Our planning was to fly from Milan to Palermo. Flights, Hotel and Car Rental all booked by Easy Jet. Easy and Cheap ! We where a party of four: Nancy, Oliver, Marika and myself. We drove, by car, to Milan where we spent the night. Early Wednesday morning (04:00) we departed towards the Malpensa Airport. Our "Tom Tom" navigation system guided us smoothly out of town. Than off the highway. Apparently a short cut! I'm a believer in High Tech and didn't doubt the instructions. We reached an entry to the "Autostrada" marked Malpensa. Only, it was closed and guarded by a police van! Where are we? No detour signs! "The TomTom", always insisted to take the bloody same entry and guided us in circles. We passed the same places several times and crossed the same village, Rho, from many directions.

I got sick, my family shouted, the departure time came near!...Than, I remembered to instruct the device to find an alternate route. It worked! The time to the Airport was now again 55 min. This according to our trusted "TomTom". It was already 05:30. Our flight was scheduled at 07:00. I crashed through toll gates, ignoring the red lights and getting lightening orgies from all the cameras installed. Sorry, I couldn't figure out how and where to pay. Happened twice! Never mind, time was running out. Than a horrible traffic jam at a junction leaving the autostrada. Later, an endless stretch over smaller roads.

Dead slow early morning traffic, wrecked my nerves! Time got critical. I ignored all traffic rules to get there! At last, we reached the Airport, got even a parking space and rushed towards the Check-In counter. A long way with all the baggage! Time: 06:25, we made it! So I thought! To my great amazement, I was told, by very unfriendly airline staff, that the flight closed 06:20! Not a "sorry", no attempt to help, no nothing! The evening flight was naturally fully booked. We shuttled between Terminal 1 and 2, no way to get a flight to Palermo not even a train! I discarded the idea to drive the 1'527 km by car. Time calculated by "TomTom" 16h 14min. One way only, but not both! Stranded! After a cool beer, I decided on an alternative program. I drove to Genoa. There we strolled through the not so nice town. The girl's mood brightened. Shops! Than I pressed on: direction Monaco. In 2, a town between Monaco and Nice, we found a small Hotel with vacant rooms. Nice view over the sea and the yachting harbor. We stayed there three days and visited, Monaco, Nice and Cannes. Quite nice for the girls, too many shops for the my taste! On Sunday, Route Napoleon, Geneva and home! Nonstop!- Altogether a good trip but I still missed the Etna and Nancy her brother we intended to visit in Palermo! Maybe next year!?