Benvenuto a Roma!!

10/1/09 - 4pm mom and i leave HNL on Delta for Atlanta.
10/2/09 - arrive in Atlanta and have a 3 hour layover before flying to Boston. we finally leave Atlanta after chasing down the gate as the airport kept changing it. arrive in Boston only to have a 5 hour layover. exhaustion hits us and we decided to pull a "backpack American" by laying down length-wise on the seats in the International departures. thankfully the area is empty as we are really early for our flight. an hour and half later, we slowly wake up to loud German-speaking folks. man, i hope i wasn't drooling or snoring loudly. i was sleeping on my side so i think i was ok. not that it matters as i don't know anyone here anyway. i am surrounded by people and the minute i sit up, the spot left empty is taken by voracious Germans. we finally board our flight and it is packed. and it's a crappy plane again. btw, all the planes we were on were old and decrepit. apparently, Delta/Northwest got the contract to fly our troops overseas so they used the newer planes for them. i stopped bitching once i heard that explanation.

there are lots of Americans on this Boston to Rome flight who are heading to Italy for their cruise or to spend a week in a Tuscany town....no one there for the canonization though. one older couple across from me were old hands at cruising especially in Italy. they were hilarious. they talked to everyone. they were Jewish (typically so...very Seinfeld-ish), loud and really friendly without being obnoxious or irritating. the plane we were on was so uncomfortable. it was small and the seats were so worn out that there was a permanent butt impression in ALL of them. mom and i were suppose to sit together as were a bunch of other people on the plane. come to find out that Delta under-booked so the larger plane we were suppose to have was switched as we didn't have enough people to fill it. friggin' A! and there was noone to complain to as the plane was Alitalia but the booking was through Delta/Northwest. they each pointed the finger at each other. whatev.

10/3/09 - 7:45am finally arrive in Rome. we depart the plane by going down the steps of the plane and onto a bus. so old school! we arrive at the passport terminal and i'm one of the lucky ones with the new electronic passports. it's suppose to be easier and faster but my passport dude apparently is new to this and is excited to check it out. the people behind me start looking at me in the box like i'm some sort of criminal. mom had gone through before me and turned around to see me still in the box. her instinct is to come back to me to see what's up but the box won't allow it. i wave her off and my passport dude turns to see me gesturing. now he's giving me the "eye." i know i look pretty scary after 36+ hours of travel so using my looks (yeah right!) won't work this time. so i go with the "friendly American trying to use his language" to explain the situation. i could've used the "arrogant American where english is the only language to be spoken" attitude but i really didn't want to be stripped search. i explain that "my mama" is nervous by herself and that's why i'm gesturing. it totally worked. i didn't even have to flash my scar which i had wrapped up in a pashmina. don't wanna scare the natives yet.

we head to baggage claim. i see the "toilettes" and decide to make use of it. this is where it hits me that we are no longer in America. the bathroom smelled disgusting and the toilets had no seats. you have to breath shallow and try not to touch anything in the little room of a toilet. each toilet is a mini room rather than a stall and it smells disgusting. AND this is the women's bathroom. why it smells like urine everywhere, i have no frickin' clue. i'm nauseous just typing about it.

we immediately see our bags as they were the first to come off. i am SO happy it made it. you hear such horror stories about lost luggage.

we grab our stuff and head to the taxi stand. off we go to the hotel: Ergife Palace Hotel.

to be continued......