Portabagagli at Venice bridge

By Marilyn Hill
This item appears on page 45 of the August 2016 issue.

The only thing I was dreading in May 2016 about my umpteenth visit to Venice was the Calatrava Bridge (aka Constitution Bridge). What? That stunning structure of Istrian stone a few steps from Piazzale Roma? What I dreaded was, after arriving on the airport bus (8), trying to manage my luggage up the stairs and over the bridge in order to reach my hotel.

Although I’ve seen tour groups in Venice using the over-water porter service Trasbagagli (located at the airport and at Piazzale Roma), when traveling alone I’ve been reluctant to hand over my luggage to a porter. Instead, I’ve always started to laboriously drag the luggage, myself, until some kind person has offered to help me.

This time, rather than hope for good luck again, I had decided to offer to pay someone… but my magic carpet suddenly appeared in the form of a man with a small flat pallet covered by a beat-up rug. 

At first I ignored him, but then I sized him up favorably and offered 5. He said he wasn’t able to do it for that, so we agreed upon 10 (near $11). Apparently, in the two years since I had been there, a small business had been born.

In no time flat, my carry-on and one 22-inch bag were loaded and then quickly bumped up and down the wide stairs. I was almost running to keep up. As I had directed, once across the bridge, the man continued a couple of long “blocks” to the train station, and soon after passing it he turned left and went to the end of a long, narrow, blessedly quiet street. Up a few more stairs was the entrance to Hotel Abbazia (www.abbaziahotel.com). 

I thanked the man, paid him and asked for a business card. Before he quickly disappeared, he surprised me by handing over two of them.

Here is his information: Chowdrury Asadujjaman, Servizio di Portabagagli (Via Gazzera Alta, 13–30174, Mestre [VE], Italy; cell phone +39 3294793234). Hours 6 a.m.-10 p.m.

In seeing and overhearing conversations with others afterward, I learned that there were more of these porters and that they had to work within a certain radius for the 10. If one of them had space available on his “dolly,” he would carry additional luggage for the same amount.

On other days, I saw a couple of them working farther into the interior, so I guess anything could be negotiated.

By the way, the latest business on another bridge I crossed (this time luggage-free) was selling not silly little mechanical toys but long extenders for cell phone cameras with which to take “selfies!”

MARILYN HILL

Portland, OR