UK to Sicily

Written on Monday 29Sep, Castelammare del Golfo, Sicily

Whew, we got here. Three accommodation changes, two car journeys in two different countries, two car hire changes, one currency change, one international flight, and one change of Internet service provider, all in a period of less than 30 hours.

The accommodation changes went without a hitch, with the new Bloc Hotel at Gatwick airport being of great interest to us, and chosen because our flight to Sicily departed at 7:00am Sunday, with bag drop closing at 06:20am. And besides, it was only $100 Aust and located right inside the South Terminal, within an easy stroll of shops, restaurants, and flight check-in.

The Bloc rooms are tiny, most with no windows (Who needs a window when all you want to do is crash?). That big light panel where the window might be disappears when you turn the lights off. Each room has its own fully equipped bathroom, a single small stow-away seat and a big TV built into the wall at the foot of the bed. The bed was big, and comfortable and the towels were huge and fluffy and white.

Most interesting to me was the use of a bedside wall-mounted tablet computer as a touch pad controller for lights, aircon and checkout. There's even a free identical App you can download onto your own tablet or smartphone if you'd prefer not to use the room tablet. It was fun checking out while still in the room!

Checking in and checking out were the easiest we've had anywhere. Because the room is prepaid, and there's no mini-bar or room service, and everyone has a smart phone (so no phone in the room), it is impossible to run up extra costs.

As for the car journeys, we accomplished both (Cornwall to Gatwick, 250 miles/400km then Palermo airport to our accommodation here in Sicily) without a hitch (well, a tiny one in Sicily). We had a 4:30pm deadline on the time of car return at Gatwick airport; because we weren't exactly sure how long the drive would take, on a mixture of Cornish laneways and four lane motorways, I added a substantial reserve to the time estimated by the iPad. As it turned out we made the journey in almost the exact time the iPad said it would take, guided only by the iPad, travelling on three different motorways and slowing to a crawl at one stage on the giant M25 ring road which circles London. One other thing had to be planned in, car refuelling immediately before drop, otherwise a £66 fee (more than a day's expenses for us). Before leaving I'd found a refuelling station at Gatwick airport, hidden away on the exit side among trees. This was our target initial destination at Gatwick and we were very happy to find the iPad directed us to it faultlessly. The car passed inspection at Avis and we were in our room at the Bloc nice and early.

Gatwick airport is busy, busy, but everything flows smoothly. Very obvious among the bag laden throng were armed police in groups of three. We ate and drank (Guinness was on tap) well at one of the many food outlets just below our room, set the iPad alarm for 04:30 (no clock, wake-up calls in the room as everyone has a smartphone) and went to bed after watching an episode of Dad's Army (yes, a re-run, but still hilarious for all of that) on the room TV.

Our easyJet flight rolled out on time, with us and our bags on it. Non-reclining seats, but otherwise same as Jetstar in Australia, and no bother for the 2.5 hour flight to Palermo.

The company providing our mobile Internet access in UK ("3") had assured me that the same SIM card and plan could be used in Italy also which was one of the reasons I chose that provider. Nevertheless, I was sceptical but turned on the iPad on the aircraft as soon as allowed on arrival and was shortly pleased to see that the SIM card logged on automatically to an Italy-based provider, and a good strong signal, too. To get it operating fully I had to enable data roaming, but no other intervention by me was needed. Fantastic for us, for now we had full mobile Internet, including access to Maps and navigation details, right from the word go -- all we needed now were cash and a car.

A warning for anyone picking up a hire car. Generally, you need a valid credit card before a car is provided. At the Europcar desk, my Gold Mastercard would not let the service assistant access it. I realised that the problem was that I had blocked international access (via a web facility) to the card. I then handed over my Visa debit card only to find that this was not acceptable. This was something I hadn't before realised. The only option now, other than to abandon car hire, was to change the block settings on my Mastercard. While the lady serving me waited patiently I stood at the counter and tried to access the web page to make the required changes. Three times I got right through the several steps only to get a "fail" at the last hurdle; then I realized that possibly a better connection was needed so asked the assistant if she had WiFi in the office. "No". Shit! Then she remembered she had a portable WiFi device in a desk drawer somewhere and perhaps it had some usable credit on it. It was worth a try so she turned on the device, it showed up on the iPad and I keyed in the password. Bingo! I was online with a more powerful local connection. My guess proved accurate and a few seconds later I indicated to the lady, who seemed as relieved as I, that the card should now be accessible to her. With a thumbs up, she indicated yes and a few minutes later we were out in the bright sunlight heading for our allocated car, a black four door Opel, sporting many scratches, many of which did not show up on the car documentation. This latter matter was soon rectified and before too long (well, a little delay while we found a cash machine), we were bowling along the autostrada to the SW toward this town.

Map showing our location, in context. Palermo is the capital city of Sicily, notorious for being a hangout for Mafia, and a place where a car is deemed a disadvantage, unless you have strong local knowledge and connections. Our apartment is situated at the Pin, with Palermo airport between Castelammare del Golfo and Palermo.

A couple of local pics:

One of the first tasks after arrival was to visit the local supermarket. Amazingly for us, with previous experience of Italy, it was open seven days, even on Sundays, which this was. It was comprehensively stocked with most things we'd need and had an amazing deli section, which this typical Sicilian guy looked after. I asked him to hold this enormous piece of mortadella while I took this pic, assuring him that we'd be back daily while staying here.

The view from our balcony this morning, early-ish. Included in the pic is the bell tower of a modern Sicilian Catholic (what else?) church, whose strident bells chimed this morning at 08:30 so no chance of a sleep in for us.

Lastly, we were famished on arrival here yesterday afternoon, having missed lunch after a very early and small breakfast at Gatwick airport. Some snacks and drinks at a local and very cheap bar (open Sunday arvo!) helped but we were told that there was a pizzeria around the corner and eventually found it hidden away in a grotty corner a couple of streets away. The only guy we encountered there was abrupt and not welcoming but told us (we think) to return at 7:00pm if we wanted a takeaway pizza. Strangely enough, I was elected as the pizza getter and so sallied forth right on 7:00 pm after a bracing couple of glasses of the local red with M (she elected to stay and guard the apartment) on the balcony.

On arrival, just after dark with street traffic increasing, I found that the pizzeria was open, but only just. Out on the street outside I'd encountered three guys dressed in white, sitting in the gutter amid discarded rubbish items, smoking. Also in the middle of the street was an ex polystyrene foam box, now broken into hundreds of pieces, soon to be thousands. No one thought to perhaps pick up the bits; in fact a few guys just sat in the gutter or leaned in doorways gazing at the mess.

Inside the pizzeria things were starting to get busy. I'd managed to order a Margerita (pizza, not drink), indicating the required size by pointing at the smaller pizza box among the hundreds piled up next to the helpful and friendly lady at the counter. Locals were starting to arrive and sit down at the dozens of available seats, arrayed along trestle tables. Then I saw the three guys in white again, the gutter guys. One was busy, the others watching. The busy guy, with a white kerchief tied around his sweating brow, was making pizza bases, by hand. The reason he was sweating was the adjacent enormous stone oven which I'd failed to notice earlier. Soon, my pizza and a couple of others could be seen roasting in the fiery cavern and a couple of minutes later it was in the box, the box was in my hand and I was out in the street heading for the apartment. The cost: €4 (about $6 Aust), after small local discount to which we entitled as we were guests of Ugo and Deb, owners of our apartment. A Mafia connection?

The box, this morning. The pizza was delicious and a great prelude to a long and exhausted sleep.

Thanks for reading

Mary and I would appreciate your feedback and comment. Click here to email us.
Kev Long
Author iPad Traveller for iPad and Mac.


The technical stuff:
Our iPad is connecting to the Internet mainly through a cellular connection provided (prepaid) by the UK "3" network, including in Italy. On high ground and in town environments around Cornwall this connection proved quite good but many places, especially in valleys and in small coastal localities lack coverage so no or poor connection. So far, in Sicily, the connection has been good. There are quite a few WiFi options available although not always advertised. Just ask if you're unsure if available. WiFi is of course the preferred method of transferring large amounts of data but I have been posting these blogs and their images sometimes using only a cellular connection either from inside our apartment where possible or on the roadside.

The cellular connection gives us both in car and on foot navigation capabilities which are essential around Sicily, where mere printed maps struggle to provide sufficient detail at a manageable size.