Semi-typical ‘leaving town” kind-of day.
We got to sleep in an extra half hour (which isn’t much ’cause it’s still dark out) but that put us at the airport after the early morning flights to connections (Seattle, Portland, Denver, San Francisco) had left.
So the airport was quiet!
Getting to Seattle was normal.
But as we were checking into the lounge we received word that our flight to Rome had been delayed 2 hours (mechanical issues).
So we sat, had a bit of second breakfast, sat and watched the end of the England/Congo match, had lunch, and decided that we had spent enough time sitting.
So we headed over to the South Terminal to wait, and walk. Sitting is fine and all, but we’re gonna be sitting for 11 more hours so even a little exercise will be welcome.
I parked in a quiet section of the concourse while Cheryl walked laps around the facility.
An hour later we moved to our gate (the previous flight to Hong Kong had left) and I walked for an hour or so.
After that it was a fairly short wait till they started boarding.
Once on board we settled in and waited, slept, read, and ate.
On eating: We tried something new (and recommended by more than one YouTube zx [publisher]
We ordered special meals.
Delta has multiple options so Cheryl chose Vegetarian and I chose Low Sodium.
There are a couple of advantages of this.
First, you get your meal first
Second, you don’t have to choose ‘chicken or pasta’ or whatever is left after everyone in front of you has chosen the good one.
Third, we found in all our meals that the quality and taste was better than normal airline fare. (also, It’s noteworthy that my utensils pack came with the nornal salt and pepper. So adding a bit of salt to the breakfast omelette wasn’t a problem.)
Then we landed.
Europe is implementing a new passport control system. Once you’ve registered with the system passing thru control is quick and easy. Getting registered, however, is a pain.
You first approach the cattle shute and place passport on the scanner.
Then you wait.
Eventually the gate opens and you move to the next section. There you face the camera and place the four fingers of your right hand on the scanner.
Then you wait.
Once the computer is happy the second gate opens and you are thru.
The whole process should take about a minute. Generally that may be true. However with multiple large international flights arriving at a time…We cleared passport control an hour and 40 minutes after landing. Sheesh!
Freed from that hell we walked thru customs (nothing to declare) and into the morass of drivers holding signs. After scanning the first hundred signs and not finding our names I parked Cheryl in a corner and walked down the line until I found us.
Our driver was right there and grabbed cheryl’s suitcase and we were off (on a ten minute walk) to the van and into the city.
Thus ends the first day of the trip.
The next entry will take up with our arrival at our apartment and the rest of Thursday.
Till then,
Ciao!