Saturday, September 21, 2013

Home...

We had quite the travel day yesterday. It started when I went to print boarding passes and the Delta to Alitalia link would not work so I ended up with boarding passes for just the first leg. Our driver did arrive early and we got to the airport in good time, and after some guesswork as to which terminal, we got to the check-in counter where the agent was able to update our itinerary and check our bags through to Detroit.
During our 2 hour wait at the airport, our gate at the airport changed twice, resulting in a couple of walks, then when it was time to board we did not get on a plane, but a bus! After all the passengers filed in, it took us to our plane sitting on the tarmac along with many others. Apparently this is how Alitalia deals with a shortage of gates.
Our flight to Amsterdam was uneventful and arrived on time. We flew over the Alps on our way and caught this nice picture of them from the air.  I was surprised at how "short" a mountain range it is.  Compared to flying over the Rockies  the Alps appeared and were gone in a few minutes. Once in Amsterdam we had a long walk and no boarding passes for our Delta flight, which caused some consternation as we approached a security checkpoint.  Fortunately it was just a European Community exit station so our passports were stamped and we headed for our gate.
Once there the security process was quite involved. Our passports were recorded by an airport agent, they were verified again and we were interviewed by a US agent, then we finally got our Delta boarding passes. Once we had that, we still had to pass through a USA style secondary screening device! WHEW!
The fight to Detroit was long - 8 1/2 hours. I watched 2 movies (Star Trek and The Internship) and played some games on my iPad while Mary watched 4 movies:  Field of Dreams, The Devil Wears Prada, Mamma Mia and Driving Miss Daisy.
Once home around 5:30 pm, we unpacked, bought our traditional Little Ceasar's pizza for supper, made a few phone calls, then crashed since it was after midnight in Rome. We both woke up around 3am (our biological clocks think we are still in Rome!) so we dealt with the pile of mail, started laundry and prepared our task lists for today.
After this long, three phase trip it seems like it's been forever since we left for London, but it;s nice to be home.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you both had a day , welcome home and thanks for taking us along on your holiday . Pat

Gail said...

315 ytaiwaWelcome home! Flying is never easy or enjoyable these days. Glad you are home safe and sound. Hope you catch up on your sleep soon!
Thanks for the great blog!