Once again, from the top

Long before my friends proposed hiking across Scotland to me, my parents and cousins planned a trip to Italy. It happened to work out that the trips didn't overlap, and I actually had five days in between, three of which I spent working, two of which I spent nursing my painful ankle.

I left for Italy limping like an old lady, worrying everyone in my party, and worrying myself that I had a stress fracture.

Thankfully my mother had an extra ankle brace that I wore, and the foot feels much better now. How a sore ankle got better through more walking, I can't explain.

I took the same trip in 2000 when I was in high school. I was really excited to be able to finally share my experiences there with my parents.

So, we flew into Milan after hopping over the Alps, and drove to the east coast of Italy. We stayed in the fairly small town of Caorle, where we could dip our feet into the Adriatic Sea. From there we went to Venice, a fascinating town, of course due to it's lack of roads, cars, and the utter insanity of living on a cluster of sinking islands. It is a beautiful place, and we spent much of our time in the Doges' palace, (the Doge was the king of Venice). (It's a museum now, we weren't having tea and biscuits or anything.)

Around midday, my cousin suddenly fainted, which altogether isn't an exciting or happy thing to happen. But I quickly assessed that she hadn't had more than maybe 16 ounces to drink that day and it was very hot. We were assisted by the staff there who called an ambulance. I was sure that she could refuse if we could fix her up so I made her the same deal as I would make for any other patient. If she could walk out under her own power, then I would be satisfied that she was okay.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen as she continued to feel lightheaded for more than half an hour even after drinking a lot of water. What I didn't realize at that point was that there are truly no wheeled vehicles in Venice, so the paramedics arrived in a boat. A boat! Thankfully I knew that my cousin was okay and simply needed more fluids than a water bottle could give. Because of this, I could turn my attention to the giddy feeling I got when I realized that I would get to see the Venice EMS Ambulanza Boat.

I was very impressed with their EMS. They had lifepack 12s, started an IV on her, and were generally very thorough.

She was taken downstairs in a very strange looking, what I called, a stairchar/wheelbarrow. It was the oldest wackiest thing they had. Outside I followed them through the crowds of tourists to where their ambulance boat was parked. I am shamed to admit that I was so excited at my cousins expense, but she understood.

She was rehydrated in the ER, and rejoined us later that evening. All was well.