But this is future talk and for now, autumn is the time when you better come prepared. That means if you’re planning a weekend trip, check the weather forecast beforehand; if it looks a bit undecided/grim, be sure to pack up your rubber boots, an umbrella and a raincoat because this means “Acqua Alta” time in Venice. We arrived unprepared and looked pretty stupid when we wanted to leave the hotel after breakfast and the street was knee deep full of water. Our hotel was a really nice one (nothing fancy but who needs that anyway if you’re just planning on sleeping there), not far away from the train station but unfortunately they had no rubber boots to borrow.

But, as we’re all not made out of sugar, we took off our shoes and socks, rolled up the trousers and walked down fifty meters to the next shoe shop. Lots of people were already lining up get a pair rubber boots – imagine winter sale at Macy’s … people start doing anything for a last pair of those new trendy shows … As the place was not directly in the city center, the boots were on 16 € per pair – not too bad for a quick solution of the problem. In the city center we saw people paying up to 40 € for a pair of rubber boots. Depending on your negotiation skills you can get them for 30 – 35 € when buying them from one of the “flying merchants”. They were the obviously winners of the day!

The thing that worried us a bit was the electricity issue. So much water and high voltage is not the best combination. But Venice is prepared for these occurrences. Even the shop owners were pretty unimpressed by the situation, so we didn’t give it that much more of a thought.

So we were on our way and got to see how other visitors handled the weather conditions. We came across some funny sights indeed. Some simply walked barefoot, not worrying about catching a cold (it was pretty cold that day), others had a garbage bad wrapped around their feet to keep the water our of the shows. This method might work for a little while but in the long run, they usually give up – that’s why you see lots of garbage bags floating around in the streets.

Anyway, so we walked all day long without getting any blisters. The walking itself was a bit tough though; we weren’t able to run or walk pretty fast because we needed to avoid an overflow of water into the boots. Then at around 3 pm the tide turned and it was “business as usual” again…

“Acqua Alta” on Piazza San Marco in Venice, Italy.

The walkways are flooded during “Acqua Alta” in Venice, Italy.

High water in the streets of Venice, Italy.

“One time” Rubber boots are a must during “Acqua Alta” in Venice, Italy.

Uncle Chrisi enjoyed the trip to Venice, Italy.

Interesting show styles during “Acqua Alta” in Venice, Italy.

Some people simply give up during “Acqua Alta” …

… others try to save money by wrapping plastic bags around their shoes.

We stayed in Bangkok just a couple of days before the flood hit the city. We were pretty disappointed with the weather but I guess after all were lucky in the end. The flood has been described as “the worst flooding yet in terms of the amount of water and people affected“. The area which was severely hit in Thailand was Chao Phraya but also in the Mekong River basin. Beginning in late July and continuing for over two months, the floods have caused over 500 deaths in Thailand (250 in Cambodia, 43 in Vietnam, 34 in Laos) & affected over 2.3 million people.  58 Thai provinces were hit by the flood, from Chiang Mai in the North to the capital city of Bangkok near the mouth of the Chao Phraya.

As I already said above, we actually experienced the heavy rain ourselves during our travels to India & Koh Kood Island in Thailand. I mean honestly, the weather is crazy all over the globe and sometimes it almost seems like the world is coming to an end. It feels like it’s getting worse every year…but maybe I’m just beginning to be paranoid.

Bangkok started getting ready for the flood while we were there…

Our entire resort on Koh Kood island was under water…

It was raining cats & dogs for three days in a row…