Patience, Persistence and Flexibility

Okay, so not quite three P's in the title but it's the best I can come up with right now. These are the three things that I've learned today. First of all, I need to have patience because communication with those across the pond is not as instant as I would like, partly because of the time difference but I think also partly because of the way of life. Therein enters the persistence part of the equation - we (and by we, I really mean Dennis) has had to send multiple emails before we get responses. Which in turn sometimes leads to flexibility. Our first choice of accommodation on Iona was booked up for the days we wanted to be there. Dennis emailed our second choice and the response came back that there was an opening but only for the first two nights. We had always planned to spend three nights on Iona. After discussion we realized that we had come up with the magic number of three because some B and B's required a minimum three day stay. Anyway, we have now sent an email to Glengorm (the castle on Mull) seeing if we can come a night earlier than first planned. The up-side of all of this is that since the hotel in Oxford is already booked, we will spend a little longer in the day at Glengorm (if that works out) and then go as far as Glasgow before heading to Oxford as scheduled. This means we get to see some of what Glasgow has to offer, only spend 5 hours travelling the next day and get to Oxford earlier than our original 10:00 p.m.

I have been pondering the question of shoes, which and how many pairs to take. I expect it to be hot in Italy so I really want to have my sandals along. I was thinking I would have to bring my runners for the serious walking (hiking?) portions of the second and third legs of the trip. My runners are kind of bulky though and today I got an email advertising Trekker shoes. They look pretty comfortable but sturdy at the same time. Any feedback about that? I thought they could maybe replace my sandals and runners. I'm going to bring dressy sandals for when we go to the opera - they tell you right on the website that you're expected to dress for the occasion - so maybe if I start off with only 2 pair of shoes that would leave a little corner of my suitcase free for Italian shoes!