Postal Traumatic Stress Disorder & Nana Driving in Italy

Buongiorno Fellow Commuters,

Our last moments in Florence had us undertaking what we stupidly thought was a simple task - that of posting a medium size box back to Australia before heading to the island of Elba. A reasonably simple undertaking you would think. Hah! Never under estimate the inefficiency and bureaucracy of a country that has something like a hundred changes of government in the last 120 years!!!!

Having had major difficulty locating a suitable box for posting as the large central post office supplies, we were told, had simply stopped - gone, no more, we were directed to another post office somewhere across the Ponte Vecchio without specific location, we tried to locate an alternate stationary store only to find it had moved, and we finally lucked across one and we brought the size we were after.

So armed with our packed but not sealed box, we head at 9am to complete the task. Two hours later- yes that was two hours later, we completed the task having had the guy go off mid instruction for his coffee break with a colleague, telling us to list all items and cost on two forms in triplicate. We did this honestly and patiently awaited his return. He checked our efforts after a 30 minute break and we proceeded to the counter. Th woman serving us began adding totals and then started shaking her head and saying "impossible impossible.......

As she didn't speak any English she called back our first guy who then proceeded to tell us that the is a maximum $ amount that you can send otherwise the receiving person will be charged by customs. So we needed to redo all the forms. This somewhat vital tidbit of information may have come in handy before we wrote out the forms. So we started to amend the records to adjust the amounts and it was not until we had finished this that the lovely lady indicated that that wouldn't be acceptable and we would need to complete new forms!


Two hours later the job was done, we had missed our train which would make us later to Elba than we had hoped. But all I can say is I will never ever bag Australia Post again as long as I live!!!

We caught a train to Pisa Centrale and changed to go to Piombino Maritimma station to catch the ferry there to Elba. We had a slight panic on two occasions where the train pulled into two different stations than started to head back the way they had arrived. Fortunately as regional trains they shunt into a station and then the line switches and they head back out in another off shoot direction, but after our experience with the postal system our nerves were a bit raw and we were concerned we would end up in some far away town with no way of knowing how to get where we needed to be.

So we catch the ferry, arrive at Elba and go in search of our rental car. They had advised us the day before that the one automatic vehicle they had was"in the shop" and they only had a smart car available. Folks, I could wear one of these cars on a charm bracelet on my wrist, so teeny are they!!!

Our problem was getting the 2x medium suitcases in but with some creativity we managed and I start to drive. It's on the other side of the road, the roads are marginally wider than what Melbourne lane ways are like - oh, and did I mention that this was a mountainous island with rock face on one side and a total drop to the ocean on the other!!! I wasn't terrified but I totally drove like a nanna for the first time in my life. Siobhan provided excellent navigational support and we arrived safe and sound.

The Hotel Ilio where we are staying is very Glamourous and has beautiful views of the ocean.we enjoyed a lovely dinner and then fell into bed but not before I said a little prayer to the universe that our parcel makes it's way safely to Melbourne.

Sleep tight

Kelly & Siobhan