Monday, October 14, 2024

Heading to Sicily!

Heading to Sicily.  The map shows you were we're going, where we're visiting, as well as where we're spending the night.  We fly into Palermo and out of Catania.

We took this 14 day tour through Collette using our Marriott Vacation Club Points (18,000 points).  I've always wanted to go to Sicily.  Can't really even point to a reason why, just because.  lol



Step 1 an overnight stay in the Marriott Cincinnati Airport, where we used some Bonvoy Points for the night and got an upgrade to a suite with 2 bathrooms and living room.  That was very helpful as we could get ready easily for our departure the following day.  We flew out of Cincinnati, instead of home airport, Columbus because the ticket price was better.  This hotel was much nicer than many close to the airports we've stayed in in the past.

Here I am just about to have desert after lunch in the Polaris Lounge in Chicago (Cincinnati to Chicago was our first leg of the trip).  Oh, and some bubbly with desert.  Doesn't the desert look pretty and yummy?
Hubby took my picture just after I settled in my business class seat
And I took his picture as he was getting ready to climb into his cubby.  Every plane we've been on has a slightly different arrangement for business class seats.  Our working parts were in the middle so we were both on the isle, making conversation a bit of a challenge.  We've managed to have seats in the middle with working parts closer to the isle before, which is preferrable, but ....you never know how it's going to work out.  We flew from Chicago to Rome, and even with getting some sleep after dinner on board, we're pretty tired when we arrived 9 hours later in Rome.  Hustled a bit in Rome to make our connections from there to Palermo.

The Collette driver picked us up at the airport (nice small airport in Palermo), and drove us to our hotel about 45 ish minutes away.  The airport is not actually in the city of Palermo.

All totaled, 21 hours of travel.  It was too early to check into our room at the hotel, so they kept our luggage and we ventured out for a walk and lunch.

Lots of choices in small cafe's there in Palermo.  The cutting board is shaped like Sicily!  Lunch was excellent, but we couldn't finish it all.
Yes, hubby looks a bit tired.  My first Aperol Spritz of the trip.
Fresh Mozzarella and a basket of bread in addition to our wonderful charcuterie board.

The name of our cafe'.



Please check back in as we settle into our hotel for 3 nights.  The tour was there for 2 nights, but we arrived a day early so spent 3 nights there.


PLEASE leave me a comment when you come visit, so I know you were here. Your visits and comments are very special to me. AND remember, leave your name and url and not your profile link. Name and url takes me right to your blog post so I can reciprocate the visit and comments.

18 comments:

  1. What a wonderful trip! Your lunch looks so delicious. I hope you were able to catch up on your sleep so that you could enjoy the rest of your getaway!

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    1. Thank you for the visit. We did. It was good to get there a day early to have time to adjust and catch up a bit on sleep. Was a wonderful trip. Look forward to seeing you visiting again.

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  2. A friend of mine said that for Halloween costume he will dress-up as an island in the Mediterranean. I told him, "Don't be Sicily!"

    Enjoy your holiday in Sicily, Sandy; and make plenty happy memories. God bless you and your family.

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    1. Thank you Victor. Dress up like an island, that's a good one.

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  3. Everything looks amazing, but those long flights are rough. I bet the fresh mozzarella was fabulous. I’ve heard the bread in Europe is so much easier to digest without all the GMO’s ,etc. I’ve ever had an Aperol Spritz. I’m always worried drinks will be too sweet for me.

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    1. Try an Aperol Spritz, it's not the least bit sweet, a bit tart and very refreshing. I make them here at home often as well. The trip was great, but the long flight to and fro...would like to do without that.

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  4. That hotel looks very nice, as does the flight. I've never flown business class, but it sure looks nice!
    Hope you had a great time!

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    1. The hotel was very nice, particularly given it was at the airport. We were quite surprised. The flights are so long, it really helps to fly business class.

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  5. How fun. I would want to go to Sicily, too. It sounds like a fun place. (I'm actually going to be flying into the Columbus airport in November to visit my brother for Thanksgiving. Small world.

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    1. That's cool, how long are you going to be here? Would be cool if we could connect for a drink or something.

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    2. Three days. Tuesday through Saturday of Thanksgiving week.

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  6. Sounds like an amazing trip!
    I love that you’re kicking things off with an upgrade to a suite—that's the way to travel!
    Your dessert looks delicious 😋

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    1. Right you are, upgrades make things feel a bit more special.

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  7. You have a grand adventure lined up and you kicked it off just right. I look forward to reading more. Enjoy! I hope Sicily lives up to your expectations. Salut!

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    1. Thank you Joanne, been planning the trip for a year. Salut, indeed!

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  8. I've never seen seating like your bus. class seating before. I usually fly Alaska Air, Southwest or American. What airlines are you using?

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    1. This was United, but is similar to what we've had before with American, and Delta. Just configured a bit different for business class where the seats lay down.

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  9. Love seeing your trip. I did almost all of my spring trip to Paris with assorted points. Sicily is high on my "to-visit" list.

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