I am finally back from my trip and it was AMAZING!!! I didn’t bring my laptop when I went and I don’t really like typing on my phone so I decided to just wait until I got home to write about everything.
We left last Saturday July 17 around 10am from the Minneapolis St Paul Airport. Our flight was at 1pm and we got there with plenty of time to spare. Our gate was far but I am happy we left early and had a chance to eat at a sit down restaurant. Everything was on time and seemingly well until we got on the plane. The pilot said there was balancing issues, too many people with heavy luggages. The crew had to move around people on the plane and move around luggages. We had a 3 hour layover at JFK so I wasn’t too worried about time. Well I was wrong lololol, 3 hours on the plane on the tarmac, they decided to take off people’s luggage, they promised us they were only removing people’s luggage that was going to JFK and leaving the international luggage on the plane. I immediately knew that wasn’t going to be the case because all the heavy luggage was more than likely people traveling abroad. I did what I do best in a panic and just prayed we would make our flight to Rome and hopefully have our luggage. I was comforted by the idea that since we got there so early our luggage would be further back and hopefully not picked to be taken off. We finally got the ok to take off and we were all so excited when the pilot said, “more bad news, air traffic control has decided to keep all planes from going to JFK because of the weather and not enough workers to land us.” AHHH, sadness all around when a minute later the pilot said wait! We got the ok to take off and he booked it out of there before they could change their mind. During our 2 hour flight we got to know the people around us, a lot were going to Athens, Venice, Milan, some Rome, and various other cities across the world. The most interesting, was a family behind us, they had 2 sons and one was chosen to play soccer on a national team of like 20 something kids across USA to play against the Greece team. The kids were so cute and were playing a soccer game and they kept naming players and that peaked my interest and I began talking to them and that’s how I found out about their cool trip.
Anyways, we get to JKF and we had 20 min to make our Rome flight, it was the only Rome flight of the day left so I prayed and hoped we would make it. We logged into the Delta app and find out our flight was delayed by an hour!!! I have never been so happy for a delay in my life until this moment lolol. Still cutting it close but it gave us hope! We land, almost everyone with connecting flights missed except a handful of others. I hate how big JFK is but I was happy we landed in Terminal 4 and our next flight was there like 30 gates away. I don’t work out but for some reason if in danger I can always run a good steady pace to save my life and even beat Dan to the gate! We get there and by the grace of God they just started boarding, we get our temperatures taken (they didn’t check our CDC card or really anything,) and get on board. Once on the flight, I keep checking the Delta app to see if our luggage made it (I love their app!) and right before they told us to put our devices on airplane mode I see both our luggages are checked in!!! I do a happy dance and can finally relax.
The flight there felt fast and my only complaint was the airplane food has gone down hill. I forgot to take pictures but it was meh at best. I normally love hospital and airplane food and never really saw why people complained but no bread or salad and just the main dish which was pasta or chicken, a very small side, and a little ice cream. I miss their bigger portions and their bread and butter so much! We made it and once in Italy we flew right through customs. They didn’t ask for our CDC cards and just took our temperatures and stamped our passport and then we picked up our luggage and went to find a taxi.
I didn’t like how as soon as we left the airport there were like 40 people yelling if we needed a ride, I like following the rules and don’t ever take up random rides so we had to shove our way through to the legitimate taxi stand and got a taxi right away. I couldn’t help but think how crazy that was because there is still a pandemic around and no one moved out of the way and I hugged my backpack close and used my luggage as a shield to make my way through. I was thankful that we each only had 2 pieces of luggage, our back packs and big suitcase.
We made it to the hotel, which is the same one we stayed at last time. Our room was ready so we went and showered and brushed right away (it was around 2pm.) When we were done, we called an Uber to go to the Pantheon (this service didn’t exist last time we were there so it was nice they finally had it there) and ate lunch. Last time we avoided the tourists traps but this trip I wanted a lot of people watching since I felt like I have been missing just looking at people and being around people that it felt so nice to be surrounded by them.
After lunch we got gelato and headed to the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. I call the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps the Big 3 since they are 3 big attractions all near each other and so easy to get to by foot.
After some walking around and sight seeing, we got dinner. We were so exhausted but happy we made it until 8:30pm at night so we could get on some normal schedule for the next day of full day of activities.
I loved our first day in Rome and noticed it wasn’t as crowded as last time we were there. This would be both good and bad for the rest of the trip, but I will break it down day by day and explain in other posts.
Adventures of Janet 