Thank you, Cholula — I look forward to seeing you once again.

By the way, my first stop is Prague, where I will spend the day. Afterwards, I spend two days in Cyprus...

Err, what am I? Chopped liver?

I was not only the first to leave, and the one who took the longest route, but I was also the first to arrive in Italy(if you don't count the UIG) and most likely will be the second to arrive in Venice.

I demand a public retraction by Cholula!

Ditto on the VCE card. I got the 7-day orange, mostly for the bathrooms and museums. And bathrooms! No one has EVER accused me of being a camel!

Don’t worry, Dovster — we will ensure that Cholula retracts you in public once we are all there in Venice.

This public retraction of Dovster should take place in the center of the Piazza di San Marco for all to see.

Cholula retracting Dovster should not hurt...

...much.

Dovster....I thought of you when I wrote the original post but, IMHO, you have yet to start on the Great Venice Odyssey.
Thus far you have flown to EWR to mooch a pastrami sandwich, flown to South Florida to mooch off your mother and flown to Milan to mooch off the UIG.
Until your butt hits VCE and you start mooching off your DL Forum buddies, I don't consider your Odyssey to have begun.
BTW, Odyssey is a tough word to type. Who invented this word??

It pays to read.

I just reviewed the Venice Card Internet web site again, and I found out that buying a blue Venice Card on-line for three days nets only a 2-Euro (approximately US$2.65) savings versus simply buying the Venice Card without the on-line discount.

I do not believe I will need it, but if I do need the Venice Card once I am there, I will simply purchase one.

I saw that too but assumed that the VCE Cards were only sold at the train station, airport and a few other places. So I figured if I was going to get one anyway, I may as well order it online and pick it up on the way out of the airport.
But if this card is available nearly everywhere then I agree it doesn't make much sense to buy it in advance just to save a couple bucks.

...especially if one is unsure as to whether or not one needs a Venice Card in the first place.

I will probably rather use that US$2.65 towards the public retraction of Dovster by Cholula in the Piazza di San Marco.

Trust me, Dovster will get distracted, extracted and, if he's lucky, retracted whilst in VCE....;).

Yes, it does pay to read!!! :rolleyes:

And if you read the website, you will learn that it is BY RESERVATION ONLY, by website or phone, and you must order it 48 HOURS IN ADVANCE of picking it up, at the locations designated on the website (airport, train station, bus station, parking lot, etc.).

http://www.venicecard.com/condizioni_sp_eng.jsp
http://www.venicecard.com/quando_eng.jsp

The other cards I was referring to in a previous post were TRANSIT-ONLY cards, for either 24 or 72 hours, which you can purchase in Venice. Please don't confuse these passes with the Venice Card, which includes other services (toilets), other optional add-ons (Alilaguna airport transit, museums), and other so-called "privileges" such as medical/legal assistance, bar/restaurant discounts, handicraft discounts, etc., etc., etc.

But if all you want is a transit pass, then by all means, just buy one once you are in Venice.

Actually, Dovster has been looking forward to that, but not in the manner in which he may have expected.

Here are the scenarios, in order of the preferences of Dovster...

To be distracted, contracted, extracted and then retracted by:

• All of the women attending the Venice meet — EXCELLENT
• The Used Italian Girlfriend (UIG) only — GOOD
• Cholula in public — HORRIBLE NIGHTMARE

I was going to mention that it looks as though Dovster should prepare to get bent out of shape by Cholula, but Dovster is already out of shape...

I do not believe I need any of the accoutrements that are included with the Venice Card, so I will purchase a transit card if necessary.

Just out of curiosity, does anyone have any idea how much are each of these transit cards?

Thank you for the clarification.

The 24-hour transit card is about 10.50 Euros and the 72-hour card is 22 Euros (info from a recently published Venice guidebook).

The most up-to-date info is probably on a website somewhere, but the above prices ought to be close.

Here is the Internet web site of ACTV, the agency that operates the vaporettos in Venice.

Unless the ACTV Internet web site has not been updated recently, those fares are still correct.

This is actually a better deal if the ancillary services and discounts offered by the Venice Card are deemed unnecessary.

Of course it has, and it has been one of oddest of odysseys -- as chronicled in the Trip Report thread where I just had the distinct pleasure of (again) insulting Cholula.