So the Saturday before we left was my mom’s
birthday. She was kind enough to let us
join in her birthday dinner at AJ’s along with Randy and Kathy. Give us a few more years and our family will
be a little easier to take out to dinner.
We did find one thing that made dinner a little easier-Shirley Temples
for the twins. I forgot their sippy
cups. Ellie loves to order Shirley
Temples at AJ’s so I thought the twins may find them interesting and keep them
busy for a bit. I was right. They have snuck a few drinks of soda when
they find one abandoned by someone else so this was pretty novel to them. So overall things went pretty smoothly, at
least what we consider smoothly these days.
The dinner was delicious. And
Lincoln dressed up for the occasion. I
just had him in jeans and a polo but he decided he wanted to wear a tie for
Grandma’s special dinner. Then he wanted
to wear his new dress shoes (a pair of Jackson’s old ones) so I told him he had
to wear some dark socks with them. He
came down in his argyle Christmas socks and he went to AJ’s that way. Plus the twins decided to get a couple pair
of Ellie’s pink sunglasses before we left and wore them on the drive. We tried to take them off when we got there
but they wouldn’t have it. So they wore
pink sunglasses into the restaurant and kept them on for a while.
Sunday was more packing, cleaning the house and getting
things ready for when we came back since we had to jump right back into
it. Lincoln had a runny nose and even
though I knew I should take some Airborne or similar to try to ward it off, I
didn’t. I woke up Sunday with a sore
throat a stuffy nose plus an itchy eye (I wore mascara to dinner the night
before and I hardly ever wear it-so it was old and I think caused some
irritation when I cleaned it off). So
then I started some Airborne and finished the packing. I did the last-minute grocery shopping for
food for the kids at my parents and dropped it off at their house along with
all their luggage, etc. That evening we
went to my parents for dinner and to drop off the kids. They went ahead and stayed there that night
since we had to leave early the next morning.
I was really looking forward to a nice break but hated leaving the kids
at the same time.
Andrew and I left Kirksville around 5 Monday morning and
got to the airport in St. Louis and to our gate pretty smoothly. Our first flight to JFK was fine too. When we got there, it showed our next flight
to Rome was taking off from Terminal 1 but no gate was listed. So we wandered around JFK trying to find
Terminal 1 only to learn that we had to leave the terminal we were in, go
outside, walk down a street and then we would get to Terminal 1. This meant we had to go through security
again. We make it to the entrance to the
security line only for the TSA lady to tell us we had to go check in again with
the Alitalia desk and get a different boarding pass than the ones we had
printed off online. Thankfully, that
went pretty quickly and we were back in line for security again. It was interesting standing there as you
heard people speaking in all different languages. So we made it through security, found our
gate and realized people were already lining up for our flight. I still have no idea why they were doing
that, but we grabbed a sliced of gross pizza for a late lunch and proceeded to
stand in line. Once we got on the plane,
our seats were a little different than what I thought they would be. I researched them on Seat Guru and I thought
we were going to have a little more leg room but I ended up with some sort of
box under the seat in front of me where I couldn’t really stretch out my legs
that well. Then we sat on the tarmac
about an hour before we took off. But
once we got up in the air, things were okay.
I put my backpack up above us and was able to get a little more
room. We ate some dinner, took our
Ambien and tried to go to sleep. Andrew
went to sleep first and I decided to watch Divergent. I don’t think either of us got much sleep but
the flight wasn’t that bad and didn’t seem as long as I thought it would. We eventually landed in Rome without
incident around 6:30am their time (which was actually 11:30pm our time),
actually found our luggage and the driver that our hotel had set up. Our driver’s name was Marco who was very
nice. Andrew tried to converse with him
a bit in Italian and I was impressed. Our drive to the hotel was our first taste of
driving it Italy and they are crazy! We
stopped by the hotel to drop off our luggage first. We stayed at Hotel Caravita and it was a cute
little boutique hotel with a modern flair.
Our room was little and the bathroom was little but it was still neat. Next up our driver took us to Vatican City. He called our tour guide on the way to make
sure we were meeting at the right location.
We were actually early and since we had been moving at a quick pace at
this point, it was nice to stop and take it all in-we were actually in Italy!
Our guide, Susana, showed up a little bit later. She was actually from Peru but had lived in
Rome 21 years and had been doing guides for 19.
We were able to jump some lines with a guide, so that was nice. The Vatican was amazing-such grand buildings
with so much detail. We started in some
of the Museums and worked our way to the Sistine Chapel. You were not allowed to take any pictures in
the Sistine Chapel and they had several guards around watching you and telling
every to be quiet. It is so crazy to
think of Michelangelo painting the ceiling hundreds of years ago. Next up was St. Peter’s Square and
Basilica. We were there on a Tuesday so
they had all the chairs set up for the Papal Audience the next day. I have seen so many pictures of it but it was
awesome being there and our guide did a wonderful job with some of the history
and little tidbits. Then she showed us a
shop in Vatican City where we could get some rosaries for my parents to use for
First Communions.
After a little down time at the hotel it was on to the Colosseum. Our hotel was right in the heart of the city
(right off of one of the main streets-Via De Corso) so we got to see a lot as
we walked to the Colosseum. It was so
neat to see ruins, statues, palazzos and more than had been there hundreds and
thousands of years. To think that Jesus
walked the earth around the same time some of this stuff was built is just
amazing. We walked around the Colosseum,
saw parts of the Forum and just took it all in.
We made our way back towards the hotel and picked up some gelato and
souvenirs for the kids near the Pantheon.
We also made several trips to the TIM phone store to get a SIM card for
our international phone. There was
always quite a line but we finally stuck it out the third time we went our got
our phone set up. I am so glad we did
because it was very useful during our drive down the coast later. Later that night we ate at a restaurant on a
little side street. They eat their meals
later than we do, so our 7:30 reservation was pretty early according to their
standards. We ate at a table outside
that was actually on the street.
Thankfully it wasn’t a busy street and a charming area. I think we were a little nervous with
ordering the meal since this was our first time ordering in Italy. They serve their meal in several different
courses but you can order from any course.
I didn’t realize the portions would be so large so and I think I
offended several of our waiters throughout the trip for not finishing my
dishes. For the most part the food was
good though.
After our dinner we walked around town. We tried to see the Trevi Fountain but it was
under restoration. We knew this
beforehand but we still wanted to see it.
Most of it was covered with scaffolding but they did have a little spot
set up with some water in it so you could still throw you coin in, we didn’t
though J. Our last stops of the night were the Piazza
Novana and the Spanish Steps-a great way to end the night. The town was still pretty lively when we went
to bed that night, but we were exhausted because we had been up around 36 hours
by that point with a little bit of sleep on the plane.
The next morning it was time to pick up our rental car
and drive south to Positano with a stop in Pompeii. Andrew had caught my cold by this time but I
think it was worse for him. He didn’t
let it get him down too much though. The
front desk clerk at our hotel called a taxi for us and we went outside to
wait. A little later a guy walks up to
us and said he was there for us. We gave
him a card the clerk had given us with the address to our car rental agency on
the outskirts of Rome. I thought it
would probably be best to rent from there instead of in the middle of Rome and
have to drive out-again they’re crazy.
This drive was the first time I was thankful for our phone. First off, our driver argued with another
driver just after we got in the car, then he was pretty much on the phone the
whole time after that. After we get
going a ways I realize that I think we are going to the airport. So I looked on our GPS and we were going the
opposite direction of where we needed to go.
So Andrew got his attention and pointed this out to him. He reminded him of the sheet we gave to him
with the address and he said he was told to take us to the airport-I think he
picked up the wrong people. I think the
other driver he was arguing with was supposed to take us. Now we know to clarify this information. Well he never turned around, just talked on
the phone, ticked off. Then he tells us
he is going to take us to the Hertz rental at the airport and see what they can
do. They told Andrew there wasn’t
anything they could do for us, we would still need to go to our original rental
car place. Then our driver told us that
he had another appointment and we had to get out of the car. First off, I stayed in the car the whole time
because I didn’t want him taking off with our luggage, which I was almost sure
he would do. But then they had him move
the car while Andrew was talking to the car rental people. I admit I was a little nervous about that
part too J. He followed us around as we left the car
rental office asking to be paid. Andrew
argued with him a bit explaining to him that he didn’t take us where we needed
to go and now we still had to get another taxi. He reduced his price by 35 euros and then said
he would call the police if we didn’t pay.
Andrew later told me he wasn’t as upset as he appeared, he just didn’t
want the guy walking all over us. So we
paid him and went on our way trying to find our way out of the car rental
parking garage. Thankfully a guy stopped
us to ask if we needed help (I guess we looked lost) and showed us the way to
an exit from the garage that went to a Hilton hotel. And that is where we found our second taxi
driver who eventually got us to our correct car rental agency.
Our rental ended up being a Fiat 500. It was actually pretty roomy for a car in
Italy. It took a few moments for Andrew
to get used to the way it shifted and then we were off on another
adventure. Our first stop was Pompeii
which was just a couple hours away.
Andrew had printed off directions to get to a parking lot we had
found. I had read that you didn’t want
to leave your car unattended with luggage in it in Pompeii because they have
quite a few thefts. So we parked in a
supervised camp ground parking lot-Camping Zeus J. It was near the entrance we wanted so that
worked out well. Like Rome, Pompeii was
very interesting. It was neat to walk
the streets of this town, to see the “houses”, the marketplace, where these
people lived their lives that ended so quickly.
I had downloaded a Rick Steve’s audio guide to take us through part of
the town. I am glad we did because the history
was neat. It probably took us around 2
hours and we didn’t even see all of it.
But we were anxious to get to Positano, so we headed out. Even with the navigation on our phone, we
took a few wrong turns. It was widely
recommended to hire a car or take public transportation to Positano as it was a
scary drive. Andrew was determined to do
it though and if anyone could do it, he could.
It was a twisty, narrow road and the drivers were even crazier here
along with a lot of people zipping by you on mopeds. If you were going even a smidge to slow, cars
and mopeds would pass you no matter where it was. They would drive on the other side of the
road to be able to take a curve at a higher speed. Plus you had tour buses trying to negotiate
the tight corners. It felt like there
were no rules. But the coastline was
beautiful, just amazing. All of these
old houses and buildings just built into the cliffs with beautiful blue, green
water below. The crazy driving continued
as you got into Positano but now there were people walking the streets. You quickly learned as a pedestrian to be
aware of a car coming up on you. We
eventually found our hotel, Albergo California, along the street. Thankfully they had parking under the hotel
for us because there was no way we would be able to park anyplace else. I ran inside to tell them we were there and
they sent a guy down to open up the garage, then he took our bags up for
us. While our hotel in Rome was big city
living in a little room, the room in Positano was spacious, but sparse with an
Old World Italy feel to it. It didn’t
appear to have anything modern in it.
Even the hair dryer seemed ancient-it looked like a vacuum hose attached
to the wall. And the views off of our
balcony and side window of the town were amazing. It was a room that had been recommended on
Trip Advisor so I requested it when we made our reservations. I am glad we did!
Even though Andrew wasn’t feeling that great, we still
went out for dinner and then walked around town for a bit. We had dinner at Bruno’s, a restaurant next
to our hotel. We ate on the sidewalk
along the street with the cars and scooter whizzing past us. It was great people watching though. Andrew had a sea bass that wasn’t deboned so
he had a lot of fun trying to pick out the little bones J. After dinner we explored the town a
little. There were a lot of stairs and
hilly roads since the town is stacked upon itself. It is a really neat town! But Andrew was exhausted so we headed back to
our room. There was a festival of some
sort going on while we were there and they had a stage set up on the beach. We could see it from our balcony so I watched
some of that entertainment (it was a ballet performance the first night) and
unpacked what we needed for the next couple of days while Andrew slept.
It stormed some
that night but the sun was out the next morning and we enjoyed breakfast on the
terrace of the hotel with a wonderful view.
Then we did a little shopping. I
heard that a good souvenir to get in Positano were some custom made leather
sandals. So I found a place for that and
worked on getting a pair for me and a pair for Lissy (a thank you for all of
her help while we were gone) while Andrew got a haircut. He didn’t get a chance to get it in before we
left so he checked with the receptionist at our hotel and she told him where to
go. She even called ahead and let them
know he was coming. So Andrew had
Giovanni cut his hair. It looked like a
normal hair cut but he had some extra gel J. After we finished all of that we decided it
was time to head to the beach. We put it
off for a bit because we thought it was going to storm again but finally
decided to go. Once we got down to the
main beach to catch the boat to the private beach we wanted to go to we
realized that they had just finished their rides over there about a ½ hour
earlier. We waited around a bit to see
if they happened to show up and then Andrew found another boat to take us over
there. The beach was not what I am used
to but still had a different beauty of its own.
The sand was darker and was more pebbles than sand. The beach was tucked into some cliffs and
they also had a little restaurant/bar for patrons of the beach. I got busy just laying there and reading my
Kindle. All the while the thunder was
rumbling and there were lightning strikes off in the distance. We were there less than two hours when they
started packing up the umbrellas and getting things ready to take people back
to town. We were on the first boat going
out. There was a sweet old British
couple in the group and I talked to the wife just a bit (especially since we
could actually communicate since we were speaking the same language). They had been there before and she was
laughing about how they would tell her to jump in the boat when they knew there
was no way she was able to jump. We made
it back to town before the rain hit but then I convinced Andrew that we should
make a quick stop by the shoe shop to pick up my sandals. It started raining just as we were leaving so
we were a little wet by the time we made it back to the hotel.
That evening we decided to try a restaurant that was at
the top of the town, Constantinos. They
sent a shuttle for us and since it was a little drive away. It was dark by the time we ate or else I
think it would have been an amazing view.
I ordered a pasta dish and a steak while Andrew had a pasta with clams
and a salad. My steak came pretty red
even though I had ordered it medium well.
Andrew even agreed it was a little too rare for him. The waitress recognized that I was hesitant
about eating it so she was nice enough to take it back for me to cook it a
little more. When she brought it back
the outer edges were a little more cooked but that was about it. So Andrew helped me eat it so that I wouldn’t
offend anyone even more than I had. When
we got back to our hotel later, we walked around town a little more since it
was our last night there. I am so glad
we decided to spend a couple days in Positano.
It had a different beauty to it than what I was used to…like rolling
hills, the mountains or the beaches of the Gulf coast. It was an old, rugged but artistic beauty and
I am happy we got to experience it.
We set our alarm to get up early the next morning and
make our way to our last stop, Capo Vaticano.
It was about six hours away on the toe of the boot, so we had a little
bit of a drive ahead of us. Well, I
messed up the alarm so we woke up about an hour later. So we rolled with it, still enjoyed our last
breakfast, packed up and retrieved our car from the garage. I took some video of our drive out of the
Amalfi Coast so we could show our family just how crazy it was. But we survived and finally made it to the
interstate, or Autostrada. Again, I was
thankful for the navigation on our international phone-there were so many
twists and turns. We had skipped lunch
the last few days and were fine so we thought we would just do that again and
try to make up some time. It was a rainy
day, it would rain for a bit, stop and then start again. A few hours into our trip we had a guy pull
up beside us and flag us over to let us know we had a flat tire. He really didn’t speak any English but he and
Andrew were able to communicate a little bit.
He was going to help Andrew change the tire but then he thought we would
need some sort of key to access the tire that we didn’t have since it was a
rental. It seemed like a long drive as
it started raining again and we were searching for any sign of an upcoming
town. God was surely with us. And this is when I realized that He had been
teaching me to trust in Him more on this trip.
With all of my planning, we still had some mishaps and difficulties
along the way. Plus, I am not the best
about being out of my comfort zone, which we definitely were being in a foreign
country where not only the language but customs and etiquette are different. But instead of stressing out about all of it,
I spent more time in prayer about our situations and remembering scriptures
about trusting God. It may seem kind of
cheesy, but it was true. So back to the
store, as we were driving I was trying to call Hertz to see what we were
supposed to do. I finally got through to
an American number but then they said I had to call the international
number. That was of no help, so I called
the rental location where we were supposed to drop off our car in a few
days. After speaking with a few
different employees, I found one that understood what I was talking about and
all they had to say was we could either come there and get a new car (they were
three hours away) or have it fixed.
About this time we found a town to pull off at and they had a repair
shop just off the highway. Andrew pulled
in and talked with some of the guys about our situation. So they started working on plugging it when
they realized there was a hole in the sidewall and we were going to need a new tire. Again, I was thankful for Andrew working so
hard on his Rosetta Stone Italian because they spoke absolutely no EnglishJ. I called Hertz again to see if we had to pay
for the new tire and they said we could either come there and have a new tire
put on or have it put on where we were-either way we were responsible for the
cost. It was kind of ridiculous since it
was obvious at this point that it was a bad tire anyways since it already had a
plug in it from a previous flat tire. I
guess we know to look for that now. Andrew
asked for a “vecchio” or old tire and the guys at the repair shop said they may
be able to find one for us but either way, we would have to wait until they got
back from their lunch break. Those
Italians are serious about their lunch breaks.
A lot of shops close for a couple hours during the middle of the day
including this place. They even had a
gate that they closed so that no one would come in. They were very nice about everything
though. So we drove around the little
town for a bit looking for a gas station or something similar to just park at
and get a little snack. We finally found
something and just parked and we both read to pass the time. Then we made our way back to the shop and
they were able to find us a used tire so we were able to keep the cost down a
bit. Andrew spent some time talking with
them while the changed the tire. They
thought since we were from the United States, that meant we were from New
York. Andrew tried to explain to them
where New York was and where we were from there. They asked him what he did and he told them
he was an attorney ( I think they laughed at that for some reason) and that he
also had cattle. He showed them some
pictures he had on his phone from the ranch and the kids. They were pretty entertained of a picture of
Jackson with a turkey during hunting season.
But they finally had us fixed, Andrew paid them (he asked if he could
pay with a credit card and they said “no, no government” so I guess they try to
avoid taxes too) and we were on our way.
We eventually made our way to our next stop. We did stop at a gas station along the way to
use the restroom. It wasn’t until I got
in there that I remembered what they said about a lot of public restrooms not
having toilet paper and to bring some tissues with you. I had even prepared for that but then
realized I had given my tissues to Andrew a couple days earlier because of his
cold. I noticed a guy sitting outside
the restroom as I left and he had a table set up with some coins on it. I thought maybe he was wanting to be tipped
for cleaning the restrooms but I didn’t have anything so I quickly walked
by. Then Andrew told me he thought he
was selling the toilet paper J.
So finally nine hours after leaving Positano we made it
to our resort in Capo Vaticano. It was a little bit of a treacherous trip down
to the coast too but at least people weren’t driving quite as fast. So we pulled up to the resort and went in to
check in and it was just beautiful. The
lobby was open to the outside and it was wonderful. And our room was wonderful too. It was a beautiful suite on the ground
floor. We had a big sliding glass door
with a patio that looked out over the Tyrrhenian Sea. The bathroom was amazing with a big shower
with a rainfall showerhead and a jetted
tub next to that with a big window that looked out over the ocean too. It was so neat to watch the sun set over the
ocean while taking a shower. I decided
to get busy unpacking and wanted to get some things sent off for laundry
service. I noticed that the form said
that laundry was only offered Monday through Friday and it was Friday
evening. So I checked with the front
desk and they said as long as it was laundry and not dry cleaning that they may
be able to do it. I picked out a few key
items and bagged them up. Thankfully
they were and we got it back the next evening.
We were running low on clothes. But
after we got unpacked, we walked around the grounds for a bit and then made our
way to dinner. Breakfast and dinner were
included with our room and they offer large buffets for all of the guests. Then they have tables set up outside to
eat. They had a huge selection of food
so even someone as picky as me was able to find enough food to fill them
up. They didn’t really have anything
labeled though so you were kind of taking a chance. But I think we were both pretty satisfied
with all of the meals. The first night
they had some entertainment. It was all
in Italian but I believe it was a group of dancers who did traditional dances
from the Calabrian region of Italy.
While breakfast and lunch were set up on the ground level of the resort,
lunch was served up near the pool. It
was all beautiful and so relaxing. And
after being there a few days we decided we were the only Americans there. We think there were some Italians, Germans,
other Northern Europeans, Russians and probably a few other nationalities. It was kind of neat to be surrounded by all
the diversity but that also meant that everyone kind of kept to
themselves.
We spent three nights in Capo and our days were pretty
similar. Andrew would usually get up
before me and go roam the beach. His
hobby became collecting sea glass. He
had a great collection by the end of our days there and it thankfully made it
through customs and now sits in a mason jar on our built-in. I took advantage of sleeping in and enjoying
a leisurely breakfast. Then we would
make our way to the beach where they had chairs and umbrellas set up. I spent almost the whole time reading. I read the Very Valentine series by Adriana
Trigiani which was about an Italian family so it was fitting. Andrew finished up the books I had given him
for our anniversary our first day at the beach so he spent more time exploring
than I did. I would wander with him
sometimes down to the end of the beach where some rocks jutted out. The beach was more little rocks and pebbles
and less sand so we had to wear our shoes most of the time. I tried the walk one time without my shoes
and my feet hurt quite a bit that I hated to have to make the walk back to our
hotel. We did try to lay out down at the
end of the beach a couple times and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be
on the rocks. Andrew would smooth out an
area for me to lay down my towel. I did
miss my shade though J. We also climbed the rocks just a little bit
and took some pictures. Andrew loved all
of it and spent quite a bit of time down there.
We even spent part of his birthday laying out down there. Yep, Andrew got to spend his birthday on the
beach in Italy-he was in heaven. One
thing that was different compared to being on the beaches in the United States
was that it didn’t matter your age or body shape, all the women wore bikinis. Even women my age wore bikinis with the tiny
bottoms. They are definitely less
critical of their personal appearance than we are in the United States and it
was somewhat refreshing. Then some of
the older ladies would put on one pieces before they went out in the water and
then put their bikinis back on when they laid out again…and they would change
just right there at their chairs. I do
prefer a little bit more modesty J.
.jpg)
One of the things the resort website boasted about was
their view of the Stromboli volcano and the Aeolian Islands. The first couple of days we thought they were
lying but then our second evening there we finally spotted them and they were
visible the next day. It was neat to see
them but then they disappeared in the haze our last day we were there.
Our last day in Capo we really didn’t have to rush out of
there since we were just going to a hotel in the town the airport was in for
our flight to Rome. We weren’t able to
get a late checkout but they did inform us that we could keep our luggage at
the front desk and they had a changing room complete with showers, toiletries
and towels. It worked out great. We stayed on the beach until close to four
which was awesome. It was a beautiful
day and the water was the calmest it had been the whole time. Andrew was finally able to take a kayak out
which he had been wanting to do since we got there. There were some beaches called Praia di Fuoco
that he had been looking at online for quite a while that he really wanted to
see. They were around the rocks from our
beach and were pretty much only accessible by boat. He originally wanted to rent a little house
on the top of the cliff over this beach.
You had to walk down a steep goat path to get to the beach but he loved
the idea of all of it. I loved the idea
of an amazing resort…I won. So I was so
glad that he was able to explore these beaches a bit. They told him he only had one hour with the
kayak so he didn’t get to take it all in as much as he wanted but he still got
some amazing pictures and he can now say he has been there.
.jpg)
So after our last day at the beach, we showered off and packed up the rental car to head to Lamezia Terme. It was just a little over an hour away but we decided we weren’t too fond of the town. Our hotel was nice but I had read that you probably didn’t want venture out at night. So we got checked in and I worked on organizing everything for our flight the next day while Andrew returned the rental car and took a taxi back to the hotel. I guess he got a little lost without my wonderful navigation but eventually made it to the rental place at the airport. Thankfully the hotel had a little “restaurant” for dinner. It was more like a small dining room just off the lobby of the hotel. It made Andrew and I laugh though. We were the first ones there and it looked like the same staff that checked us in were supposed to make us dinner. I do think a different lady showed up though to do the cooking. It wasn’t the best but at least we didn’t have to leave the hotel. After dinner it was time to get some sleep as we had to be up at four to head to the airport. I thought it would be best to not take any sleep medication so that we would be sure we were ready to go. I think Andrew was regretting that he listened to me on that advice as we both hardly slept that night. Andrew fell asleep earlier in the night but then tossed and turned the rest of the time. I just had a hard time getting to sleep and was constantly looking at the clock. I think we were both thankful when 4am rolled around. Then our hotel had a taxi ready for us at 4:45. We thought we needed to get to the airport a couple hours before our flight, which was at 6:55am, but the check-in area wasn’t even open when we got there. So we waited for that and then made our way to our gate. Even though it was a dreary, dirty airport it was nice we got to go through security it there because it was the easiest one ever. Eventually one of the shops opened up so I got us some water and a snack for breakfast. But it seemed like no one was happy to be working there. Our flight to Rome was on time but a different thing with the Alitalia airline is they do use a lot of shuttles. Meaning the plane doesn’t pull up to a jetway but they just have stairs down to the tarmac and then you take a bus to the terminal. We didn’t have much time in Rome as we had to make our way to a different terminal. Then we were notified once again while trying to board that we needed new boarding passes since this was a Delta flight and our original boarding passes were through Alitalia. Luckily that was just a few steps away. This flight went to Atlanta instead of New York which I was kind of thankful for. I wasn’t too fond of JFK. The flight felt so long though. It was somewhere around 12 hours and I didn’t sleep at all. Andrew slept for a little bit and we both watched two movies. I was so thankful for their in-flight movies. They actually had quite a selection including some good new movies. But we were both so thankful when we landed in Atlanta.
Our layover in Atlanta was close to three hours which we were thankful for especially since we had to go through several customs checkpoints. Once we got through all of that and made our way to our gate I was on the search for a hamburger. I was really craving one and was so happy when I saw a Five Guys. Those workers were much different than the ones in Lamezia Terme-they were the happiest and most polite workers I had ever seen. And the hamburger was delicious. Our flight ended up being delayed close to an hour but it wasn’t that big of a deal. Especially since we were originally supposed to land in St. Louis around 5:30 and would have had to battle rush hour traffic. So we landed an hour later, got our luggage, caught the shuttle back to our car and were headed back to St. Louis. At this point we had been up close to 22 hours (plus the little sleep we had the night before) and couldn’t wait to get home. My parents had the kids at our house, all ready for bed when we showed up around 10pm. It was so great to see them and they were excited to see us-jumping up and down and hugging us. It was awesome to be home! So we visited for a bit, my parents headed home, we put the kids to bed and we headed to bed. Reality came quick as the next day it was back to getting the kids off to school and Andrew trying to tackle the mountain that had piled up at his office. We also started small group that night and had to get everything ready for that.
So that is our story of our trip to Italy. Most of the details will probably bore most
people but I know Andrew and I will enjoy looking back on it. And it would not have been possible without
Lissy and my parents help. They took our
kids in, got them to and from school, to and from their activities (they did
get lucky and had the football and soccer game canceled), fed and bathed them,
entertained them and loved on them. They even brought over some of my dad's homemade cookies (peanut butter chocolate chip and oatmeal applesauce chocolate chip) for us to enjoy when we got home. I
was a little worried that our kids wouldn’t be excited about us coming back
since they had such a great time with my parents. So I have to give them and Lissy a HUGE THANK
YOU!!!! Lissy even celebrated her
birthday with them while we were gone-again THANK YOU!
 |
| Waiting for the trains. |
 |
| Showing off their spiders from Red Barn. |
 |
| Jackson went with Lissy to see if they could get some pictures of the Northern Lights. |
No comments:
Post a Comment