Like I was saying in my last entry, I have hesitated when people have asked me if I was excited about our trip. My hesitation was cause by the anxiety of arriving in Italy. Well, those anxieties were pretty much confirmed today. Ultimately, we made it and are very happy to be here... but it was a tough past 24+ hours.
We started off our long day in St. Louis at Rachel and Will's house. Rachel made us a great breakfast of toast, scrambled eggs, and coffee. We didn't have to wake up too early because our flight didn't leave until 11:30. So it was nice to be able to visit and take it easy before we left. Craig went to gather some of our belongings to load it Rachel's car and accidentally locked the keys in our trunk. That would be the first stress situation of the day, but luckily we had plenty of time for someone to come unlock it for us. Of course, the first year we decide not to get AAA that happened!
We made it to the airport in a timely manner and said goodbye to Rachel. She's seen us off to many trips! Last year it was Hawaii for our honeymoon. We almost made it through security with no worries, except Craig's bag got pulled aside. I saw them pull out him metal drum stands and began to panic. I was thinking, "What a great way to start this trip with Craig getting, of all things, his drum equipment confiscated." But, they just had to run them through on their own, and they were fine. Major crisis averted! We got on the flight and headed to New York. I made sure to walk around any chance I got. My back has been aching when I sit too much, and after this trip I have learned that walking and good sleep are just as effective, if not more, than ibuprofen.
Immediately walking into the New York airport, you can tell it's New York. Very crowded and the most diverse population you can see. I always like being in airports anywhere because they are usually area's center of diversity, but it was so much more so in New York's. Just walking through there was no sense of majority or minority. The flight from New York to Milan was, of course, our longest at 7-8 hours. After the flight to Hawaii, we knew to come prepared. I had a book, 10 episodes of Orange is the New Black on my computer, music on my iPod, a knitting project, and travel books to read. Craig had reading material and lots of video games (plus Dr. Mario for me!) on his iPad. However, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the plane offered over 50 movies, 10+ video games, and music available to use individually with head phones. So, it was a nice perk for flying internationally. We also clapped our hands and cheered for the 2 meals we were served! We had also stocked up on food for our trip because we didn't have meal luxury on our Hawaii flight.
At this point, we were pretty optimistic because most of the things we were prepared for turned out unnecessary and for the better. All it took was landing in Milan for our challenges to start. After we made it through the passport check, we started to search out an ATM machine and place for us to buy a SIM card for my phone. First, the ATM machine said we'd reached our limit although we had only used $60 to pay for unlocking our keys from the car. This made us panic, of course, but we decided to press on and try to find a SIM card. Our phone company made it sound like, "Oh, there's a Lycamobile provider everywhere and in all airports! It's so convenient!" Oh, no. no. no. no. Nothing at the airport or train station. When we left the airport, I was so worried about our Moms waking up and not seeing the promised e-mail of our safe arrival. Craig was pretty content with waiting until we got to our apartment to use the wifi to e-mail them. However, I know our Mom's (and any mom for that matter) would panic if they didn't get that promised confirmation of safe arrival on the other side of the world! Luckily, I was able to connect to wifi on our shuttle to the train station, and got the e-mail sent. Crisis #2 averted! I was content after that to not use my phone/wifi until we got to our apartment.
When we arrived at the train station, I knew we needed to get our Euro passes activated. The first place I went to was an agent for the correct company, but not correct booth. So, we were referred upstairs. It was a larger ticket office where you took a number to be helped. Many people were using kiosks, but I wanted to speak to a person to make sure we had things taken care of properly. They used a number ticket system for helping people which I was thankful for because people had been cutting in line all day anywhere they could. The wait was long so we decided to go search for an ATM and SIM Card. I found a store that offered Lycamobile phone cards, but not SIM cards. Pretty frustrating! We had someone tell us there were usually people in outdoor booths usually selling them, so Craig wanted to walk around outside the station to find one, no luck. We decided to take a SIM card search break and seek out an ATM. Of course, we found one but it once again told us we'd reached our limit. I was terrified of showing up to our apartment with no money to give our taxi driver and caretaker of our apartment. We decided to keep going and we would ask our taxi driver in Florence to take us to a bank where we would get things sorted out one way or the other.
As we waited for our train departure, we did some massive people watching. It was very diverse in the Milan station, as well, although there seemed to be a lot of Linkin Park fans. Craig spotted 5 people wearing their shirts. One thing I came to notice since we arrived in Italy was the stagnant air in buildings. I felt the temperature was just right, but could be stifling. I think air conditioning is too cold and over used in the States, but some air circulation was much needed in Italy! It was fine outside, but not inside especially with the crowds of people.
When our train arrived, we got on and found our luxurious leather seats. I was proud of this because the day before we left I was given the opportunity to reserve us first class seats for the same price as coach online. We had our Euro passes, and had to pay $15 whether it be 1st or 2nd class. So, of course we're going with 1st! While getting onto the train and headed to our seats Craig was trying to get through the aisle. There was an Italian man coming the opposite direction and trying to get through the tiny aisle. Craig stepped aside so he could pass, but it turned out that he stepped aside into the seat the man was assigned. The man said something about Craig moving, and Craig tried to explain (in English) that he would move but couldn't get through the aisle. I was standing back a ways at this point. The man said a couple times, "That is my seat," in broken English with Italian.
They eventually switched places and as Craig walked away and I was about to pass the man, he threw his stuff down and was saying, "Stupido! Stupido! Stupido!" in reference to my (MY) husband. I was far enough from Craig that I don't think this man realized our connection. I wanted to say something scolding like, "Hey! NOT NICE!" But I didn't learn that in my Duolingo Italian courses, unfortunately. So I just gave him the good ole' universal stink eye.
We sat down in our assigned seats (clearly marked on our ticket), and relaxed. I was happy to be getting closer and closer to our destination. Two older gentlemen from Sweden sat next to us, and I conversed with them a little bit about where they were from and going to. About halfway to our trip, they came to check our tickets. I had everything out and ready. I had started to nod my head and dose off when they came, and Craig was passed out asleep. I showed him my passport, ticket, and Euro Pass. I pointed to an open-mouthed, sleeping Craig and said, "He's with me." The attendant looked at our tickets an pointed out it stated on our Euro Passes that we were "2nd class." I was taken off guard by that, but didn't argue as I didn't want to get charged some kind of fine. So I immediately apologized and asked what we should do. He told us to move back to the 7th coach. I quickly gathered my things and woke up Craig. He was pretty out of it and confused, but I got him up and we started to walk out. Guess who was walking the opposite way again on our way out? Mr. "Stupido"! I bet he just looooved seeing us leave and said it some more as we struggled to get by again.
Craig and I made it back to the 7th coach and he began asking me what happened and said, "That's Bullsh*t!" I was puzzled myself. It clearly said on our ticket that we were to be seated in Coach #2 and seat 8B & 8D, which were in the 1st class section. Nowhere did it say Coach 7, which were 2nd class. Craig had me stay with the luggage while he went back to talk to the attendant. It was frustrating because we now didn't have an assigned seat. If we sat down, we could be taking someone else's seat who got on at one of the stops. The attendant tried to explain the situation, but it was an apparent language barrier. There was nothing we could do but ride the last 30 minutes standing in the aisle by the doors with our luggage. At least that meant we would be the first off!
We finally made it off and went straight to the taxi line, that was long but moved very fast. I had our directions and address written down on paper and gave it to our driver and asked to stop at a bank along the way. This time we tried the ATM, first, and tried taking out a smaller amount of money. It worked! So, we took out the same amount again and realized our limit must be around $500 a day. It wasn't as much money as we needed, but figured it was only 70 euro short of what we owed Laura, our caretaker. So, another crisis pretty much averted.
Our taxi ride there was pretty much like people describe anytime their in a foreign country. Kinda chaotic and you feel like he's going to crash into something or someone any second. But we made it, and that's all I cared for. Our apartment is enclosed behind a gate. It's actually a villa with a courtyard and Laura lives in the main area. She poked her head out and invited us in. Her English is broken. I got that feeling from her e-mail. But she definitely speaks better English than I can speak Italian. She showed us through our apartment, told us to relax and brought us juice. We signed some contracts and looked at some maps with her. When she left Craig said he couldn't have asked for the more perfect place and caretaker, so I felt pretty accomplished.
We showered and got settled in. Around 5 we scoped out a destination to get some food and took a walk. It was about a 20 minute walk to a row of stores and restaurants. There were plants and little gated villas along our way. We stopped in a couple places to get food that were much like deli counters with different breads, cheese, and salads/appetizers. The first place we went we had all our food dished out, but then they didn't take credit cards so that was a "no-go" the lady was nice enough to give us a sample of the potato pizza Craig wanted. We went to another similar place and got some things. They let us sample everything. We got some perogie looking things, roman artichokes, chicken pasta salad, and some kind of beef dish. Then we got some gelato for our walk back. On our way back, we to a short cut through a park we went around on the way there. In this park there were a few people sitting on blankets. In the distance there were two men (one man seriously in his whitey tighties underwear) on a blanket.
Craig and I agreed we were exhausted. We ate and crashed in bed. We had met the goal of staying awake until evening, around 7 pm. Ultimately, it was stressful and crazy like I was anticipating. I learned that it's pretty much like planning a wedding. You can plan as much as you want, but there are things that will still not go right and get messed up! But still, we have arrived.
We started off our long day in St. Louis at Rachel and Will's house. Rachel made us a great breakfast of toast, scrambled eggs, and coffee. We didn't have to wake up too early because our flight didn't leave until 11:30. So it was nice to be able to visit and take it easy before we left. Craig went to gather some of our belongings to load it Rachel's car and accidentally locked the keys in our trunk. That would be the first stress situation of the day, but luckily we had plenty of time for someone to come unlock it for us. Of course, the first year we decide not to get AAA that happened!
We made it to the airport in a timely manner and said goodbye to Rachel. She's seen us off to many trips! Last year it was Hawaii for our honeymoon. We almost made it through security with no worries, except Craig's bag got pulled aside. I saw them pull out him metal drum stands and began to panic. I was thinking, "What a great way to start this trip with Craig getting, of all things, his drum equipment confiscated." But, they just had to run them through on their own, and they were fine. Major crisis averted! We got on the flight and headed to New York. I made sure to walk around any chance I got. My back has been aching when I sit too much, and after this trip I have learned that walking and good sleep are just as effective, if not more, than ibuprofen.
Immediately walking into the New York airport, you can tell it's New York. Very crowded and the most diverse population you can see. I always like being in airports anywhere because they are usually area's center of diversity, but it was so much more so in New York's. Just walking through there was no sense of majority or minority. The flight from New York to Milan was, of course, our longest at 7-8 hours. After the flight to Hawaii, we knew to come prepared. I had a book, 10 episodes of Orange is the New Black on my computer, music on my iPod, a knitting project, and travel books to read. Craig had reading material and lots of video games (plus Dr. Mario for me!) on his iPad. However, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the plane offered over 50 movies, 10+ video games, and music available to use individually with head phones. So, it was a nice perk for flying internationally. We also clapped our hands and cheered for the 2 meals we were served! We had also stocked up on food for our trip because we didn't have meal luxury on our Hawaii flight.
At this point, we were pretty optimistic because most of the things we were prepared for turned out unnecessary and for the better. All it took was landing in Milan for our challenges to start. After we made it through the passport check, we started to search out an ATM machine and place for us to buy a SIM card for my phone. First, the ATM machine said we'd reached our limit although we had only used $60 to pay for unlocking our keys from the car. This made us panic, of course, but we decided to press on and try to find a SIM card. Our phone company made it sound like, "Oh, there's a Lycamobile provider everywhere and in all airports! It's so convenient!" Oh, no. no. no. no. Nothing at the airport or train station. When we left the airport, I was so worried about our Moms waking up and not seeing the promised e-mail of our safe arrival. Craig was pretty content with waiting until we got to our apartment to use the wifi to e-mail them. However, I know our Mom's (and any mom for that matter) would panic if they didn't get that promised confirmation of safe arrival on the other side of the world! Luckily, I was able to connect to wifi on our shuttle to the train station, and got the e-mail sent. Crisis #2 averted! I was content after that to not use my phone/wifi until we got to our apartment.
When we arrived at the train station, I knew we needed to get our Euro passes activated. The first place I went to was an agent for the correct company, but not correct booth. So, we were referred upstairs. It was a larger ticket office where you took a number to be helped. Many people were using kiosks, but I wanted to speak to a person to make sure we had things taken care of properly. They used a number ticket system for helping people which I was thankful for because people had been cutting in line all day anywhere they could. The wait was long so we decided to go search for an ATM and SIM Card. I found a store that offered Lycamobile phone cards, but not SIM cards. Pretty frustrating! We had someone tell us there were usually people in outdoor booths usually selling them, so Craig wanted to walk around outside the station to find one, no luck. We decided to take a SIM card search break and seek out an ATM. Of course, we found one but it once again told us we'd reached our limit. I was terrified of showing up to our apartment with no money to give our taxi driver and caretaker of our apartment. We decided to keep going and we would ask our taxi driver in Florence to take us to a bank where we would get things sorted out one way or the other.
As we waited for our train departure, we did some massive people watching. It was very diverse in the Milan station, as well, although there seemed to be a lot of Linkin Park fans. Craig spotted 5 people wearing their shirts. One thing I came to notice since we arrived in Italy was the stagnant air in buildings. I felt the temperature was just right, but could be stifling. I think air conditioning is too cold and over used in the States, but some air circulation was much needed in Italy! It was fine outside, but not inside especially with the crowds of people.
When our train arrived, we got on and found our luxurious leather seats. I was proud of this because the day before we left I was given the opportunity to reserve us first class seats for the same price as coach online. We had our Euro passes, and had to pay $15 whether it be 1st or 2nd class. So, of course we're going with 1st! While getting onto the train and headed to our seats Craig was trying to get through the aisle. There was an Italian man coming the opposite direction and trying to get through the tiny aisle. Craig stepped aside so he could pass, but it turned out that he stepped aside into the seat the man was assigned. The man said something about Craig moving, and Craig tried to explain (in English) that he would move but couldn't get through the aisle. I was standing back a ways at this point. The man said a couple times, "That is my seat," in broken English with Italian.
They eventually switched places and as Craig walked away and I was about to pass the man, he threw his stuff down and was saying, "Stupido! Stupido! Stupido!" in reference to my (MY) husband. I was far enough from Craig that I don't think this man realized our connection. I wanted to say something scolding like, "Hey! NOT NICE!" But I didn't learn that in my Duolingo Italian courses, unfortunately. So I just gave him the good ole' universal stink eye.
We sat down in our assigned seats (clearly marked on our ticket), and relaxed. I was happy to be getting closer and closer to our destination. Two older gentlemen from Sweden sat next to us, and I conversed with them a little bit about where they were from and going to. About halfway to our trip, they came to check our tickets. I had everything out and ready. I had started to nod my head and dose off when they came, and Craig was passed out asleep. I showed him my passport, ticket, and Euro Pass. I pointed to an open-mouthed, sleeping Craig and said, "He's with me." The attendant looked at our tickets an pointed out it stated on our Euro Passes that we were "2nd class." I was taken off guard by that, but didn't argue as I didn't want to get charged some kind of fine. So I immediately apologized and asked what we should do. He told us to move back to the 7th coach. I quickly gathered my things and woke up Craig. He was pretty out of it and confused, but I got him up and we started to walk out. Guess who was walking the opposite way again on our way out? Mr. "Stupido"! I bet he just looooved seeing us leave and said it some more as we struggled to get by again.
Craig and I made it back to the 7th coach and he began asking me what happened and said, "That's Bullsh*t!" I was puzzled myself. It clearly said on our ticket that we were to be seated in Coach #2 and seat 8B & 8D, which were in the 1st class section. Nowhere did it say Coach 7, which were 2nd class. Craig had me stay with the luggage while he went back to talk to the attendant. It was frustrating because we now didn't have an assigned seat. If we sat down, we could be taking someone else's seat who got on at one of the stops. The attendant tried to explain the situation, but it was an apparent language barrier. There was nothing we could do but ride the last 30 minutes standing in the aisle by the doors with our luggage. At least that meant we would be the first off!
We finally made it off and went straight to the taxi line, that was long but moved very fast. I had our directions and address written down on paper and gave it to our driver and asked to stop at a bank along the way. This time we tried the ATM, first, and tried taking out a smaller amount of money. It worked! So, we took out the same amount again and realized our limit must be around $500 a day. It wasn't as much money as we needed, but figured it was only 70 euro short of what we owed Laura, our caretaker. So, another crisis pretty much averted.
Our taxi ride there was pretty much like people describe anytime their in a foreign country. Kinda chaotic and you feel like he's going to crash into something or someone any second. But we made it, and that's all I cared for. Our apartment is enclosed behind a gate. It's actually a villa with a courtyard and Laura lives in the main area. She poked her head out and invited us in. Her English is broken. I got that feeling from her e-mail. But she definitely speaks better English than I can speak Italian. She showed us through our apartment, told us to relax and brought us juice. We signed some contracts and looked at some maps with her. When she left Craig said he couldn't have asked for the more perfect place and caretaker, so I felt pretty accomplished.
We showered and got settled in. Around 5 we scoped out a destination to get some food and took a walk. It was about a 20 minute walk to a row of stores and restaurants. There were plants and little gated villas along our way. We stopped in a couple places to get food that were much like deli counters with different breads, cheese, and salads/appetizers. The first place we went we had all our food dished out, but then they didn't take credit cards so that was a "no-go" the lady was nice enough to give us a sample of the potato pizza Craig wanted. We went to another similar place and got some things. They let us sample everything. We got some perogie looking things, roman artichokes, chicken pasta salad, and some kind of beef dish. Then we got some gelato for our walk back. On our way back, we to a short cut through a park we went around on the way there. In this park there were a few people sitting on blankets. In the distance there were two men (one man seriously in his whitey tighties underwear) on a blanket.
Craig and I agreed we were exhausted. We ate and crashed in bed. We had met the goal of staying awake until evening, around 7 pm. Ultimately, it was stressful and crazy like I was anticipating. I learned that it's pretty much like planning a wedding. You can plan as much as you want, but there are things that will still not go right and get messed up! But still, we have arrived.
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