Hurry up and wait is the usual pattern on a long travel day and this day would be no different.

Blah, blah, blah……

And with that we were off on our way to Toronto.

The flight was a good one, just a little turbulence and the cabin crew were all very nice. The meal was also very good, as were the wines.

While others in the cabin slept, I watched the two Avenger movies – Avengers: Infinity Wars and Avengers: Endgame. Both were good and the ending of Endgame was a big surprise to me.

When we arrived in Toronto, the process of getting through passport control was an easy one. They have kiosks that let you check through quickly and electronically, with just a review by an agent.

We headed off to get our luggage, which was starting to come down the carousel as we arrived. We watched as all the bags finished coming out of the chute except ours. Since we were tagged priority and had a direct flight we were a little annoyed that our luggage didn’t get there.

However, we walked down towards the end of the belt and there, sitting on the floor, were our bags. Some nitwits had taken it off the carousel and never bothered to put it back on when they discovered the bags weren’t theirs. Since foul language is not appropriate, I just wished a plague upon their home and bedbugs in their underwear as we called to get directions to our shuttle.

The shuttle was right where they told us it would be and our driver, Mark, was waiting to whisk us home. We had a nice conversation along the way as he maneuvered us through the Friday afternoon rush hour traffic. It was nice having someone else drive and the time actually passed by quickly. Soon enough we were crossing the Lewiston – Queenston Bridge and then before you knew it he was pulling into our driveway.

I can definitely recommend the Buffalo Airport Shuttle service if you need a ride up to Pearson Airport or to bring you back home. The price was fair, the van was roomy enough and the driver and others we dealt with were all pleasant.

And now the coupe de grace, walking up to our front door, we spotted a package hiding behind the post. It was the first case of wine that we had shipped home. I can’t always get a regular package delivered in four days and here was a case of wine from Piedmont, Italy.

It felt good to get home. We were gone just the right amount of time to appreciate Italy and to keep from having to go through detox.

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Prologue: We had a great time in Italy. The Piedmont region is beautiful and for wine lovers, it’s hard to beat. We enjoyed all the wine, ate some fabulous meals, took in the beautiful scenery and met so many wonderful people along the way.

The people we interacted with were kind and reassured us that they appreciated our efforts to speak a little Italian. Sometimes the reassurance came in the form of a smile or a little grammar lesson, but never did we feel we were being laughed at for trying.

We had lots of help in making the trip such a great experience. We worked with Valerie Quintanilla from Girl’s Gotta Drink, who put together the winery visits, cooking class and tours for us. If you’re thinking about going to the Piedmont region, I would highly recommend you contact her.