Friday 23 August 2013 - Venice to Malpensa

 We got up at 7.00 am and had breakfast.  We had ordered a disabled access water taxi to pick us up at the hotel’s pier only a few metres from our room.  I was lowered in to the taxi with a hydraulic platform and squeezed in to the cabin.  Our luggage and then Terry and Sharney came on to the taxi.  Fortunately it was the usual fine sunny day so they had no need to try and fit in to the cabin with me.  Terry had the camera and took some lovely photos of our journey to the Tronchetto.  The journey cost €100, but was well worth it for the convenience.  We regretted not having had the knowledge to use the taxi when we arrived in Venice, but it all worked out anyway.  Terry put the SmartDrive on when we arrived at the Tronchetto so I could make my way easily through the car park while Sharney and Terry carried the luggage.  We met Lyn and Chris Brown at the Tronchetto and we then drove to the Sheraton Hotel at Malpensa Airport (near Milan).  Chris then handed the Citroen van back to the dealer and we checked in to the hotel.  There were problems with the bathroom.  The pull down rail was broken and two men came to “fix it”, only taking a couple of minutes, so of course it wasn’t really fixed.  I just used my portaloo over the toilet.  We had to ask for a chair for the shower. 

We had a nap then we all met for dinner in the hotel’s restaurant, which was very enjoyable.  Lyn and Chris were leaving in the morning to fly east for a cruise of northern Italy and Croatia.  We had a very pleasant holiday with them.  They were great company and it was so helpful to have them drive us around.  We couldn’t have done it without them.  We found the hotel had an “assistance” service for disabled travellers to get to the airport so we spoke to reception and told them we would like to take advantage of that the next day.