Thursday, September 6, 2018

Travel Day, Leaving Italy August 22nd

Wednesday morning we woke up about 4:30 to get ready to go to the airport. We had taken home some of our pizza so we had our shake and leftover pizza for breakfast. We woke up Thomas just before we had to leave and the owners brother was giving us a ride to the airport.

It was about a 20 minute ride to the airport from the Airbnb. We arrived two hours before our flight which was perfect timing because we spent pretty much that entire time standing in line to check in. We got to witness some arguments in Italian, some arguments in English, and prevented people from butting in our line. We did get to see my cousin Celine and her husband they were taking a different flight, and a couple of other Americans that were attending the wedding as well. Fun to see people you know when you’re in a faraway land.



We finally got checked in, checked her two bags and headed to security. The security at Palermo was very easy, I think the baby made it easier as well because I had his cup but she didn’t seem to care about anything that was for the baby except smiling at the baby. Then we had to walk through a grocery/gift shop where they had a whole bunch of pistachio stuff so I bought some pistacchio liquor, creme di pistachio, and pesto pistachio. They sealed it up in a duty-free bag, we walked out of the shop to our gate which was already boarding. It was like we got to know the people on the plane because we just stood in line with them for two hours.

Leaving Palermo, no time for coffee.




We got on the plane and had to buckle Thomas into our buckle because that’s what the Italians do. That was a quick 45 minute flight to Rome. When we landed we got off the plane and had to board the shuttle to get taken to the terminal. The stroller that we had gate checked was brought out and we noticed it laying on the cement as our shuttle pulled away. We weren’t sure if we would ever see that stroller again.






We got to the Rome airport and we had three hours before our long flight and we didn’t have a gate assignment yet so we let Thomas wonder around while we got an espresso and some pasta.




Once we got our gate assignment we changed Thomas‘s diaper again then headed to our gate.


Grabbing one last Italian coffee before landing in the states.




On this flight we had seats near the window and just the two seated section. Thomas is pretty tired so he went to sleep for a while in the beginning then wanted to play a little bit. We ended up watching three movies on this flight with a few naps here and there.



Off we go!


When Kyle and I lived in Atlanta we loved Sweet Water beer! It'd been a LONG time since we'd had one.


Thomas getting some play time in, in the space we had...



They fed us lots of food, three meals.

Once we arrived in Atlanta we had to go through customs and get our bag. This was another long line, we had to first check in and answer some questions at a kiosk and get our photo taken. I had to place Thomas in the screen to get his photo taken too, which was humorous. Then we had to show them the merchandise that I bought in the previous airport that was sealed up. We got our bag from baggage claim and had to give it back to the guy for it to make it to the plane. Then we had to go through security again where they pulled my bag aside that had my Pistachio goods from the other airport. The guy open the bag even though I don’t know why he did, he did not need to open the bag. And he was about to take my pistachio liquor then he realized it was under the 3 ounce limit and he was reading the bottle which he probably doesn’t know Italian which is why he just stared at the bottle and then he decided I could keep it all. I almost started crying because I was afraid he was going to take my goods.

Once we passed through that we made it to the train shuttle to our departure terminal. We got some lunch and I already missed the espresso bars. I didn’t even get coffee because it just wouldn’t taste the same.

We let Thomas wonder around and get some walking in, he ended up falling on the carpet and got a little rug burn on his nose. Some couple that was going to be on our plane was fighting, she came up and started screaming cursewords at this man who didn’t seem to care. Although two hours later when they got off the plane in Kansas City they were holding hands and she was holding a flower.



We boarded our flight to Kansas City pretty exhausted by this point because we were going on 20 some hours since we’d started traveling. We started another movie on the Kansas City flights but I ended up getting some sleep. Kyle ended up turning the movie off early because he wasn’t gonna be able to finish it before the flight was over. 





We arrive in Kansas City and the airport was pretty much shut down, that airport was the crappiest one of the whole trip. We took the shuttle to our van and started the hour and a half drive to Kyle‘s mom's house. Thomas pretty much slept the whole time as soon as we got on the flight to Kansas City and into the car. I was afraid he wasn’t going to sleep well once we got to the house but he did pretty well and slept most the night. He did wake up at 4 AM and he was pretty wide-awake but he rolled around in our bed with us for about an hour before snoozing again.

My fitbit watch still hadn't synced and we had woken at 4:30am and it was 6:12am before laying down in bed again. LONGEST DAY EVER!!! 

We woke up after a great night's sleep! Felt so good to sleep! We got to see the kids and share all about our trip. We loaded up the van and got back on the road for the ten hour drive home! Thomas getting some time with Grandpa Del:


Felt so good to be home Thursday evening. It was an amazing trip, just lots of traveling to make it happen. I can't wait to take the kids when they are older! 

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