Embrace the Journey: Bad Karma Happens

First outing in a Lyonaise Bouchon

Our big trip to France then Italy to start the Mediterranean Cruise was suddenly here. Since I don’t travel so much anymore and have health issues to manage, travel is really a big deal. I love everything about travel. I find it to be empowering, exhilarating, and worthy of documenting. 

We work with a travel agent to do the detail work and keep us straight. We trust her advice on everything. Usually, everything is perfect.

The first half of our trip was perfect. Bad Karma joined us in Italy. Like a switch, carefree switched to stressful, nomadic drama. Teamwork, problem solving and positive thinking helped us deal with Bad Karma. She met us in Rome at the airport. She teased us, luring us first one way then another as we desperately tried to find our hotel. It was confusing because a Hilton Hotel was supposedly in the airport. We walked inside and outside.

Still happy travelers

Tired and frustrated, we tried to take a taxi but couldn't. We kept being told it's walking distance. Okay, but how do we get there? While trying to get a white taxi, I spied a logo that might be the Hilton. We decided to follow these signs. We walked some more, laughing at ourselves and cursing Bad Karma. After two and a half hours of walking, we finished the “five minute walk”.

After a quick shower, we headed to the only restaurant and bar. Of course it was packed at 7:00 pm. We waited and watched Italian TV game shows on the big screen. Donnie checked emails and said, “This is bad. We have to have a Negative Covid test in order to board. Romona checked and when we left, this was not required. They must have changed the rules. What if one of us is positive? I could be.”

I said, “We can use the self test kits we brought. Last time we did all that testing and they didn’t even ask to see it. Maybe it will be like that again.”

The next morning, Bad Karma belly- laughed at us trying to figure out the self test and especially waiting for the results to show up. Mine showed Negative. Donnie’s showed Positive. 

Boarding procedure for this cruise was exactly opposite the previous cruise. Right after taking our luggage, they asked for our negative Covid test. We couldn’t produce the document. We got in line for their testing. 

We had only been in the waiting area a few minutes when a soft spoken woman (probably Bad Karma) came over and whispered, “Follow me. I’ll find you a seat.” She took us to a holding cell made of portable screens.

Donnie and I looked at each other and we both thought, “This is not good. Wonder what happens now?” 

Doing our own thing in Civitaveccia

Bad Karma ruled. We had no internet connection. It’s Saturday morning with a six hour time difference to Brevard, NC and our travel agent. Her emergency numbers weren’t working. Bad Karma got her laughs.

Two representatives of the cruise line respectfully gave us the official rejection letter. Luckily, we had trip insurance. They offered us two options, (One sounded like going to jail for two weeks) so we chose doing our own thing. They fed us cold pizza and sent us off in a van to a hotel in Civitaveccia for one night. We were on our own in Italy with dead phones but in a friendly, beautiful place to stay for one night. where we could survive with English. 

Maybe the worst part of Bad Karma's news was that we had to test negative to get on a flight home! We had bad visions of running out of my medicine and being stuck for weeks.

We decided to do a land cruise instead of the sea cruise to make the best of the situation. Bad Karma went underground but stayed in-touch from time to time. Stay tuned for more stories of our adventure.