Day 1: Arrived in Venice!
The Flights
The last couple mornings we tried our best to wake up very early (3am and 2am CST) as if we were waking up at a regular hour in Italy's timezone, which is 7 hours ahead.
I think the strategy worked well! We had ample time to pack and clean up the house before heading to the airport, plus it already seems like we're on schedule with the timezone here.
Our flights themselves went really smoothly. We were both surprised to see that our international flight tickets came with two hot meals! Here's a fun picture of Kassidy sporting face mask + eye mask.
Arriving in Venice
We paid a small extra fee to be picked up by our taxi driver at the airport gate rather than hunt him down later on. This was more than worth it! Our James Bond-esque driver found us quickly and refused to let us handle our own bags. His professionalism was so over the top that we had to get a picture of him.
The Search for the Hotel
Thanks to the high tide, our water taxi driver (not the same James Bond figure pictured above) was unable to drive us all the way to our hotel's pier, so they dropped us off "5min away, walking."
Well, because our phones had no service, finding the hotel turned into a game of asking a local at every corner if they knew where our hotel was located. Everyone was really helpful! That "5min walk" turned into a bit more, but we found it no problem.
Here's a photo from our water taxi ride:
All in all, A Relaxing Day!
Our first day in Venice ended up being a slow exploration on foot, with a nice canal-side lunch and simple dinner! We didn't plan anything for this day, but it turned out fine. Perfect way to wind down after a nonstop day of travel!