Traveling without

Now here’s a memory….

Have I told you about what it was like to travel to Europe in 1965 without …?

The circumstances in 1965 were different and presented more challenges compared to those of today. Yes, it was different and more difficult to travel than it is today but compared to 1865, or 1765 or 1665 our early travels were a piece of cake. I get it.

But it was different and more difficult than today.

We had no credit cards, no wheeled luggage, no sneakers, (Deed wore pumps), no smart phones, no headphones, no internet, no GPS, no Pay Pal, no VRBO, and no You Tube. Also, we had no T-shirts, no shorts, and no boots. And of course no news, no music, no real time pictures, and no TV unless you wanted to hear John Wayne speak Italian to his horse. Our photos all had to be taken home as spent film to be developed at a later date. We could send postcards and letters, but we would be home before they arrived.

Our town had five travel agents. To make a flight reservation we walked downtown to the travel office to book a reservation and in a few days we went back to pick up our paper tickets and pay for our confirmed reservations by check.

And who was our travel agent? A 44-year-old women who had been to Florida twice and Puerto Rico once.

She then phoned someone in New York, who phoned someone in Rome to book us a room in Rome. Weeks later we received from our agent a small, and as we were to later discover, a most inaccurate picture of the hotel, and a misleading description of its location. It did have a beautiful bathroom, but it was down the hall and around the corner. 

What was the toilet like?

Notice the two white footpads. Yes to go at night you had to put on your shoes and walk down the hall to a toilet that required an Olympian act of balance and precision. And on your long nightly walk you prayed that the small sign on the door didn’t say, OCCUPATO.

Did it flush? Yes --- occasionally.

Some thoughts on money to follow.