Viva Italia - Day 11 (Coming to America)

SATURDAY, JANUARY 23RD

This morning is a clean slate - migraine gone and no symptoms to report. Thank God! We were packed and ready to roll out early from the night before, so we slept in as long as we feasibly could without missing our flight. 

There was one minor, annoying experience in Rome once at the airport and checked in - they made us weigh our bags and insisted they were too heavy to carry on. Without a logical answer to, "then how were we able to travel with them as carry ons on the way here?!" They decided that they were going to check them for us and soon they were being rolled away. We were handed tickets for each and advised that the bags would be in STL when we landed. We didn't bother fighting it. 

It was an early start to begin the first leg of our travels back stateside. Rome to Frankfurt - a quick 90 minute shot on Lufthansa to meet our connecting United flight to Chicago. Those Germans sure do run a tight ship. I've never had a delay on a Lufthansa flight, ever. You're pulling back from the gate promptly at your scheduled departure time, there is almost never a delay once on the runway, and you're usually arriving to your destination right on schedule (if not early). We were off - Frankfurt bound, the beginning of our three part journey home. I think we were subconsciously fasting for the next travel installment, as we both skipped the food and beverage service of our short flight altogether. We soon found ourselves in the Lufthansa lounge, taking a bathroom break and grabbing a quick cafe latte before heading to the next gate. 

I have to applaud my husband. He knows how to time a long journey with connecting flights, that's for damn sure. Had we experienced any sort of delay and come face to face with the domino effect of missed flights, I'd probably be singing a different tune. But we didn't, and thus he deserves some praise! 

Once again, I cannot begin to articulate the level in which the luxuries of business class travel take the stresses of even a nervous flyer like myself and make them obsolete. I know, total asshole comment, but when you don't pay for the tickets and use miles, that makes it okay. Right?! It's just so unbelievably worth it. Champagne upon arrival, constant food, ability to recline, movies galore. It really doesn't feel like flying.... Until you run into extreme turbulence over the Atlantic. When the flight attendants are asked to take their seats, as they are pouring your wine, on account of the bad flying conditions. I was not okay. I slammed my wine in a single gulp and tried to focus on my movie. The turbulence only lasted for about 30 minutes, but it felt much longer. 

On a lighter note, prior to the flight of fear, I randomly had an urge to open my window and look out. I did this JUST as we were flying over The UK and Ireland, starting out over the ocean. I don't know why, but I felt like that was such a cool thing to see on a whim and know exactly what I was looking at. I'm a geography nerd, I guess?! About 9 hours, two movies (The Martian and Sleeping With Other People), three episodes of It's Always Sunny and a few rounds of Sudoku later, we had touched down in Chicago. This is the first time we've done a big trip and not been "home" when landing here, so that was a little strange - one more flight until we were back in STL. 

Customs in Chicago is always a shit show, but we were relieved to find the line was not terrible! We got through quickly and were at the final exit when we had a slight altercation with the officer. We didn't have our bags, as we had been advised they would be in STL upon our arrival, but we were refused authorization to exit without them. The officer was a real dick, but turns out he was right. He could have been a bit more helpful and a lot less of an asshole in guiding us, as opposed to the scolding and combative approach he chose to take. Needless to say, we elected to go to a different line to exit, and proceeded to re-check our bags immediately thereafter. How efficient...

And then there was the terminal to terminal transportation.... Man was it crowded! Apparently the trains had some mechanical issues and were running slower than expected. Of course. Somehow, Brandon and I successfully pushed our way through and got seats on the next train. Within about 10 minutes we were finally in the correct terminal, but still had quite a ways to go to get to the gate. We had been sitting for 9+ hours, I guess it didn't hurt to get some steps in! Like clockwork, we had enough time to check out the sub-par United lounge, take a bathroom break and grab some water, before it was time to go to the gate and board the final leg home. 

Remember how I feel about the commuter jets? Yeeeeeea. We were only at about 20,000 ft cruising altitude, which makes for lots of bumps, but luckily it was less than an hour in the air. Wheels down, luggage received and in our car within approximately 30 minutes. As quickly as it begins - the countdown and anticipation, rush to the airport and fear that you didn't pack any of the right things - it's over. 

To cap off our Italian adventure, there was one thing we knew we absolutely needed for dinner when we landed.... Mexican food. Because we were soaked in gross airplane stench from the last 24 hours, we decided Taco Bell was our only remedy. What's more American than fake Mexican fast food, am I right?! Before even coming home, we hit the drive-thru... 

In a daze, we ate, unpacked, showered and climbed into bed by 10pm. I think we were both out almost instantly, likely dreaming of the wonders of Roma, Firenze and Venezia we had just experienced for ourselves. Until next time, viva Italia!