This is my first post after a long break because I was stuck at home 7 months except for a quick getaway to Florida in February. Cataracts and a new macular hole blurred my vision. In December, I lost the ability to drive and watch TV. My universe was shrinking to a few feet around me. I could barely read and use the computer. My life became a waiting game from one medical appointment to another. I managed to fit a 5-day escape to Sunny Isles Beach, FL in between these appointments. Leaving the familiar surroundings at home turned out to be more difficult than I thought. At the airport, I could not see the departure board with or without glasses or read the street signs in Florida.
Each problem with my eyes required a separate surgery and its own recovery period. The surgeries, all three of them in the span of 2.5 months, were no big deal. It was the recovery that was killing me. Little was allowed to do while the eye was healing. Every morning I woke up and compared my vision to what it was the day before noticing a little improvement. As soon as doctors permitted, I rushed to the sport club to work out. Aching muscles distracted me from the issues with my vision.
The last surgery was done on April, 2. It was to repair a macular hole that formed in the left eye. One month later, eye scans confirmed that the hole closed up. My vision reached an acceptable level although it still defies the laws of Euclidean geometry. When I look at straight parallel lines they are curvy and intersect. This distortion is expected to become less over time, but it will never completely go away. This is a minor inconvenience. At least, there is no blurry spot in the center of my vision and I am not going blind anymore. I am happy that I can see those intersecting parallel lines and that I can now leave home to explore the world again.
My flight Denver – Milan was via Paris. In case anyone wonders why Milan then the answer is simple. The budget airline Norwegian Air now flies directly Denver – Paris and I spotted a ticket Paris – Milan on EasyJet that was only $50. I studied the map and decided that Milan would be a good starting point for my 2019 trip to new destinations in Europe. These non-refundable tickets were bought while I was in the middle of my eye treatment and I sincerely hoped that I could use them.
It rained almost all day on the 20th of May. In the afternoon, the rain changed to wet heavy snow that covered lilacs and other blooming trees. The temperature dropped to freezing. Our aircraft waited on the tarmac 2.5 hours for its turn to get to the deicing area. After it was properly deiced (at the end of May!), we left. Some other flights were not so fortunate and got cancelled.
My layover time in Paris got reduced to 1.5 hours. I rushed through passport control to a different terminal where I had to go via security again. My backpack was rerouted to manual inspection because of small bottles with fluids in it. An officer took everything out and examined the bottles. I pleaded my case stating that I had only 10 minutes before the gate would be closed and that there was nothing dangerous in my luggage. He took pity on me, stuffed my belongings back and let me go.
I was in Milan before and did not plan to see the city again. It was just a convenient launching pad for an overland journey. That’s why I chose to spend the night near the main train station Milano Centrale. This time, I stayed at a hostel – something that I never did before. Of course, everyone there was under 30. I probably looked out of place but I liked the hostel all the same. My room rate of 56 euros included buffet dinner, breakfast and a 24/7 snack bar. It is hard to beat that. The room was modern and clean with its own bathroom. It had 5 beds but 2 of them were vacant. My two roommates were ladies of few words. The younger one had that typical this-world-belongs-to-me attitude of millennials. She left her huge suitcase in the middle of the room and spread the rest of her stuff all over. In the evening, she returned with shopping bags. Then she could not close the suitcase. Her new clothes did not fit into it. She did say ‘sorry’ when we bumped into each other and never looked sorry. Do I sound like a grumpy old hag? Perhaps, I do but I will say one more time that I liked the atmosphere of the hostel.
After one night in Milan I took the train to Rimini.
I am happy you are able to travel again! I’ll look forward to reading of your fun adventures. Roy, Maddie and I were in Milan last year.
I know you were there! My next destination is Venice that you also visited and I didn’t. Catching up with you!