I had virtually no sleep on Saturday night. I thought this would work in my favor since I was supposed to sleep on the bazillion hour long plane ride anyway. I just couldn't stop my excitement/nerves! I got to the airport around 9:40am before my 11:40 am flight takeoff. There was virtually no one there, so it should've been an easy process...
I got to the Delta counter and tried to check in. The man at the desk looks at my itinerary and says "You cant fly through the Soviet Union, who booked this? You need a visa." You see, I was scheduled to fly from Dulles to JFK (NY), to Moscow, and then to Rome. Whatever, the flight was like $800 round trip so I didn't care. Plus it'd be cool to be on a plane that spoke only Russian and Italian between the two locations. So back to my story. I was just confused and replied, "I booked this through school and I wasn't told I needed one". He said he was going to try to get me booked on their direct flight and told me to go to make some calls. After many calls to my dad, the Russian embassy, the Italian embassy, Aeroflot (the Russian airline on which I was flying after Delta), I ended up pulling the old "I didn't know!" teary eyed, my-life-is-over-sad-face. The guy realized I was short on time, sent my luggage, gave me a luggage tag, and told me to go to the Delta counter in NY since I was about to miss my Dulles to JFK flight. So, with no resolution, I just got on the plane hoping things would work out.
I only had a 1.5 hr layover in NY before it was time to shoot off to Moscow at 2:20pm. With little time, it was hard to manage this chaos. Especially since my flight from Dulles left an hour late (Delta- Dont Ever Leave The Airport... tsk tsk, that acronym still holds true). I got to JFK at 2 and waited at baggage claim for my luggage, all the while talking to my dad about the possibilities of needing a transit visa or getting deported in the lovely Soviet Union. At baggage claim, my luggage was not, so I waited in the baggage claim line knowing I was missing my flight (it was now about 2:10pm). They proceeded to tell me that my luggage was sent straight to FCO (Rome) on an Alitalia (Italian airline) flight. That was nice of the Delta guy, but it would've been awesome to know. I went to the next terminal to go to Aeroflot (the Russian airline) to reschedule my flight and ask about whether or not I needed a transit visa. The only other flight left ay 7:10 pm. The Aeroflot desk did not open until 3:10pm again. I was so so hungry, but I decided to check with Alitalia about my luggage. I did, and they told me, "Yes your luggage is going on a plane to FCO, and do you want to check in now?" ... uh, say what? "No, I am flying on Aeroflot, but I missed my flight". The Alitalia guy said "well, you are booked on Alitalia, please go check in at Terminal 4. I just didn't ask questions, and my angry, hungry tummy was going to have to wait. I raced to the Alitalia counter in Terminal 4, not knowing when this so-called flight was leaving, and said "I think I am supposed to check in here, Delta rescheduled me". I told her my name and gave her my luggage tag. She typed for what seemed like ages. I thought, ok, not the end of the world, this would be too good to be true, my fate is to wait til 7pm and get to Russia and cross my fingers I won't be deported. After all of the men around me had their full beards and I had a few extra wrinkles around my eyes, the Alitalia woman handed me a ticket and said "Please go to the left, your flight leaves in 35 minutes". Whaaaaaaat???? Best news everrrrr! Yay for crying in front of that Delta guy! Whatever, I got switched to a much more expensive flight for free. Wooo!
After that, my day got amazing. The couple in my row was really sweet, I watched some Italian crime dramas, we got dinner (horray for my tummy!) and at like 6pm, its suddenly like 10pm and they dim the lights to make you think that it is the middle of the night. They show you how far you have gone on a screen and the temperature (it is like -68 degrees F at 39,000 feet!). I watched Here Comes the Boom (and cried) and watched Argo (and cried) and then watched part of the Hangover and some Italian crime show (no tears lol). I shouldve slept more, because I was about to be in shock because of being up for so long.
I got to the airport and of course, my shuttle wasn't there- I was like 5 hrs early. So I just stood around for a while, afraid to speak since people were not speaking English. Because I am a weirdo. I found an ATM and got cash and got a taxi. I was the last off the taxi and sat up front at the request of the taxi driver (it was full, but should've been a red flag, haha). he was very nice and taught me some phrases I might like. Kinda ruined the first-time-in-italy thing because he only listened to reggae music... weird. I got an unofficial tour of the city as he dropped off the others. After everyone else was dropped off, we were on the way to the house and he said "do you want to get breakfast?" to which I replied, "sure!"
After he treated me to a cappuccino, a croissant, and chatting with some locals, I was dropped off and Marco, the cabby, left me with his card and a pat on the back that lingered just a tad too long... oh, Italy.
I'll write later about my group/first day! Right now, we are off to the Colosseum! Be jelly. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment