Well, it has been a whirlwind tour so far, but we are officially in Rome! After three flights, a train ride and nearly 24 hours of travel we are in the Eternal City.
Yesterday started out with a 3 a.m. wake-up call at Rick and Jody’s house. We left their house in Suwanee right at 4 a.m. We arrived at the Atlanta airport at 4:45 a.m., even though our flight was scheduled to depart at 7 a.m. Jess said, “better safe than sorry!” We were at the airport so early that the TSA security lines weren’t even opened yet. That’s early!
We set up camp at the Burger King right beside our departing gate. I was reading one of my travel guides while Jess charged her laptop and transferred some stuff to her iPhone. All we needed was a table for two, a power outlet and a $2 cup of Hi-C fruit punch with unlimited refills.
Side note, walking down the terminal in Atlanta we passed Da’Sean Butler, the former basketball player at West Virginia. I had heard that he was just cut by the Charlotte Bobcats because his knee was not fully healed from a devastating injury suffered last year at the Final Four. So that was cool … he is a big dude.
After a quick stop at my old stomping grounds at DFW (I almost expected to see the Baylor track and field teams waiting in the terminal) and a visit to McDonald’s for a biscuit, it was off to New York City’s JFK airport.
Another short layover and it was time to board our final flight to Rome, Italy. We were very fortunate to have emergency exit seats on all of our flights, and we will have the same on our return flights in a couple of weeks. It was a bit daunting to get on a plane knowing that you will be on that plane for the next eight hours. But the anticipation of our destination quickly made up for that.
We arrived in Rome and quickly made our way through customs (which apparently in Italy is a freakin’ joke). The agent quickly glanced at Jessica’s passport and waved her through the line. Then I got up to the counter with my passport and he did not even look at it before he waved me through as well. We didn’t even get stamps and we are a little ticked.
A crowded train ride on the Leonardo Express to Rome’s Termini Station and we were officially in Rome. The next challenge was to find our hotel. I had the address of the hotel, but in a city where the roads are not clearly marked and street numbers are virtually pointless this proved a little harder than expected.
I had Google Mapped the location before we left, so I knew that it was at the intersection beside a piazza with an architectural building. Unfortunately, we were in the wrong piazza and spent about 15 extra minutes taking an impromptu tour. But we made it to the hotel and are checked in, showered and ready to start exploring.
We are off to grab some lunch, followed by a guided tour at the Vatican Museum and St. Peter’s Basilica. Back with more tonight. Ciao!
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