The Journey to Europe Begins!
Day One: Travel and Rome:The day started busy, but casual. Both Jen and I, with last minute guilt- checking email and doing some work remotely. A couple hours of that, last minute packing and playing with the pug. Tons of calls with good wishes, which we definitely appreciated.
Kel and mom pick us up around 3, for our drive to the airport. Our goodbyes were heartfelt.
While in the check-in line - A surprising call from Rob Galperson- on his way back from Chicago. We meet for drinks in the Red Carpet club for our sendoff.
On to the flight. What can I say? It wasn’t first class (business class) but close enough! TONS of legroom, personal video screens and a never-empty wine glass made the trip go
as smoothly as it could (for a flight of that length). Sadly, neither Jen nor I slept during the trip, so the day was a long one.
Heathrow’s a nice airport – but clearly the expansion they have done makes transfers…challenging. We got off the plane, had to walk quite a ways to a shuttle point, hop a shuttle bus around a quarter of the airport, etc. We eventually get to our transfer flight. British Airways is very friendly, but after 11 hours, we just didn’t want to get on another flight! PLUS, I have to say, a TINY bit less room than we just had! (I had two hours of observing the scalp of the gentleman in front of me who decided to recline through the whole flight!).
We get to Rome. Tired, but glad to be on the ground. The driver is there to pick us up. Let me say this – I was lukewarm on the idea of a driver while in the planning stages, but this was worth it. It was fast, easy, and we got a special bonus. This guy discovered it was our first trip, so he took us on a short, guided tour of the city, advised where we could walk to or not, etc. Drove us past the Vatican, Trajan’s Marketplace, the Forum, Coliseum, etc etc etc. An extra 30 minutes or so to get to the airport, but really well worth it.
Hotel Art. For those of you who have seen this hotel profiled on the Travel Channel - well, yes, its just like that. In a former monastery. Really modern. Really cool. Inside, sorta like a San Francisco hotel. Not huge, but very hip. Like staying at the W or the Viceroy.
A short walk- Time for adventure. Wow. We’re in Rome.
Spanish steps – Even at night – full of people. Walked around. Window shopping. Stopped in a random trattoria for dinner. Not the “wow” experience we were looking for, but we’ve been traveling for something like 16 hours, so all we want to do is go back to the hotel and straight to bed.
posted by Mitch @ 11:30 AM
2 Comments:
Hi Mitch, Hi Jen! I am so excited for you guys. I will be reading!!
XOXO Melody
Interesting website with a lot of resources and detailed explanations.
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