"No Mr Bond, I Expect You To Die"

New experience number one for me today was flying low over the Alps in a little propellor plane operated by Air Dolomiti. (Thanks a lot, LH).

New experience number two was travelling by private water taxi from Venice Airport to the Hotel Molino Stucky.

I am not a thrill seeker. I am to propellor planes as I am to small boats that bob up and down when you are trying to get on and off them. (Why don't they tie them up tighter, and why do they tie them up to the one post out of six that is wobbly???).

They tell you that the easiest most convenient way to your hotel is by a pre-booked, pre-paid (100 Euros!) private water taxi rather than by the ferry that is a fraction of the cost but takes forever and requires you to drag your own case on board. What they don't tell you is that the reason the water taxi is faster is because the driver drives like a maniac! The taxi leaps over other boats wakes, lurches round corners at break neck speeds, making spray fly over you and well and truly gets you into Venice in a spectacular fashion.

You arrive as you imagine James Bond would arrive in Venice, and realise it was worth every penny!