The Adventure Begins

After departing Vancouver almost twenty minutes late, our ninety minute layover in San Francisco was reduced to twenty-five minutes by the time we de-planed. And then we learned that our flight to Rome was to depart from Gate G9, literally the farthest point from the gate we were at.

Typically, airlines close the boarding gates fifteen minutes prior to the plane's departure, which resulted in our making what felt like a two kilometer dash through the airport, with our carry-on luggage in hand.

In the end, it seems we weren't the only late arrivals, so we probably could have made a less frantic dash.

The last few flights I've taken have found me seated next to oversized people who infringe drastically upon my personal space, and this flight was no different. On a shorter flight, I grin and bear the discomfort and continual armrest war, but I was to spend almost the next twelve hours next to this guy, whose legs apparently required a ninety-degree spread. Fortunately, a flight attendant found me a comparable seat on the other side of the plane that had an empty seat next to me.

The flight was smooth, and the food and overall service were both shockingly good for United Airlines. However, I only managed to get in about four total hours of sporadic shuteye, and Brenda says she only slept for thirty minutes.

We arrived in Rome at 1:24 PM local time and made our way to the train station. We foolishly bought our tickets to Lucca from a self-serve kiosk, and ended up getting on the wrong train into Rome, which bypassed the station where we were supposed to make the first of our two transfers. The train that we were supposed to transfer to left the station three minutes after ours pulled in. The ticketing agent at the Rome station was obviously accustomed to stupid tourists screwing up their travel plans, and happily issued us new tickets at a cost of an additional €40. That was on top of the extra €10 we had to pay the conductor for having taken the wrong train from the airport.

If all goes well from now on, we should get to Lucca at around 8:00 this evening.

Hopefully the adventures we encounter on the rest of this journey will be more enjoyable than those we've encountered so far.Read more