Saturday, January 14, 2012

Part 11: The Long Road Home

November 1, 2010
We had to get up before 5am to get ready to head to the airport.  We were pretty efficient and headed out around 5:30, after saying our goodbyes to D.  The ride to Catania was pretty quiet.  It was, after all, the crack of dawn.  B got us to the airport around 6:30.  In other words, right on time.  We got our boarding passes, checked our bags and held our breath.  I don't know how we managed it, but we did not have to pay a dime (or a Euro) for the weight on our bags.  With everything taken care of and plenty of time to kill, we found our gate and settled in for some waiting, trying to figure out how to spend the last of our Euros.  Sam went for a walk to find something delicious and came back with a couple of sodas.  We sat back and enjoyed our beverages, and I snapped a picture or two of Moosie.  With still more time and Euros on our hands, Sam went off on another excursion.  This time, he returned with snacks.  I got to try the previously-mentioned Nutella Snack & Drink, and Sam had a croissant.  My snack was yummy - crunchy breadsticks with Nutella for dipping.  You really can't go wrong with Nutella!  The orange drink that came with it was not as much of a hit.

After some more thumb-twiddling, it was time for our flight to board.  This first flight went off without a hitch.  In fact, it landed in Rome a little bit early.  We were thrilled that on this stop in Rome, we wouldn't have to sprint through the entire airport.  We took advantage of this fact by making our way to our next gate at a more leisurely pace.  We got to the U.S. Airways counter to check in for our next flights, and things started going downhill.  The lady at the counter asked for our boarding passes (which had our baggage claim numbers on them) from the previous flight.  This is where poor Sam realized he must have dropped his somewhere.  We searched everywhere, to no avail.  Who would have thought you'd have to hang on to a boarding pass from a flight that already happened??  That had not been the case with any of our other previous flights.  Oh well, lesson learned, I suppose.  Thankfully, the lady at the counter was able to find all the information she needed.

After all that drama, we settled on the floor to wait for our flight.  We still had a tiny amount of Euros left, so Sam set out in search of a snack.  He came back empty-handed.  Right at the designated time, we were asked to line up to board.  The line took us to the center of the circular counter, and down a seemingly secret staircase.  We found our seats, stowed our bags and prepared for the flight.  We were right on schedule!  Or were we?

After some sitting around, the captain announced that he had made several requests, and we were waiting for the push-off machine. I'm not sure how long that took, but eventually, we got in line at our runway.  People were starting to get a little antsy, but after a while, the captain once again made an announcement.  This time we were told that the tower was having us wait for a short while due to heavy rain and high winds. In about fifteen minutes or so, we'd be on our way.  More time passed, and more people started getting twitchy.  Another announcement came.  We were cleared by the tower to take off, but we were about tenth in line, so it would take about twenty minutes before we would be up in the air.  A wave of grumbling passed through the cabin, and people began milling around.  The waiting was definitely getting old.  The captain came on the P.A. and made yet another announcement.  The wind had shifted, and we were getting redirected to another runway.  We should be in the air in about twenty minutes.  This time, passengers had chimed in on the "twenty minutes" part.  When we got to our runway, we ended up even further back in line than before (even though we'd been told we would not lose our place).  Boo.  By that point, people were wandering around all over the place, as the poor flight crew tried, in vain, to enforce the "fasten seatbelt" order from the captain.  I had been a good little traveler, with by belt fastened and my electronics turned off, so I don't know exactly how much time had elapsed.  I do know that, all in all, we sat on the tarmac for about 2-3 hours.  So frustrating!

Once we finally got up in the sky, the flight itself was pretty uneventful.  Sam and I occupied ourselves with various activities, including watching the last Shrek movie, napping and eating.  About halfway through the flight, we picked a most thrilling program to watch.  Are you ready for this?  It was a documentary on corn! We learned some stuff, took a break so I could stretch my legs, then learned some more stuff.  It was truly exhilarating.  We rounded out our viewing of in-flight selections with "Date Night."  We were pleasantly surprised and quite entertained.  Sadly, our screens turned off about ten minutes before the end because we were preparing to land.  Finally!  (For the record, we still haven't seen the end of the movie.)

As we touched down, we got one last announcement from our captain.  Because of our delay in Rome, we would have to speak to an agent at the gate about our connections.  It turns out, we missed our flight from Philadelphia to Sacramento by a mere thirty minutes.  Sam was furious.  Even more so when we received our boarding passes for our new flights.  For the next morning!  It was right around this time that I thanked my lucky stars for having the foresight to get subs for the following day.  Without much other choice, we started our trek through the airport.  First stop after claiming our luggage: customs.  We had filled out a form on the plane, where we'd been told members of the same household could do a joint card.  With this in hand, we found the shortest line, and approached the clerk.  "Are you two married?" he asked.  "No, but we live in the same household," we answered confidently.  "You need separate forms," we're told.  We tried to explain what we'd heard on the plane, but to no avail.  In retrospect, I think the announcement had said family members in the same household.  Darn it!  So the customs guy sent us away to redo our forms, and then told us when we were done that we "need to approach the counter separately.  I don't want any problems."  I really enjoy being made to feel like a felon over a simple misunderstanding.  Anyhow, we went through the process with our new forms n hand, and through another customs desk where they took said forms.  All the while, my paranoia was rising, as one of our suitcases felt somewhat damp, and I had visions of red wine and glass all over our clothing.

After passing through all the necessary checkpoints, grumpy and exhausted, we got in line at the ticket counter.  We would have gladly turned in our meal and hotel vouchers for an earlier flight.  After waiting in line, there was pleading for flights to anywhere in our general vicinity (no Sacramento?  We'll take Oakland, or SFO?).  No luck  Apparently, no flights leave for the West Coast after 6pm.  So we set out for the shuttle and headed to our free room at the Hilton.  First order of business upon checking in: checking for damage in the luggage.  When I discovered that all our bottles of wine and various other liquids had survived, I immediately felt better.  Sam jumped in the shower to try to relax a bit.  Both of us feeling better, we grabbed our meal vouchers and headed downstairs for dinner...only to be informed that the restaurant was already closed.  Thankfully, the adjacent sports bar was open and served food.  We were seated at a table in the center, surrounded by large flat screens, playing an array of sporting events (including the World Series, I believe).  I ordered a much needed glass of wine, and we both dove into some yummy cheesesteaks.  The sandwiches were pretty big, and I barely go through half of mine before calling it a night.

With bellies full, and feeling much less grumpy, we returned to our room, reassembled our luggage and went to bed.

November 2, 2010
Our last day of travel began with a 5am wake-up call.  We dragged ourselves out of bed, packed up and checked out, with a few minutes to spare before our shuttle arrived.  We partook in some of the free coffee in the lobby while we waited.  The shuttle came and got us to the airport with no incident.  The airport was quiet that early in the morning and we didn't have to wait very long to check into our flights.  Once again, I held my breath as they weighed our luggage, and again, no fees.  Whew!

At the security checkpoint, Sam and I both had our carry-on bags searched.  My dude seemed at least mildly amused by Moosie's presence in my suitcase, and buckled her in before sending me on my way.  Sam's bag got x-rayed again after being searched, then searched again.  Apparently, one of the souvenirs was raising eyebrows.  We were finally permitted to go and made our way to the gate.  We were pretty exhausted at this point, so we sat quietly, with smart phones in hand, catching up on the last two weeks.

Our flight started boarding on time.  We didn't have to be told twice to get to the gate, and were almost at the front of the line.  Of course, being allowed to just board the plane at that point would have been too easy.  There were TSA agents at the gate, and both of us had our bags searched again.  Seriously??

We shared a row with a gentleman whose slumber we had to disturb a couple of times, due to our demanding bladders.  We had some coffee, and after trying to get the fruit and cheese plate on multiple flights, we finally succeeded.  I only mention this because Sam ended up with a cube of cheese in his coffee. After many poorly suppressed giggles,, he consumed both the coffee and the cheese.  I probably would have cut my losses at that point, but he prevailed.  Other than that, this particular flight was pretty uneventful.

We arrived in Phoenix on time, where we made our way over to our gate for the final flight.  This was another relatively quiet wait.  We had exit row seats, but discovered that we were in different zones for boarding.  So odd.  Anyhoo, they claimed this flight was on time, but we most definitely boarded about fifteen minutes late.  Compared to everything else we'd dealt with on our journey home, this was not a particularly big deal.  The boarding was relatively quick, and the flight was short and rather comfortable, since we had extra leg room in our row.  We also had an empty seat next to us, which is always a plus.

An hour and some change later, we landed in Sacramento.  And sat there.  And sat some more.  After some further sitting, the captain came on the P.A.  We were at our gate, but the jetway wasn't extending.  The captain said he had no communication with the crew on the ground, but said he could see them trying to get the silly thing to work.  A little more sitting there took place, and still no luck.  Finally, we were permitted to exit the plane through the back (of course this happened when our seats were close to the front!) and go down the moveable stairs.  We found our way into the airport, found my dad, and claimed our (still fully in-tact!) luggage.  It was time to pile into the car and head home.  It had been amazing adventure, but it sure was nice to be back in our own abode.

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