We awoke this morning when our alarm went off at 7:00 AM. Our wonderful vacation in Italy was coming to an end, and we just hoped for a good and safe travel day home. The plan for this morning was to leave the room at about 9:15 AM for the walk to the Rome Termini Train Station to catch the train to the airport.
We wanted to have enough time to get ready and finish the last of our packing, including weighing of the suitcases one last time to make sure they were within the limits for flying home, a maximum 23 kilograms, the European equivalent of 50 pounds. We knew they should be under the limit in total, we were well under when flying over, and we had used up a lot of liquids and other toiletries. Not much had been added for the trip home, but we needed to make sure each bag was within its individual limit. Also, we wanted to get Stephanie’s bag as light as possible due to the “flat tire” on one of her suitcase wheels, the rubber repair with electrical tape that I did was marginal at best. All that final packing takes time, and we could not do that until we had finished getting ready, and had everything ready to be packed.
I showered and got ready first, and was able to get everything loaded into our suitcases, except for Stephanie’s toiletries, by the time she finished her shower and got ready, I also had some time to eat breakfast. We had our usual rolls and croissants from the hotel, as well as a banana each, and some leftover yogurt from the fridge.
We were easily keeping on our schedule, we had the bag weights distributed after a couple of adjustments, and were both finished with breakfast by about 8:15 AM, an hour early. We just relaxed a bit with the extra time, and I was able to do a little more work uploading some pictures to the Rome Photo Album from yesterday using the hotel’s Wi-Fi.
At 9:15 AM, we left the room, and headed to the train station. We used the small elevator at the hotel to get our bags down one floor to avoid using the steps, saving some energy, and suitcase wheel abuse. The “lift” was only big enough for the two suitcases and one person, and Stephanie did not want to ride in that small box, so I did the honor and met her downstairs. We had a 9:50 AM reservation for the Leonardo Express Train to the airport. We were trying to get to the airport about two hours before our Delta Airlines departure time at 12:50 PM, that is the requested time frame to go through check-in, immigration, and security. Also, they usually start boarding these flights about an hour before the flight leaves due to the size of the A330-300 aircraft.
We knew the walk to the station was going to be tough from the last time we stayed here at the Aenea Superior Inn, it is all uphill to the train station, and the pathways are not very smooth. In addition, not all the curbs have sloped sections down to the street level at the intersections we had to cross. We got to rest a few times while we waited on the pedestrian crossing lights, but were still feeling the effects from the 15 minute walk toting both our luggage and backpacks.
We arrived at the station just in time to see a train to the airport leaving. It was the scheduled departure time just ahead our reserved time. We might have been able to make that train, but we did not see the need to rush, ours would be arriving in about another 20 minutes. There are two platforms for the dedicated non-stop Leonardo Express Trains. They either depart on Platform 23 or 24. We had to wait in the terminal and watch the electronic board to see which platform our train would leave from. As we waited, another Leonardo Train arrived on Platform 23, but we were told it was not leaving next, so we were a little confused. Then the sign boards posted that our train would depart from Platform 23, and now we were very confused, it was the same platform as the newly arrived train.
It all made sense a little later when everyone was told by an attendant to go farther out onto platform 23, another train was arriving soon, but it would stop behind the one already at that platform. They had indeed told us the truth, the first train we saw arriving was not going to be ours, it was the second one arriving on the same platform behind it.
We took our luggage onto the train once the arriving passengers disembarked. There are more people arriving from the airport at this time of day than going to the airport, so our train was not full. Everyone got seats, and there was sufficient storage racks for everyone’s luggage. Since these are dedicated trains for the airport, they are designed to be luggage friendly, with more than ample storage.
It was a 32 minute ride to the airport, non-stop. The train never goes that fast, but the airport is near the coast, a pretty good distance from the city center. A train ticket agent checked everyone’s tickets as we rode to the airport, and we arrived just a couple of minutes late, it is Italy after all. It was a good distance to walk from the train station to Terminal 3 where our international Delta flight was departing. Then we had to find the Delta ticket counter. It was a little confusing to figure out where we needed to go, so we had to stop and ask at the information desk to find out where the Delta gate was. We found out that we had just not gone far enough to see it yet, it was at the very far end of the terminal
Once at the Delta gate, we showed our ticket confirmation on the Delta Phone App to an attendant there to get access through a small doorway in the glass wall to get to the actual check-in desk. That glass wall must be for added security or crowd control. We got into line to check in, although we had already done that online. Standing in the check-in line was the only way to check baggage, there was no luggage drop off for getting your baggage claim tags automatically from a kiosk. While we were in line, an agent scanned our passports to get them into the system. We still had to show them again when we finally got to an actual agent to check in. The luggage weights were fine, we already knew that before leaving the room. They issued the baggage claim checks and boarding passes, and we were told to go through another set of glass doors at the end of the check-in area to go through immigration and security.
We had been little worried when we first got to the airport about the time it might take to go through security, the lines we saw were really long and it was extremely crowded. However, Delta appeared to have a separate security area for their flights, and there was hardly anyone in line at the security checkpoint. It only took about five minutes and we were through.
Next was immigration, and they use an automated system to scan your passport, then do a facial recognition photo for comparison. If it matches, you go through the gate. The immigration agents seemed to only be there to stamp your passport, maybe they can see your images, but there were fewer agents stamping passports than automated lines, so I am not sure if they even did any type of verification, just stamping.
Once through all of the check-in processing, we headed toward the gate. The inside of the airport looked like a mall inside, more so than anywhere else we have ever been. They had all of the famous high end stores inside, as well as several duty free stores selling alcohol, cigarettes, and perfumes, along with chocolates and other items. Nothing seemed to be a good deal, even without the 22% VAT, but people were buying a lot of items. We figured that some people were just trying to get rid of their Euro currency before they left Europe.
There was an upstairs area, and that is where all of the restaurants and snack bars were located, as well as the restrooms. We used the facilities, and then thought it would be a good idea to split a sandwich before heading to the gate to board. We knew we were getting meals on the flight, but were not sure when, and we were getting a little hungry. We split our last ham and cheese sandwich for our time in Italy, making it a total of 132 for the trip, just kidding, but we did eat a lot of them. Sandwiches are about all they serve as fast food, most being some type of ham or salami with cheese. At times, we saw that already cooked pizza slices to be heated up were also available, but not often. The sandwich we got was heated, and was actually quite good. We also got a bottle of water to go with it.
It was getting close to boarding time, so we used the facilities one more time and headed to the gate to get in line. For some reason, all of our boarding times on this trip were Main Cabin 3, the last group to board. I never could figure out why, sometimes we were nearer to the back of the plane like this flight, sometimes closer to the front, but always Main Cabin Group 3 for boarding. Maybe it had to do with when we purchased the tickets, which was fairly late compared to when the flights opened up, we had not planned this trip as far in advance as others we have done. In any event, we should have been first on based on what we paid, our fare certainly seemed high, but was the going rate when we booked our flights that close to our trip departure date.
We were a little concerned about overhead storage space availability when boarding so late, but we did not have a problem on this flight or any of the others. We did make sure we were in the front of Main Group 3 and maybe that helped.
They were trying to have our flight leave the gate at 12:40 PM, ten minutes before the original scheduled time of 12:50 PM, and we only found out about the earlier departure time when we were checking in. However, for some reason, they actually started the boarding ten minutes later than was originally was posted for the later 12:50 PM departure time rather than ten minutes earlier, go figure.
We got to our seats, 33H and 33J, two seats on the outer side of the aisle, one with a window, and the one next to it in a 2-4-2 seat configuration. We always prefer this seating arrangement since it avoids the need to disturb anyone else to get out for restroom breaks or get items from the overhead bins.
We actually did leave a little early, but it was rushed to get everyone seated and to get their baggage stored, especially for us passengers getting on near the end of the boarding process.
The time for the flight from Rome to Atlanta, Ga. was listed as 11 hours, and 20 minutes. There was seat back entertainment screens, and we were going to catch up on some movies during the long flight.
We had a nice view of the Italian coastline as we departed, and we settled in to try and enjoy the long flight. After about an hour, we got a menu showing our choices for lunch, and for a light snack near the end of the flight. They gave us hot towels to clean our hands, and then came through with snacks and drinks. Alcohol was free since it is an International Flight, and they had large bottles of red and white wine, in addition to beer and liquor for mixed drinks. We were pleasantly surprised that they did have Canadian Club, so I ordered that and Stephanie got red wine.
A little while later, they came through again for drinks, and we both got the same as before. These were our lunch beverages, and a short time later, they were serving our meals. I had the chicken breast with mashed potatoes and carrots, and Stephanie had the ravioli. All were served with a pretzel dough roll, butter, a salad of lettuce and tomatoes, with oil/vinegar dressing, and a small dessert of lemon cheesecake. Both selections were actually very good for airline food, but full of starches, and that is not friendly at airplane flight cabin pressure, it can get a little gassy, and there seemed to be a lot of people dealing with that about an hour after lunch, or so our noses were telling us. We won’t lie, it was causing us issues too.
We both watched 3-4 movies during the flight, pausing at meal times and refreshment breaks. Having our noise cancelling headphones for movies, as well as noise abatement makes a world of difference on these long flights.
We got up a few times to stretch our legs in the back of the plane, and also to get some snacks that were set out there during the flight. We also requested another round of drinks, this time we both wanted Canadian Club and ginger ale, but they were running low and could only find one mini bottle of that selection, so I had to opt for Jack Daniels. We had our own stash of Seagram’s VO mini bottles from home that we did not completely use on the flight over, so we just kept the Jack Daniels and substituted our own supply of Seagram’s VO once we got back to our seats. The supply of Canadian Club was better on this flight than on the flight over to Italy but still not sufficient.
About two hours out from Atlanta, they distributed another round of hot towels for hand cleaning, and then served another round of beverages. They were completely out of Canadian Club when we did asked for that, so I got a Vodka with cranberry and Stephanie just got another Ginger Ale with Jack Daniels. The flight attendant did not realize it was a Jack Daniels with Honey, not an original, so we pocketed that and substituted one of our Seagram’s VO’s again.
They came through one more time for another round of beverages to go with the snack. The snack was a choice of a croissant with turkey or a pizza twist. By the time we were served so far back in the plane, the only option was a pizza twist, the croissants were apparently much more appetizing and had been depleted by everyone ahead of us in the main cabin. The pizza twist was not that bad. I had a glass of red wine that went well with the pizza. Stephanie just had ginger ale to mix with a Seagram’s VO from home. No use taking our VO stash all the way to Italy and back without using them.
We started to get ready for our arrival in Atlanta, we were actually about 20 minutes early. The flight had been fairly smooth, there were only a few short times that we had to be seated with our seatbelts fastened for rough air and even then it was not bad at all. I had done surgery on my cell phone to replace the Italian SIM with the Verizon SIM so we could have cell service once we landed in the USA. We were using the Mobile Passport App for Customs and Immigration Processing, so we needed to upload our passport information and customs information through the app once we landed and we needed cell service for that task.
The landing was one of the smoothest we can remember, the two pilots told us they were either retired military or currently in the reserves for the air force and navy, and still flying jets for the military, so they were really experienced. It was a short taxi to the gate, and then we started the long process of getting off the airplane. Next was our favorite part of flying internationally and coming back to the USA, immigration and customs. Luckily, there seemed to be only one other international flight that was arriving with us at the airport, so the lines for immigration, the first step in the process, we not terribly long. We got to bypass the automated kiosk machines for entering your passport and customs information since we had already uploaded it through the Mobile Passport App, so that saved a little time. It took about 20 minutes and we were with an agent, who asked if we used the Mobile Passport App, and then asked us some questions about what we had brought or not brought with us. He then asked me to look at a small camera that I though was some type of an eye scanner because it was tiny, silly me, but he told me to step back a little, it was just a camera for facial recognition to match us up with our passport photo. Once we both did this, we were through that part of the process, and headed off to claim our luggage to go through Customs.
We had brought some vacuum sealed parmesan cheese back with us that we had gotten at our favorite deli in Rome, Antica Salumeria, and it was supposed to be OK to bring back as long as it was vacuum packed. We had indicated that we did not have any dairy products with us on the customs form, so we were a little concerned if we got checked. We brought some back with us three years ago, and it had not been an issue then.
We then had a little scare with the luggage, mine was on the belt going in circles by the time we arrived from immigration processing, but we did not see Stephanie’s. We had had this happen once before, so we knew to look around to see if some of the luggage had been taken off the carousel and set aside. Sure enough, her bag was sitting off to the side with a few others, and a porter was getting ready to put all of them back on the carousel, I guess it had been overloaded initially, and bags had been removed to make more space.
By the time we got to the area where we had seen some customs agents asking people about their items as we headed to the baggage claim, the agents were all gone, and there was no one checking anything. Fortunately, we did not have to deal with the possibility of getting checked, and explain the cheese. We dropped off the two suitcases at the designated baggage re-check area for them to be taken to our final flight home, and headed for security.
Once again, there was not much of a line, and the security check was less intrusive than what is typical when going on a flight. We did not have to remove anything from our backpacks, even leaving in the laptops and tablets inside our backpacks for screening on the x-ray belt. They just did not want you to be carrying any food or other items in your hands, we were not sure why since the rotating scanner was not being used, There was only a metal detector to walk through. Maybe you are not allowed to take any food through in your hands due to customs restrictions.
Something in Stephanie’s bag required a hand search and verification, so she had to wait in a short line to get that done. Apparently, they flagged the cheese, it was the flagged item on the x-ray image, due to its shape, and they had to dig through her backpack to get to if for a swab. I guess it appeared like explosives on the x-ray detection. All was good once they did the extra verification, and she got through, but was a little nervous because it had been the cheese that they wanted to inspect.
We had to go to a different concourse, so we headed to the underground shuttle train in the Atlanta Airport. From there we headed up the escalator to Concourse C. Our next flight was about 65 minutes from now, scheduled for a 8:04 PM departure from Gate C43. We first stopped at a Chick-Fil-A to grab two sandwiches to take home with us knowing we would be hungry when we got home, and not sure what would be at the house to eat.
We got to the gate and boarded our plane for the flight to Columbia. It left on-time, and was scheduled to be at the gate in Columbia by 9:06 PM. Mom was meeting us at the airport, so we called her just to check in before we boarded the last flight and found out that she was already there at the Columbia airport. I think she wanted to be early, and drive to the airport before it got really dark. At least we knew if our flight was early, we already had our ride home. We arrived in Columbia on time, and it did not take long to get off the smaller regional jet and head to baggage claim. We stopped off for a restroom break knowing it would take a little time for the bags to show up at the carousel.
We did not have to wait long for the bags once we were at baggage claim, and then we sent a text to Mom for her to leave the waiting area and come to pick us up. There are just a lot of stupid people in the world, there were cars just blocking the pick-up area instead of parking off to the side, so it took mom a little bit to maneuver around the idiots to get to where we were waiting.
I drove us home knowing mom struggled with driving unfamiliar roads at night. We pulled into the drive and got our first glimpse of the hayfield that had been our nicely mowed front yard when we left. We already knew that was first on the list of tomorrow’s activities, mowing the hayfield.
We unloaded the luggage from the car, and mom gave us some muffins, fruit and yogurt for breakfast tomorrow, which was nice since we did not think there would be any food in the house.
Mom headed home and we headed inside. Our cat Sophie was waiting at the laundry room door and was excited to see us. We brought in the luggage and took it to our bedroom to unload later on. We both felt that showers were in order after the long travel day and we felt much better afterward. We then ate our Chick-Fil-a sandwiches while having a really good homemade Seagram’s VO with fresh key limes and Diet Ginger Ale, and then watched some college football, Miami vs. Virginia.
We made it until about 11:00 PM, unwinding from the travels home. We wanted to try to adjust to Eastern Daylight Time, so that was the reason for staying up that late. To our bodies, it was 5:00 AM in the morning, making it 22 hours since we had gotten up this morning at 7:00 AM in Rome to leave. Neither of us could keep our eyes open, so we headed off to get some sleep.
We will do a couple of additional posts with thoughts on the trip, some fun facts, and some things we felt went well and not so well. We will also add photos to the posts themselves, hopefully making it more interesting to read, as well as some proofreading, but no promises that spelling, or grammar, will ever be 100%.