This wasn't an ordinary holiday vacation. In 2018, we cobbled together an itinerary of three days in England, six in Sicily, one more in England, and one in Dublin. The day in Dublin was a product of a cheap flight from Newburgh, NY to Dublin. We'd taken this inexpensive Norwegian Air flight before; it's a bit of a drive to Newburgh, but the airport is accessible, and the price is right. The trip was built around getting to Dublin and then going elsewhere. I was eager to revisit England. From there, Ryan Air has low-cost flights to Sicily. On the way back, we visited a friend in Cambridge and spent one day/night in Dublin. While I didn't mind booking separate flights on the route over, I didn't want to risk missing the flight back to the US, so we stayed one night in Dublin. It felt about as crazy as it sounds.
In December, the three days in London were what one might expect: dark, damp, and gray, but not unpleasant. When we arrived, I was under the weather. Combined with the jetlag, it was difficult to do anything on the first day. The next day we went to Borough Market for random food bites. Then we took the tube to the ArcelorMittal Orbit, designed by Anish Kapoor, for the 2012 Summer Olympics. The rather unattractive structure is an observation tower; the world's tallest and longest tube slide was added to the structure in 2016. If you haven't been on a tube slide, I do recommend it, but it's not for the faint of heart. Next, we went to the Tate Modern, which happened to be free (and crowded) that day. I love the Turbine Hall and terraces. After the museum, we headed to a dinner reservation I had booked in advance. I've been quite lucky to eat at many fancy restaurants. There are only a few that I strive to return to; I had been to St. John on my first visit to England. The white-tablecloth restaurant didn't disappoint upon the revisit: cured beef and celeriac, Welsh rarebit, bone marrow, roast middle white, Eccles cake, and Lancashire cheese. The middle white was everything I remembered. After dinner, we wandered to Brew Dog Café.
The second full day was overcast, so we focused on fish and chips and pub hopping. The conditions weren't conducive to photography, so we enjoyed beers, walked through a maddeningly crowded Piccadilly Circus, and crossed bridges. We saw the sun for about five minutes as we took photos on the Tower Bridge.
The next day we went out for a proper Sunday Roast. I had been to Hawksmoor in Manchester, on my last visit, so I trusted their location in London. The roast, with all the trimmings, was the experience that I can't find in the US. We added on smoked salmon and crab toast and finished with sticky toffee pudding. I developed an obsession with sticky toffee on my last visit. Again, a dish that isn't quite the same at home. After brunch, we walked through a dreary Covent Garden to the Abbey Road. From there, we took the train to Stansted to fly to Palermo.
Our arrival in Sicily was around 11:15 PM. Immigration and customs took about an hour. With the issues of Brexit and immigration difficulties around the world, it's never quite clear, within the EU, when you'll need to go through immigration again. I hadn't thought that we'd have to in Sicily, but we did. We also went through a very long line in Stansted when we returned; this involved the most intense round of questioning I've ever had at a border.
Back to Palermo, in the pouring rain, at midnight: we planned an Airbnb within a mile walk of the airport. Without much communication, we simply hoped we'd be able to make it into the complicated, gated Airbnb. We decided to walk in that direction and wish for the best. Ten minutes into the walk, a car stopped in the road, opened the door, and I, in Italian (I studied Italian in high school and college), with my Philadelphia-sense of danger, told them, "No, thank you!" But, I heard a little more and realized that they were our Airbnb host. Luckily, they had decided to drive to the airport to find us, because of the rain. Without their help, I'm not sure we could have made it into the gated area, with about five locks and fences. That incident made me question my decision to save a little bit of money, on a cheaper flight, and arrive in the dark. Lesson learned.
The next morning, we walked back to the airport to rent a car. I read a bunch about driving in Sicily on Reddit. It really is the most insane driving I've ever seen. The rental car was also the most damaged rental car I've seen. The only rule is to keep moving. Trust that everyone else will stop. It takes two people to drive—one person to direct with google maps (and endless roundabouts) and one to drive.
We picked up the car and drove, on New Year's Eve, to Cefalù. I had booked Airbnbs around the island to be able to see most of the sights. But, Mt. Etna had erupted the week before, so we skipped Catania. I couldn't find up-to-date info about conditions in Catania, so I canceled and picked another location. In Cefalù, we discovered a place to park (somewhat of an issue, but every small town seems to have a parking lot near the edge of the city) and walked to the ocean. The sun was bright, and the town had a quiet, relaxed, holiday feel to it. We took photos and had a delightful lunch of pizza and pasta before we drove to our Airbnb. Perched high upon a cliff, overlooking the north coast of the island, we made a fire and listened to the wind all night long.
Next, we drove southeast to Syracuse. We briefly navigated around the town, but couldn't find anywhere to park. Not much was open on New Year's Day, anyway. Honestly, it didn't seem safe to leave the car, even when we thought we had found parking. I read quite a bit about not leaving anything in the car. Since we were moving from place to place, we had everything with us; it wasn’t worth taking a chance. Instead of stopping in town, we went to our Agriturismo. For a long time, I've wanted to stay at one of these places: a farm with a few rooms and a menu of whatever the family is serving. We arrived in the afternoon, during a large family celebration, being held in the main hall. The host's college-age son, who spoke English, greeted us and brought us cake, home-made liquor, and coffee in the courtyard. After, he gave us a tour of the farm. We had dinner that night, as the only guests in the main hall. It was far too much food for us, but very Sicilian. In the morning, we stopped in for a sweet breakfast and went on our way.
The next night was at an Airbnb with over a hundred positive reviews about the nine-course meal served in the home. There are two or three rooms rented out in the house, so you eat dinner with whoever else is there, as well as the host and his helper. The host spoke English and said he was a doctor, but loves cooking. There were two other guests: a mother and daughter from Russia. The daughter, in her mid-20s, told us she was a correspondent for the BBC in Moscow. Our dinner conversation was quite fascinating. It seemed that she didn't quite know much about Trump and reality in America. The man who hosted the Airbnb was outright anti-Trump and Putin. I had never spoken to someone from Russia, so I was happy to learn anything I could. Also, the food was endless and delicious.
The next morning we took a long route, through Marsala, to the airport to drop off the car before spending two nights in Palermo. I'd read that one should avoid driving in cities, particularly Palermo. After some uncertainty, we made it into the most heavily fortified Airbnb I've stayed in. While three sets of locked doors and an alarm system were unnerving, the space itself was gorgeous. Converted into a modern loft, the Palazzo was a bakery, hundreds of years ago. The level of security for the Airbnb was similar throughout Palermo and most of Sicily. The city's general energy felt unsafe. While this may not be the case in the high tourist season, in January, the streets were empty at night. Unfortunately, Sicily doesn't have Uber, so there was no safe way to get home in the evening. Thus, we enjoyed long lunches and wandered during the day. As expected, the food was everything I want food in Italy to be.
After two nights in Palermo, we flew back to Stansted and took the train to Cambridge to meet friends. We walked around the town, had breakfast at Wetherspoons (British TGIFridays), and did an escape room. I have never seen/read Harry Potter, but I hear that's what Cambridge looks like: classical architecture and canals, sans robes since the schools were on break.
We stayed by the airport to catch our flight the next day to Dublin. Since we had been to Dublin several months before, we knew the deal. The bus into town is straightforward. We tried to see the sights we had missed: the Long Room at Trinity College and a short trip to Howth. Dublin is rather small, and we saw most of it the last time. The light-rail trip to Howth was a breath of fresh air. We walked to the marina and ate fish and chips. After returning to Dublin, we went back to our hotel by the airport. Staying close to the airport has become one of the things I'm willing to spend on. If you have an early flight, it's so much easier to be near the airport and not worry about an early morning bus, taxi, or Uber to the airport. While I think most adults know this information, I'm still late to a few travel tips.
Overall, this was a whirlwind trip. It was one of our weirder choices. But, as is more evident than ever, every trip is worth taking.
