensive for the first 12 days or so (Italy, France, Spain) before sprinting across the Atlantic to land at Miami December 4.

Come along with us as we escape the rainy U.S. northwest and explore southern Italy.