Livorno, Italy: Taxi Seat Train Station Hustle
Welcome to CompassChaos13(CC13): A Real Travel Podcast where Compass Plans, Chaos Rules - Connections Happen Memories of Global Adventures
HEATHER (V.O.): CIAO BELLIS…. Italian for Hello beautiful if you remember from our Rome Appian way episode…. I’m Heather, your adventure narrator and warm body for the hosts for this flying circus.
Today, we’re diving into Florence, Italy, home of the Statue of David by Michelangelo, with Hubby!
COMPASS: It started with a simple task of getting to the Livorno Train Station.
CHAOS: It ended with 3 estranged couples getting dropped off at the ship by taxi.
HEATHER (V.O.): Before we depart on this adventure, a few safety checks. First: any brand we mention is one we actually use and trust. We get zero monetary gain for these—if that ever changes, we promise total transparency. Second: this flight is for adults only. Expect questionable language and emotional turbulence. Finally, there are no warnings when the unexpected happens, because there are no warnings in real life…
HEATHER (V.O.): Now, let’s Meet your dueling hosts: Compass, the one who plans—and Chaos, the one who burns them. Together, they find the magic in the mess.
COMPASS (V.O.): I’m Compass. My plan is to experience the top tourist things. But, as usual, my head-space companion Chaos has other plans.
CHAOS: Hey Hey Chaos here! I am the patron saint of "we’ll figure it out,". I bring the unexpected, and the reason you want to hear travel tales.. that are actually worth listening to!
COMPASS (V.O.): Together, we bring the connection.
HEATHER (V.O.): Sit back, relax, and push that subscribe button……
CHAOS: "So, buckle up buttercups, for this recent tale of beating the taxi seat hustle at a train station……, because honestly the best stories aren't planned."
COMPASS: This story is another from our Nov 2024 10 day honeymoon cruise on NCL. … Sadly our last day on the ship, but not the last in Italy!
CHAOS: This is the day before the Appian Way Episode and a few ports after Dubrovnik, where hubby was laid up… but now he was upright, eating and exploring.
COMPASS: Always so confusing which is why these tories need order dam it!
CHAOS: Whatever, he was upright and excited to go exploring in Florence& Pisa but first we had to get there and Compass had a plan… or so she thought [giggle]
COMPASS: I had a plan, which was to take a taxi to the train station for the 9:10 am or the 10:10 am from Livorno which would put us into Florence in the afternoon, stay till 3:15 then jump back on the train head to Pisa be there for the sunset climb of the Tower of Pisa….. before jumping a train back to Livorno. It was humanly doable.
CHAOS: [giggles] Easy lady
COMPASS: Don't easy lady me… It was perfect and you know it
CHAOS: Which is another reason why I love this story also… So Compass had her plan and I had 8 hours to blow it out of the water…. I was not told that the Universe was on my side this morning….
COMPASS: [sarcastically] Yay for you! Hubby was on his fifth recovery day. He not only missed Dubrovnik, he also missed Kotor, Montenegro as well. With hubby standing we headed up to the restaurant for breakfast, avoiding the buffets at all costs.
PRO VET TIP: When cruising always wash your hands with soap and water before entering & when leaving any eatery, especially the buffet. Buffets are petri dishes for norovirus. Hand sanitizer alone doesn’t cut.
Now that we were fed and caffeinated it was time to get off the ship and walk to the station. We walked off the ship and took the free shuttle out of the port area.
CHAOS: We didn’t make it far before we walked right into a taxi/tour waiting area… hubby suggested we check out prices for taxi to Florence. As we waited for the taxi handler to finish… a couple we overheard the conversation about the roundtrip price for a taxi to Florence & Pisa. So when it was our turn hubby jumped right into negotiations.
COMPASS: oh He did and was floored by $350 per person for only 2 people…. I wasn’t…. This was for 8 hours for the driver which was the man's whole day.
CHAOS: That is not a bad haul for driving and staying and driving and staying! You drive just over an hour and half… hang out for about 3, drive another 30 minutes, hang out for an hour and then drive another hour….
COMPASS: That’s too much time for you to get into trouble.
CHAOS: That and make new friends… that’s the point in life.
COMPASS: I give up! … Hubby negotiated with a driver to take us to the train station.
CHAOS: A couple that was behind us overheard our conversation and jumped into the cab with us heading to the train station. On route to the station the cabbie told us about a bike marathon that was going in the afternoon today which is why they started closing streets at 9 am and the trains were running on a different schedule to accommodate. When Compass heard this she almost lost it.
COMPASS: I wasn’t the only one, hubby heard it and he wasn’t thrilled either.
CHAOS: No he wasn't. But he got real happy when the cabbie said that if could find 1 or 2 other couples including the ones in the taxi with us already that he would take us to Florence & Pisa for 100 to 120 per couple… That sounded like a challenge to me..
COMPASS: For some reason I feel like that cabbie had us pegged. Just wished he said that at the stand it would have been easier to get people less time spent.
CHAOS: You’re just mad because we missed your scheduled train, which was running normally because Compass was only looking at the fast trains so the marathon had no effect on that schedule. But by not rushing we missed and so her backup train was still 45 minutes away… So there was time well spent instead of waiting for a train.
COMPASS: That was your time well spent…. Not mine.. I could have been doing more research or writing more reviews.
CHAOS: UH…. Dirty words… why don’t you throw in planning & scheduling as also … go for the foursome Compass!!
COMPASS: I won’t dignify that with a response.
CHAOS: You know you love those dirty 4’s! Speaking of those, where did you hide the 75 episode titles and summaries that we started?
COMPASS: [leery] WHY?..... So you can burn it! No way, I’m not stupid.
CHAOS: Nope I want to add to it..
COMPASS: After the Prague Episode I think you're grounded aren’t you? [giggles]
CHAOS: [laughs] Grounded…. Last I checked you can’t clip the wings of Nyx
COMPASS: You are not comparing yourself to an ancient primordial being…… ONE of the originals no les….. SACRILEGE CHAOS!
CHAOS: [laughs] Who do you think gave Heather me…. Just like her daughter, Hermera, sent you….
COMPASS: Now you're just crazy… Can we get on with the story please..
CHAOS: Hopefully Certifiable! So we have a challenge in front of us…. We turn to the other couple in the taxi with us and ask if they were in…
COMPASS: Hold on my sugared up chipmunk…. Lets tell our kin what the deal in the cab actually was….
CHAOS: That’s your dirty 4… go for it…
COMPASS: It was just about 9:15am as we heard the drivers offer on the way to the station. The deal was 4 hours in Florence and an hour in Pisa with drop off directly at the ship… not back at the taxi area where we started or at the train station which was the original destination.
So we were getting a semi-private driver that waits at the meeting place, knows where to park for what we want to see, will take us to some lookout spots before going into Florence and is guaranteeing we will be back at port at or before 7pm all aboard time. For $350 per person not worth it…. But for 100 to 120 per couple .. WORTH IT! Plus we don’t have to deal with the Italian trains, if they will be on time and we gained two hours of exploring instead of having the cushion.
CHAOS: Are you done yet? So like I said, it sounds like a challenge to me… By the time I accepted the Challenge we were at the train station in Livorno.
COMPASS: THis was utterly humiliating…. You weren’t even focusing on the amount of seats we had to fill, your first attempt was a family of 6!
CHAOS: Hey they were in but the cabbie wouldn’t let two kids ride on the parents laps. Had we been in Morocco or Egypt not an issue….
COMPASS: But we are in ITALY and we don’t compare countries!
CHAOS: I’m not comparing. I am just stating an observed fact when we visited both countries…. It was worth a shot…. But it was a no go…
COMPASS: and that was an embarrassing reminder that Chaos is not good at math! There were exactly 4 seats for human bodies… Chaos asked if dogs counted as a seat!
CHAOS: Perfectly valid question
COMPASS: Not when we are targeting tourists! You were indiscriminately asking locals… You should have been an attorney, just throw shit a wall and see what sticks!
CHAOS: Wow, this from the paralegal who’s aspiration was to become the Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court…….but YOu can make anything stick if thrown hard enough! So the second attempt was no good. Hubby was hanging back letting us do the talking and every once and a while pointing out a pigeon every so often.
COMPASS: People
CHAOS: No you said targets….. I at least am using animals… As we, Heather really, ran around Livorno train Station we spotted a couple… differently from a cruise couple, I saw them in passing and American’s. The fanny pack and the english accent gave it away as we walked up. I apologize for interpreting and asked if they were going to Florence… Yes was what I needed to hear… I told them the deal, they were in…
COMPASS: Instead of putting 2 more people to more people to work finding another couple, Chaos has Heather walk them to the cabdriver to keep them there and then runs back into the station, only now starts yelling right by the ticketing booth Florence Roundtrip 4 hours with Pisa $50 per person only two seats left…
CHAOS: Only because now the driver, hubby and everyone else was okay with 120 per couple and gave me 10 minutes to find the last couple….
COMPASS: This time hubby is now closer to us making sure we don’t get carried off to the loony bin and our original friends were now back at the taxi waiting on
CHAOS: DA- DA-DA Here I come to wreck your day… Not ready to bow out just yet I took a few more walks up and down the hall of the station life I was selling peanuts at Fenway Park. Except it sounded like “Semi-Private tour to Florence Here…. 50 per person… two left” … with no takers inside I ran outside… though I didn’t have much luck the first time out there…. It was no better this time around.
COMPASS: Outside was now flooded with awaiting taxi drivers, and they were not amused! And you can't blame them.
CHAOS: No I can’t but there were no takers anyway…. Besides, transport's voice doesn’t carry well outside… THe ticketing area of the station gave here a nice ..Can’t ignore the American Loudmouth, perfect for the challenge.
COMASS: This is another perfect example of the wrong way to go about things..
CHAOS: It got us half of what we needed but all of what we wanted and I hurt no one. The only thing I hurt was your social image issues… you care how people view you.
COMPASS: OK .. Let’s do this now… It's a good lesson… Chaos and Kin we are going to take this little detour from the story intentionally…
CHAOS: Here she goes….. Mrs. Preacher of Social Travel Ediquette… This all seems so one-sided…
COMPASS: It is important to note, at least for me, that when vacation is personal for yourself, you are still representing your country. So your words, bias, actions get projected back on to your country. Of course that is not always true, but there is a generalization that happens. It takes a few bad apples to spoil the bushel. Also noteworthy by not following countries social norms, you are making yourself a target for at the very least pickpockets.
CHAOS: It’s not like we are climbing all our ruins or art installations for a selfie. I was just a loud obnoxious American for a few minutes.
Compass: My point, Thank You! One of the generalizations about American’s…. So why play into it…. Why be that AMERICAN….
CHAOS: Because sometimes Compass, you just have to be that person….
COMPASS: No you don’t…
CHAOS: We were challenged, we don’t back down from a challenge. Unless it’s stupid, cause let’s be honest there are some stupid challenges out there. And I don’t like to lose…
COMPASS: Let’s get back to the memory shall we?
CHAOS: With only 10 more minutes to find another victim the pressure was on! Just because everyone else was ok with 60 per person …. I would prefer to fill the other two seats so that extra 20 euros goes to a few more glasses of local wines or beers and some cured meats and cheeses…. [upset and pissy] The universe was not going to give me my way….. Only what was required, not wanted.
COMPASS: Translation… Chaos made herself look so crazed that not a sole not even the feral cats would make eye contact.
CHAOS: [laughing] I picked up a few things while on our haggling tour of Egypt. With only losing half the challenge I was the only one that sold two seats in about 5 minutes of being there….
COMPASS: Da-Da-DA- Here we come to wreck YOUR DAY…..
CHAOS: [upset] That’s my line.. You can’t use my line….
COMPASS: oops… [giggles] It was time to put the crazed American Shenningians to bed… As Heather & I mentally chased Chaos around in Heather’s head, hubby came walking up to us to advise that time was up…. We were leaving
CHAOS: Once I heard that, I felt a little defeated. But I look at the silver lining… Now it was time to take this show on the road! New City…. New Shenninigians.
COMPASS: Attempts, intent Malice… yes but not always successful
CHAOS: Intent & Malice are the same
COMPASS: Nope you can have intent to do or not do something…. But to plan, scheme, research and actively seek out with intent is malic… Speaking purely as a paralegal not as an attorney in anyway shape or form.
CHAOS: Love your disclaimers…
COMPASS: If we were some smoo spouting crap I wouldn’t do it, but since we, really Heather, is a paralegal also, she is required by law to say she is not an attorney. I’m not going to risk our degree, reputation and livelihood because of not having a disclaimer.
CHAOS: Please if no-one is prosecuting Justice Thomas for his action on and off the bench then us peons should be safe.
COMPASS: US PEONS are the looking hangin fruit…. Easy pickings….
CHAOS: True, but we have you! Never heard someone switch hit many times in one case…. It’s hard to know if we are helping defend or to prosecute.
COMASS: That is being a good paralegal but has nothing to do with this story or this podcast…. Sidetracked.. Sorry Kin..
CHAOS: Right! Sorry my bad! Where were we?
COMASS: Heather, Hubby & I were dragging Chaos away from the train station.
CHAOS: That’s where you stole my line…
COMPASS: I now know why you like saying that…. It is fun!
CHAOS: Better when I say it… you just don’t have that…. Charisma, but you're right it is fun to sing!
So Florence bound; us, hubby, 4 new friends and the driver [giggles] sounds like the start of a joke… Anyway, for the next hour and about 35-40 minutes we talked with our new friends, which the names and states they were from I honestly don’t remember… We discussed cruising, since they were also on the ship as well and places that everyone has traveled.
COMPASS: The original couple from the taxi stand, I really wanna say Doug & Maria but I’m not sure sadly. This was their 7th time in Florence. THey loved the city they were talking about moving there in a few years after retiring…
CHAOS: I prefer Seine or Assisi
COMPASS: Not about you… THe second couple with us… it was their first time in Italy. As Doug & Maria fave them their fav’s we also threw in a few of ours.
CHAOS: Doug & Maria hit all the main points for us; the only thing we added was just wander the streets away from the tourist areas and if they haven’t gotten tickets for certain attractions yet go online and do it now. If they need wifi go to the nearest cafe and order a coffee and use the wifi. That way you can still bypass any lines.
COMPASS: Just make sure you have good cyber security on your phone. And it worked out for them with the Statue of David they walked right into the museum. In between conversing with our new friends the cabbie was also pointing out different ruins and where ancient marble quarries were, it was interesting to listen to, even if I couldn’t see them.
CHAOS: BORGING!! I know you and Heather just ADORE ancient ruins but honestly after the 5th site… It's a pile of rocks!
COMPASS: Blasphemy CHAOS!! [like a child] You take that back
CHAOS: [screams]WHAT THE HELL…. Are you Crazy! You almost took my eye out!
COMPASS: I was aiming for your mouth
HEATHER: WHOA, wait a minute…… Chaos put down the stapler…. Compass hand over the writing instruments please….. This went bad real quick! What the hell happened…. And don’t give me well she…. But she…..CORNERS NOW!
Okay Kin, Heather stepping to ref this office battle… While the voices are foaming at the mouth in their figurative corners for a cool down.
COMPASS: [yell] CALL IT A TIME OUT FOR FUCK SAKE….
CHAOS: [pushing back] YEAH… What she said [giggles]
HEATHER: SHUT IT! Nyx & Herema weren’t the only ancient ones that sent me gifts when I was born…. Shall I ask Throoa our valkyrie friend to come settle this.
COMPASS: NO!
CHAOS: Ah…. not this time I still owe her a goat!
HEATHER: REALLY A GOAT??? You know what I really don’t want to know…
CHAOS: She’s Thor’s not so little girl…. She loves her goats!
HEATHER: OOOKAAAAY…. I think the voices have calmed enough to move along with the story.
COMPASS: [through teeth] FINE!! The driver drove us through the affluent part of Florence upon the hill looking down on the city from the opposite side of the Arno River. The view from the Pizazzale Michalengo is beautiful even on a cloudy day. He gave us 20 minutes to take pics and stretch our legs before heading back to town.
CHAOS: Sadly not that many vendors since it was already late November. No practice of our Egyptian haggling skills here. We did grab an espresso with hubby before getting back into the van.
COMPASS: with a quick energy potion in us it was now time for us to re-discover Florence and for hubby to experience it for the first time.
CHAOS: Only he had no interest in staring at a naked man, even if it is one of the world’s most famous sculptures nor did he want to be in a stuffy museum on what was turning out to be a beautiful November day in Florence, Italy.
CHAOS: Museum was a hard pass.. No naked man for us… Which actually sucks cause I had saved some colorful commentary on why David’s right hand was so much bigger…. Like by the look of his hand he spent more time alone tending to himself than sheep before he became king…. Or with hand muscles like that no wonder why he had the wrist action for the shot that killed the Goliath.
COMPASS: CHAOS.. POOR TASTE!!! Are you serious… You are making fun of a world famous work of art, the sculpture and a hero/prophet/king of the top 3 major religions of the world…
CHAOS: OH Come on it’s not a secret just no one admits it! Glad I hit top three, I didn’t want anyone to feel left out…. I don’t discriminate.. I make fun of everyone when the need calls for it… But if you remember I suggested climbing the Dome. That was another hard pass. This time from Compass & Hubby because we had been rambing & wandering all over Pompeii the day before.
Honestly Compass can’t believe you passed on climbing the Dome. Considering it would be a historical and artistical experience.
COMPASS: 1st we dont make fun, bad CHAOS, bad bad Chaos… 2nd It’s called Brunelleschi's Dome… a/k/a Duomo and 3rd Heather, Hubby and I were storing our energy for the climb in Pisa that I have pre-booked tickets for… we were not going to climb 463 steps then climb a total of 294 more steps for the Bell Tower of Pisa.
CHAOS: Oh pull the stick out of your perceived Lilly filled ass.. Hypocrisy, irony, sex, religion and politics are all funny and require that they be laughed at…. So with no-one really in the mood for anything on Compass schedule… No art, history and no ruins! It was bizarre…. Honestly with the amount of time we present wandering all through the city center over the Ponte Vecchio and then back over the Ponte Alle Grazie we should have just climbed the damn dome.
COMPASS: It wasn’t a continuous waner.. It was and explore then stop for espresso then explore somemore…
CHAOS: was this the day hubby had too many expresso’s?
COMPASS: I’m not sure.. He knocks them back in Italy like we drink soda at home.
CHAOS: Yeah but he found his limit… we haven’t found ours yet…. I think we may have a coke problem…
COMPASS: SODA…. We are addicted to soda or Coke-a-cola to be precise.
CHAOS: No Fun, always with the details…
COMPASS: I know that Heather and I don’t want police kicking in our doors in the middle of the night all because you make stupid remarks and allow others to fill in the details. Not in this climate and I know for a fact hubby will not take it well.
CHAOS: Sounds like a people problem for assuming. I go into a restaurant. I order Coke not cola, not coke a cola I say Coke please…. Or Regular coke please…. If traveling.. Not once has anyone brought us anything that is white or powdery… Besides Mother Nature
COMPASS: Moving on…. Having wandered the city and drank our fill it was time to meet back up with our new friends and driver. Piling back into the van we started our way back to the ship with one last stop… PISA!!
CHAOS: Not to be mistaken for PIZZA, the food… PISA is a city in Italy where there is a bell tower that leans, it’s pretty well known.
COMPASS: We were so excited to climb the Bell Tower for a sunset view! As the driver took us to the next destination the 7 of us discussed what we did and experienced in Florence making the hour and 30 minute drive feel like 30.
CHAOS: Another reason why I love traveling in LAste shoulder into off s eason is because our driver was able to grab a parking spot specifically for taxis 20 feet from the landscape walk to the Tower and Catherdal… Which is really impossible during high tourist season.
COMPASS: Truth! Now with my perfect plan completely burned, since we didn’t use the trains we actually arrived 20 minutes before the train and there was no need for the buffer between walking from the station to the tower. We were actually an hour ahead of schedule. It was just pushing 4pm on a nice November afternoon. As we all got out of the van the driver advised 5pm was the return time.
CHAOS: Da-DA-DA- Here she comes to wreck her day!!
COMPASS: That was….
CHAOS: Awful…. It doesn’t have the same ring…. Something’s off… oh yeah I didn’t do anything…
COMPASS: That’s a 100% true statement…. You didn’t … but because we took the unexpected option and arrived an hour before our ticketed time, which is now the time we are leaving Pisa for the ship. The pre-booked tickets wouldn’t work.
CHAOS: So that perfect plan also now ash!! [giggles] [soulfully] I do love watching perfect plans burn to ash…. Compass has Heather check the tickets for the climb, with the faint hope that she changed her mind and booked the 430 instead of the 4pm… NOPE…. Write there on the ticket for all to see… [giggles].. Including hubby in black ink on white paper 5pm KABOOOM she went off on herself… calling herself and I quote A stupid fuck that is no longer listening to her instincts anymore… how could I be so dumb’... When she is like this there is no setting her right…. She is allowed a 10 minute adult tantrum… She did put a shit load of research and logistical hours in so we gave her 5 more minutes than everyone else.
COMPASS: I….. I honestly don’t know if I should be offended or say thank you…
CHAOS: Go with Thank you….. Everyone needs a verbal venting adult temper tantrum… It releases that built up pressure…. That way you can take more of my shenninigians without completely going berserk.
COMPASS: I can feel the pressure building up now….. Can we please finish the story! We are so close to the end! Besides, don't you want our Global Kin to be excited about our next episode.
CHAOS: Now that the 1 person that commented on and actually possibly listened, which I think was Heather…. So I’m not sure if that counts!
COMPASS: It is what it is….. If no one commented but her… then so be it…
CHAOS: This is sad, let’s finish this story so I can figure out a way to get some people to seriously talk about us…. Compass just released some pressure and now panic set in… honestly compass you are the one that is exhausting…. So much energy wasted over worrying about things we have no control of..
COMPASS: What our sugared up chipmunk is saying is that the new issue now was if we were going to be able to exchange our ticket times or if we were going to have to eat the cost and miss out on the climb. I was surprised you were so laid back you wanted to do the climb as well.
CHAOS: Honestly, stairs are stairs…. A climb is a climb and a view is a view….. Was it an awesome climb up for an incredible view Yeah… usually is worth it… The best part was the climb up the marble stairs so worn they look like people sat on them not walking down while making yourself dizzy from going around and around and around… I was a record for a minute [giggles]... Yeah it was awesome but it’s not like we were gonna miss ziplining from the top or repelling down the side… The only experience we would have missed was being present for the sunset overlooking Pisa.
COMPASS: That is some peoples Life Adventure Goals Chaos you do know this..
CHAOS: Yes but that is theirs and not yours just like this story and podcast is ours… no one else’s
COMPASS: Hubby and us walked to the ticketing counter to inquire about changing our tickets.
CHAOS: But not before stopping and taking the usual tourist poses with the leaning tower…
COMPASS: Yes… You, hubby and Heather all playing Look at me I’m a tourist
CHAOS: Wow spicy today… Did you replace the stick with a vacuum or is it just because it’s Sunday…
COMPASS: Shut it! ONce I was able to drag everyone to the ticketing office
CHAOS: [happily] Better….
COMPASS: I inquired about changing the ticket time. Glory there were two 430 tickets available…. Which was perfect, we would get the best sunset time. Redemption
PRO TIP: Tickets are sold in 30 minute intervals… There is no getting in early or later, your time is your time unless they have the availability to switch your ticket time.
CHAOS: Ridiculous… She was prancing up and down like a proud pony at a show. I swear her head grew three sizes before my eyes.
COMPASS: we had the perfect time…
CHAOS: Good time to point out that if you listened to your instincts months ago with all that crap you were doing you could have saved yourself the tantrum and the agony of deciding way back then…. Just saying…
COMPASS: [playing dumb] what ARE you saying? Sounds like nothing of importance .. Now with perfect times we went and stood in the line for the Tower of Pisa climb. We waited about 15 minutes before being allowed to enter just the interior… They had about 25 of us inside the circular area at the bottom of the Bell Tower. When the last person from the 4pm came down we were allowed to make our ascent.
CHAOS: Finally it was our turn in the funhouse. It would have been a sight if we lost our balance and went rolling down like a snowball adding more people , considering we were the second couple to go up the stairs towards the top.
COMPASS: [sarcastically] Of Course you would think that… it would have hurt like hell… Anyway we climb the worn, slippery spiral steps that slant sideways with the structure. When we got to the top it was worth the hassle. WE watched as the sun slowly sank below the November Italian landscape
CHAOS: What was worth it was the stairs going down…. You should have just allowed us to go down our ass…. WE would have been a ping pong ball…
COMPASS: And not have a spleen or teeth…. When we were done, No Thanks! Our 30 minute allotted time almost gone we started descending the stairs. At the bottom we didn’t have time to dawdall we had to be back at the van.
CHAOS: You were acting like they were going to leave… They wouldn’t or at least the driver wouldn’t…
COMPASS: I hate when people are waiting on us..
CHAOS: Another thing you should be used to… and we weren’t last this time we were 2nd to last…
COMPASS: For the final time today we packed into the van and made the 35/40 drive back to the ship.. Arriving with an hour still left before all aboard
CHAOS: Again… Heather, You and Hubby were all too tired to find one last harooah…
COMPASS: We also were disembarking the next day so had to pack up the cabin and go say bye to all our favorites and give them their tip.
PRO VET CRUISING TIP: We tip 2 on a cruise… 1st is after 48 hours by then we know who likes you and 2nd time is the last night before disembarking, to say thank you for taking care of us. Which turns into a night of drinking thanks to Chaos’ goodbyes
CHAOS: And after showering and dinner, we had a reservation at the steak house for 8pm, tonight’s goodbyes were no different…
HEATHER: Hello Global Kin …. It’s Heather. I’m going to do our reflection before the voices say their so long’s
CHAOS: For our Global Kin, not new to this flying circus, you will hear some familiar lessons…. Please note anything we repeat as a lesson is probably worth paying attention to.. For our virgins, welcome to the learning part of the flying circus…
HEATHER: Rude! I was talking…. This is my favorite time.. Reflection:
Be Nice to all… especially in the travel & hospitality they can make or break your vacation
Don't make yourself a target while traveling: No shiny jewelry and no status clothes or accessories
Always put your cash, cards and passport inside your bra, for the ladies
Europeans speak softly, especially those that live in cities. Privacy if found in whispers.
Respect the surroundings don’t yell as if you are at a sports venue, unless you are at one.
Most important: When traveling the only thing to expect is the unexpected. Like Life there are no guarantees, no promises.
I think that covers our reflection for this episode. I’ll bring the voice back to say their farewell’s.
COMPASS (calm, professional tone) On that note… we hope you enjoyed this episode of CompassChaos13. Join us every Sunday at 1 p.m. Eastern, or 1300 hours for our fellow travelers in time zones unknown. Next stop: GREECE— this time, we will be adventuring with Hubby, and you can bet we’ll be forging even more unforgettable connections.
CHAOS (excited, playful) This is a first! I don’t think I caused this one but somehow, we still make it out alive. But hey, the chaos? Always memorable.
COMPASS (mock patience) Listeners, help me out here — please engage with us. Share your travel tales, lessons, and even your “what-was-I-thinking” moments. Tell us where you found connection through chaos — or where you just found chaos. We can help you find the humor….
CHAOS (interrupting, smirking) Compass please just stop!! That pleading really hasn’t been working so let’s try something else… Keep your shit to yourself. We will go on talking about us because we have plenty of stories going back to 1995 and we have plans on the books for the next two years to make more!! So keep silent, we only need your ears and a finger. Sure you can use the middle one if you want to, go ahead. Then you can take that finger…
COMPASS: CHAOS!!
CHAOS: and put it right on the share as you post this and the finger to social media using the tag @compasschaos13
COMPASS (cutting in, mock sigh) No… just stop. The show’s over. Head down on the desk until next time. I’m Compass — bringing the planned direction.
CHAOS (proudly) And I’m Chaos — bringing the unexpected!
COMPASS & CHAOS (in sync) Together, we make global connections.
HEATHER (narrator / flight attendant tone) Welcome back to the present. On behalf of your dueling hosts, Compass and Chaos, thank you for adventuring with CompassChaos13.
Before you stand, please make sure your pants are dry, your eyes are clear, and your snots are wiped — we don’t do refunds for emotional turbulence.
Some of what you heard today may sound unbelievable, but rest assured — it’s all true, and no one on this adventure is innocent.
Thank you for connecting with us today. We hope your layover in our world brought a little curiosity, a bit of laughter, and a lot of connection.
For photos, travel tips and to read our blogs wander over to www.CompassChaos13.com.
Follow the journey on your favorite podcast platform, and share your story with us using #CompassChaos13 — because the world’s full of chaos, and we’d rather laugh through it together.
This is CompassChaos13 — signing off.