After The Storm

We had a very interesting week weatherwise here, lots of rain, wind, and at higher elevations massive amounts of snow.  Thursday we had a large windstorm and thought that was the worst of it.  On the other side of the island near Tofino there were 30 foot waves and all beaches were closed as the ocean raged and threw gigantic logs around like toothpicks.  The waves were pounding the beaches so hard that you could detect the earth movement on the richter scale.

I hadn't heard another major storm was coming Saturday and we just went about our regular business.  Mom and I went out thrifting (found 2 pairs of pants and 2 books, total $10) and then went for a coffee at Tim Hortons.  Mom was struggling with the door of our truck on the way in as the wind had really picked up.  After coffee the wind was so strong I had to hold it open for her to get back in the truck.  Enough of that, we decided to quit fighting the weather and go home.  The wind and rain just kept increasing up to 85kph (around 52 mph) in Comox, other parts of the island were even higher.  It howled from about noon Saturday until 7am Sunday Morning, constantly bashing rain against our windows.   The weather was so bad Buddy refused to go out and do his business, even refusing to eat since he didn't want to have to go out afterwards as what goes in must come out :)

We were certain we were going to lose power but by a miracle we didn't, only several flickers.  Thousands weren't so lucky.  Our neighbor was supposed to drive to the ski hill which is only 45 minutes away to compete in a biathlon but Mt Washington got so much snow they had to close the mountain road and ski hill, the first time since 1999.  Along with the wind they got over a metre of snow in a 24 hour period, well over 3 feet.  Apparently we got the same metre, just in rain.  People got stuck on the mountain, cars were buried, fortunately no one got injured.  Trees are down all over, many fences in our neighborhood are down including one at a neighbor's across the street.

borrowed from CHEK news - Mt Washinton Ski Hill - buried vehicle

This was definitely the worst storm since we have moved here, worse than others that were the tail ends of tropical storms.  It always seems so strange to me that the mountain behind our towns gets so much snow while it is several degrees above freezing down here in the Valley, just a short drive away.  Vancouver got the brunt of the storm after us and many were without power there too.

The weird pressure system that came with it has also been wreaking havoc on my health.  My fibro seems most active during times like this, directly tied to the change in pressure.  This week I had severe insomnia and my knees and elbows felt as if someone took a hammer to them.  Tuesday I gave up on trying to get to 10,000 steps and crawled into bed (I made up those steps by Sunday and caught up to my weekly target of 72,000 steps).  Fortunately I feel much better now.

Other than that I have just been doing a lot of research for our trip to Italy and France, ironing out details like figuring out what time Italian trains run even during strikes as they are considered mandatory commuter trains (if interested 6-9:00 am and 6-9pm Monday thru Saturday).  We are booking a train from Rome to Salerno and are going to do 8am just in case.  Many countries are affected by labour strikes on a regular basis, something that should be considered when planning trips.  We will be in Rome on May 1 which is labour day which is an extremely common day for labour unions to strike around.  Knowing this that will be just a day for us to wander as the Colosseum and Vatican are closed that day. We have two other full days in Rome so won't miss anything and sometimes the wandering days are the most fun.

By traveling in the morning we will have full day in Salerno to explore but we can't check into ourAirBNB until 3pm so I needed to find a place to store our luggage.  There is no stored luggage at the train or bus station but fortunately after many googles and reading threads on Trip Advisor I figured out that a small travel agency next to the train station will hold luggage - 5 Euro for up to 6 hours per bag, not cheap but much cheaper than getting an extra night in our AirBNB.

Salerno

Yes, I love planning these things out but they take tons of time!  In Italy both in Rome(4 nts) and Salerno (3 nights) we have booked apartments.  We will eat out on occasion but will make all breakfasts and some suppers to save money for fun things like activities and tours.  This is still going to be our most expensive holiday yet, fortunately half of it has already been paid for and the other have saved for.  In Paris I have a very reasonably highly rated hotel booked that includes breakfast.  Parisan apartments are very tiny and almost impossible to find a decent one with 3 beds for adults at a reasonable cost in an area that is central.  Since we are really only there for 2 days (3nts) we will just eat suppers out there and make sure we have snacks and drinks back at the hotel.  Salerno is the cheaper gateway to the Amalfi Coast by ferry and bus and a 20 minute train hop to the ruins of Pompeii. I also looked at staying in Sorrento, even found a reasonably priced apartment that would work but everything else is so expensive there that we decided to go with the less touristy Port of Salerno.  More actual Italians live there and there are less tourists who stay there so it should be fun.

We are only seeing one area of Italy as it is impossible to cover a lot of ground in a week.  I like to stop for a few days and enjoy explore.  If we like Italy we will do other parts on future trips.  The same goes for France.  I am already scheming on where to go in 2019.  Likely we will be taking Stepson #1 and his girlfriend (she will pay her own way, we will pay for his flight and hotel/apartment).  By next month we have enough points for 2 flights to Europe and since we don't have to worry about escorting them to Europe as they will be flying from Ottawa and have travelled alot we will just meet up at our destination.

Our plan is to do most of our world travelling by the time Hubby is 60 which is in five years.  I want to travel when we are both young and healthy and that could change at any time so I don't want to miss out on what we love based on poor health.  We also can afford to travel more now so are taking advantage of that and taking each of the kids on one European trip.   If our health and finances permit more travel later in life we will continue to do so. My stepdaughter doesn't want to go to Europe so we will likely go to Mexico with her in 2020 or somewhere like Thailand if I can convince her.  She doesn't seem to have the travel bug like the boys do.  We just want to show each kid a little bit of the world and broaden their horizons.

On that note I have to get going as the weather is actually nice for a few hours and there is a certain furry creature here named Buddy who seems to know that and wants to go for a long walk.