Ten Days on the Road with Sid and Claudia and Margia and Bill
July 7 - 17, 2003

So Sid Fulford comes up with this idea that he wants to go to Italy in 2003, and I want to go, and Claudia wants to go and Margia wants to go, and before you know it, we've got a trip planned! 

Sid thinks we should rent a car and drive everywhere, but I've been to Italy before, and I know better.  No way you're going to get me behind the wheel in a country full of automotive lunatics.  If I want that, I can just drive around Washington.  Nope, I say, the way to go is with a tour group, where *they* handle the details and our only major responsibility will be to enjoy.  So Sid comes up with this tour from Globus that looks pretty good, and after a couple of high-tech chats in which Sid calls me from Muscle Shoals, and I conference Claudia in Tupelo, and Claudia conferences Margia in Nashville, we all sign up and wait for July.

Sid thinks I should fly to Nashville so we can all travel to Europe together, but I think he has a screw loose.  I can get there faster flying out of National Airport through Newark, and besides, my friends from the South are  flying Delta (through Atlanta, naturally) and I want to fly Continental because I have a gazillion frequent flyer miles on Continental which I can use to upgrade to First Class.  Which I do. 

And can you believe that when I arrive in Italy, nobody who flew coach on Delta through Atlanta wants to hear about my luxurious, roomy first-class recliner and the gourmet meals the onboard chef just wouldn't stop serving and the concierge who kept stopping by to see if everything was OK and my personal retractable television screen, and my toiletries kit complete with earplugs, slippers and eyeshades?  Can you believe it?  They just want to fuss about their scrunchy seats.  Well, I don't care.  First Class is good, let me tell you.

We ended up with a fantastic group of people on the Globus tour.  No whiners.  No complainers.  Everybody out to have a good time, from kids to old-timers.  Here's a picture of the crew:

For a higher-resolution picture, click here. 

For a cropped image, click here.

Want to see what we did?  OK, then, here are the pics, arranged essentially in chronological order.  Click away.  And enjoy!

Click here to contact Bill Anderson