We leave for Europe later today. This has been the vacation of many last minute itinerary changes–and it hasn’t even started.

I used points almost a year ago to book a flight to London before we had any concrete plans. I have rearranged the itinerary a number of times. We always planned to take the Channel Tunnel train from London to Paris. We were going to stay in London only one night and head to Paris on Friday. But in mid-April, French railway workers started rotating strikes on Thursdays and Fridays from April to June, which includes the day we booked our train to Paris. So we re-booked, will stay an extra day in London and take the train the next day when no strike is scheduled.

We were then to meet up with Inge and Robin in Paris. But Deutsche Bahn cancelled their train from Frankfurt to Paris this past weekend, one week before they were to leave. They could not find another train without paying a small fortune or arriving so late we’d hardly have time to visit. We now won’t be seeing them. Bummer.

So we’ll be in Paris on our own for a weekend, then we fly to Naples. Air France is also having labour issues, which is disrupting flights on other airlines arriving or departing from French airports. Our flight is on Monday, a day for which Air France announced industrial action. We are not booked on Air France, but I guess we will still have to see whether it affects us at the airport. So far, we are still scheduled to leave on time.

After a week in Naples, we plan to take a train to Rome, where we are to stay for another week. Scott wants to see an AC Roma vs Juventus (Italian football) match on the day we arrive, but so far, the general public tickets haven’t gone on sale. We will have to keep checking.

Even if we have to alter plans, we’re looking forward to getting away from the never ending winter we have had in Calgary. Italy should provide warmer weather,  great art and some of our favourite foods and wine.