Lee and Peter Sailing Trip was for Four not Two Years. Now an Italian adventure

In October we felt safe to travel to Italy, we had boosters and restrictions were lifting. We filled out all the forms, booked tickets and set of from Puerto Rico to Boston. There are more direct flights but we wanted to spend a few days with Adam, Jenny and granddaughter Tally. We also planned to have the Covid test in Boston. It all worked out well and the journey had many legs. PR to Boston, stay with family, Boston to Azores and enter Schengen (Azores is Portugal), Azores to Lisbon, Lisbon to Rome. We stayed in a Hotel near the airport that we used 2 years earlier. Rented a car and set off to the East coast. The journey east from Rome has some spectacular views as we crossed the Apennines mountain chain.

Since our house is empty and has been for almost twenty years we booked into an Airbnb in San Salvo. San Salvo is on the east coast and a popular seaside resort in the summer. It is about 15 minutes by car to our house. We have only been there in the winter and it is wonderful and quiet. You can park easily. We have been told it is a nightmare in the summer. The Airbnb apartment had just been put on the market, we did not find out until later that we were the first guests. It is in an area called San Salvo Marina. A nice breakfast bar nearby called “The Meeting Place”. Lee introduced us to the owners and soon we were known as the visitors from New York.

The apartment is on the 4^th floor, European 4^th (ground, 1, 2, 3, 4) and the elevator was out of action. As we were migrating, so to speak, we had some heavy luggage. Luckily the owner was a young strong man who carried our heavy stuff. Lee was a bit starry eyed, that may have been jet lag our the bulging muscles, we won’t dwell on that😎

The owners was a wealth of information when we told them we had bought a house. We were soon at furniture shops looking for a bed.

We had to go to Lanciano, a town about 30Km away to pick up the keys to the house. Prior to leaving Puerto Rico we arranged for some dirty work, removing tiles and painting walls to be done. The person who organized that lived in Lanciano.

Having got the keys and ownership documents we were ready to visit our house. We had not seen it for 2 years. Had we made a good choice? would we still like it? Could we move in with just a bed? Was the village nice? With much trepidation we were ready to visit our Italian property next morning.