Today we finally start out on this trip, excited to be going, but also with a little bit of apprehension. There was an early alarm set for this morning, at 4:00 AM. We are trying something new on this trip to Europe, we have gotten up at around 4:00 AM for the past two mornings, trying to adjust to the six hour time difference, even if is just two of the six total. We are hoping this tires us out a little so we can get some sleep on the plane from Charlotte to Rome, departing at 6:20 PM this evening.
The apprehension comes from Hurricane Matthew. Earlier this week, it seemed to be going on a harmless path past the USA. Now, and with each passing forecast, it seems to be tracking a little closer to the coast, and increasing the possibility that we will have some part of the storm at home. In addition, there are always the rental properties we have in north Florida, something else to worry about while we are away and unable to keep in direct phone contact with any of the tenants.
In order to at least relieve some of the concern for home, we went ahead and removed all of the patio furniture from our lakeside deck, trying to make sure nothing goes flying into the windows or sliding door if we get high winds off of the lake. We will have a house sitter, Stephanie’s mom, there during the time that the storm is predicted to be close by, but we did not want to burden her, or my mom, with lugging furniture down the steps to put it into the workshop. We should be far enough inland, but still could see some 50 mph winds if the storm continues to track to the west. From all of our time living along the coast in Florida where we were always keeping tabs on hurricane tracks over the years, it always seems that storms tend to keep going in the direction that the forecasts are trending, but we have our fingers crossed that it will not go too far west, causing more impacts to our property.
It was actually nice to have everything ready early this morning, you can do a lot when you get up at 4:00 AM. The baggage weights crept up, as they always seem to do, and with everything finally in, we were both around 49 pounds, just under the 50 pound limit. We had really wanted to be around 45 pounds, which always seems to be the goal, but adding in a few forgotten essentials just adds up. We also wanted to try and lighten our carry-on bags, especially my camera bag, so we put a few additional items from my camera bag into the luggage that are not normally included. All in all, we were satisfied that we had not packed too much, but we will see when it is all said and done.
We left the house for the drive to the airport around 12:40 PM, and were in the check in line by about 1:05 PM. There were not many people in the airport, and after some technical issues with American Airlines passport scanner to check us in, we were heading to security. There was no one in the security line, a first for any airport we have ever been to. We zipped through security screening and redressed after collecting all of our belongings. It is nice to be in a small airport at times like this, but the downside is having to connect somewhere else to go almost anywhere other than Charlotte or Atlanta.
We were at the gate by 1:30 PM, which offered us an opportunity to work on this post. We will have a three hour layover in Charlotte, but the alternative would have been less than an hour, and we thought that was too short when we made the reservations One hour leaves no room for error if there had been bad weather or other problems. Missing an overnight flight to Europe is bad, there is only one or two per night per airline to the same overseas destination. Or, requiring a change to a totally different airline.
We plan on having an adult refreshment at the Mexican bar inside the Charlotte airport, we have done this before on a previous overnight European flight, it will give us time to relax before the nine hour flight. Our flights should be relatively stress free, we don’t have any other connection in Europe, which can cause worry if the transatlantic flight is late.
The first flight went well, and were generally on time into Charlotte. We did have a Dos Equis Beers in the Mexican restaurant in the Charlotte airport. One beer apiece, a small basket of chips, with salsa and queso cheese dip was as much as eating out at San Jose in Lexington, where we even have very large draft Dos Equis beers. It was vacation, but still a little painful. It makes purchasing drinks on the airplane look reasonably inexpensive.
We boarded on time for our flight to Rome, and were generally on time leaving the gate. Unfortunately, we then spent the next 30 minutes waiting for clearance to take off. We were glad we were not connecting to anywhere else in Europe. Worrying about being late on a nine hour flight makes for a really long flight.
We did not have any issues with storing our bags in the overhead bins, there was plenty of space since we had the two outside seats next to the window. The inflight entertainment system was a real patience tester. The touch screen was thoroughly worn out, and it was difficult to move forward and backward through the menus. We did find a couple of movies to watch, but Stephanie really did not like her selection. I found a newer Star Trek movie to watch and it was just OK on the tiny screen.
The service on American Airlines was deplorable. They were not very nice, and were often put out by any special requests made by the passengers. The meal was OK, although Stephanie did not like the orange flavored chicken and rice entree. They were having issues making sure everything was on the tray that came with the particular choices, which were the aforementioned chicken, and a macaroni and cheese entree, touted as the “pasta” choice.
We asked for and received some ice and ginger ale, so we of course made ourselves a VO and Ginger Ale, garnished with fresh key limes from our tree at home. They were serving beer and wines for free, so we did try the red wine, and it was acceptable, but not great. Did I mention how bad the service was, they only made two beverage service visits for the entire flight, up until the next morning. They had set out some glasses of water pre-poured in the rear service area, but made no announcement about their availability. We only saw them on a visit to the rear restrooms.
We did end up getting a little sleep, probably less than three hours total before we were awakened for breakfast, about an hour and twenty minutes prior to our arrival in Rome. The breakfast was OK, we had some yogurt with a side packet of granola, some dried cranberries, and a blueberry “sinker” muffin top that was about an inch thick, but must have required additional fuel to carry on this flight. It was both dense and dry. We did get some bottled water and I had a coffee to help me wake up, but when Stephanie asked for a Diet Dr. Pepper, which was on their list of sodas being served, it was an act of Congress to get one, apparently all of the beverage carts had already been “locked” up. Eventually, they did provide one to her, but not with the most pleasant attitude. We got a great deal on these flights through Princess, but would not ever choose flying on American Airlines again if we had a choice. Our Delta flight back from Copenhagen last April was so much nicer, the staff was great, and all drinks were free, not just the lousy wine and warm beers.
We landed only a few minutes late, even with the delay in Charlotte, and after we left the plane, we headed to baggage claim to retrieve our luggage and start our stay in Rome. We will continue our arrival story on the next post, our first day in Rome.
It may be hard for us to keep up with the posts initially, we will be on the go all day and into the night during our three days in Rome, and probably on our first three days of the cruise when we will be stopping in ports on each day. Pictures will probably be delayed until we get some sea days on the cruise to catch up, but we will do our best to keep up.