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ROF= Ring of fire journey
ITL= Italy Journey
Thursday November 12, 2015
Venice airport water taxi to hotel, Italy 1
This may actually be Friday November 13, 2016. It's been a loooooong haul from ATL to CDG Paris, to Venice. I think it's near 24 hours transit time & am wrung out tired & not sure... +7 hours from ATL timezone.
Landing at Marco Polo international airport was testing the pilots skill. I know IFR minimums are 500' ceilings and visibility are the minimum air requirements.... the pilot earned hes pay. I thought about 4 to 500' visibility when we landed. I couldn't see the other side of the runway/ taxiway clearly.
We had a gate hold in Paris for a couple hours as Venice was socked in, Wise decision by the pilot as 2 hours earlier would have been near zero visibility.
After 30 minutes of walking around the Venice airport, found the water taxi gate1 cubbyhole and waited another 30 minutes until we had 6 riders to Venice.
Walked 1/2 mile past the parking lot, around the covered walkway... it was rainy drizzling,,, to the water taxi station and it was the 1st introduction to ...
Welcome to the hell ride to Venice.
Venice IS AN ISLAND. Yes, there is a causeway road to the island.... There are taxis for E30+ Euro... there are buses for E3 Euro but you have to find them. The tourist trap is to take one of these "taxi" boats to your hotel. You're worn out now and it probably is the quickest way to The Grand Canal hotels. These guys wait for tourists that are tired.
The "taxi" drivers in their speedboats were floating/ hovering around in the water surf station and waiting for a full load of passengers...
These were speedboats with a back cabin that would hold 7 to 8 passengers to go from the airport docks to "downtown" Venice on The Grand Canal.
Now set your mind to the romantic gondola rides of Venice, Italy... with the gondolier singing Italian opera while slowly rowing while drifting down the Grand Canal taking in the sights of Venice, Italy;
...now hold that thought. THAT... is another place in time.
This was a speedboat hell ride to Venice.
?What the hell do you think this was.? These are taxi drivers-- in speedboats-- getting their passengers to their hotels. ... and as soon as they could drop off these tourists... they could get back to take another 8 to 10 tourists at $25 a pop... 8x 25- $/E 200; 10 rides a day and hey... it's making a living off of tourists in Venice.
As Navin said "It's a profit deal". This is a 7km/ 4+mile ride for E25; THAT is good money & these guys hustle for the bucks/ Euros.
The Euro exchange rate was 1.07/ to US dollar... in the paper. Also see the post about currency exchange where the local dealers charge 20%+ to convert.
We're in the stern of this enclosed speedboat (there was a convertible top)... enclosed because if it was a normal sunny day we'd be soaked from the other boat wake splashes. It was foggy... as the airport landing was... visibility maybe 250' at best of the grey fog and the 3- triangle telephone pole channel markers... and the returning speedboats to haul another load of saps/ tourists to the Venice Canal
Now there IS a public transportation- water bus/ boat that will take you on the same route for 3-4 Euros... but you'll have to find the stop -- which the water taxi drivers don't want you to know-- and wait maybe 30 minutes until the next boat/ boat= bus. We pre-booked the transfer online before we left and had a voucher that any taxi will accept; they try to get 8-10 passengers for a full money making trip. Or you can pay 20 to 25 euro for a voucher.
Your speedboat taxi will take you to exactly your hotels dock,... our bags... right there to check in. Welcome to Venice! ...greenhorn tourist.
You never drink twice from the same stream.
