Last Friday, I got home from Europe. It maybe weird, but I'm going to start with that crazy day before the rest of the trip. I woke up in Rome and finally laid my head down in Austin after four flights. It was a long day with more than enough stress.
We woke up around 5:00 AM to finish packing and take a shuttle to the airport. We had to check our carry on luggage because the weight restriction for our first flight of the day. (We were all 2 - 7 kilograms over the maximum.) Andy tried to have them transfer our bags to our second flight, but they couldn't because it was a different airline. We now had to change planes, print out our boarding passes, pick up our bags, and go through security for the second time of the day all within an hour.
Don't worry, I passed the additional inspection just fine. Ten hour flights are no joke. It was made a bit easier by watching a movie and a few TV shows on the flight.
My last layover was also my longest one, but it wasn't too bad. While I was trying to figure out what snack to get, I found a familiar statue.
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| Chris and Annie picked out excellent places for us to stay in. |
We woke up around 5:00 AM to finish packing and take a shuttle to the airport. We had to check our carry on luggage because the weight restriction for our first flight of the day. (We were all 2 - 7 kilograms over the maximum.) Andy tried to have them transfer our bags to our second flight, but they couldn't because it was a different airline. We now had to change planes, print out our boarding passes, pick up our bags, and go through security for the second time of the day all within an hour.
Yet another miracle on this trip happened and everything went smoothly. I was chosen by the computer to go through additional screening at the gate.
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| This is the machine that tested the samples from my clothes and luggage. |
The layover for me was no joke. I had just over an hour to get through customs, change terminals, and go through security for the third time of the day. I was really worried that I wasn't going to make it. The line for customs wasn't too bad, but it was rather slow. I only had about 30 minutes to make it to the other terminal and security. Naturally, I barely missed the tram to go to the other terminal. It was tough waiting and watching the minutes tick away. Apparently, the terminal that my flight used is one of the least busy terminals at SFO. There were just a few people in front of me in line. I didn't take my camera out of my bag and so it needed to be scanned separately. Even with that delay, I made it to the gate with time to spare. It was a miracle!
During the second hour of the flight, I took a nice nap. The first real sleep I had all day.
I saw Michelangelo's David at the beginning of the week in Florence so it was extra funny to find this card in Dallas.
By this time, I was done traveling and being stuck on airplanes. Luckily, the flight was under 40 minutes long.
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| Blurry Austin outside the window. |
It was a crazy long day. I traveled over 8,400 miles in just over 24 hours. It was physically exhausting, but I was so glad to be home again!
I plan on posting about each of our days on the trip. It's going to take quite awhile to post all of them, but I will be glad to have all of the memories written down so I can look back and remember this amazing trip.
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