So this Italian guy shows up and puts our luggage into the trunk. He speaks hardly any English at all. And then... the race began. Well, I'm assuming it was a race - he drove like he was trying to win Nascar! Seriously, it was exciting and scary all at once! Honking and breaking and abrupt lane changes and stare-downs with other drivers. Google said it would take 45 minutes to drive there; we got there in just under 35. We certainly got our money's worth!
So then the fun of checking into a foreign airport began. You'd think it would be easy; we've never really had issues before. But there was something about that airport that just didn't make sense. Actually, it wasn't just one thing, it was a ton of little things. Anyways, our tickets said we were flying British Air. So we waited in line for 30 minutes only to be told, sorry, we were actually flying Aer Lingus, under the British Air name. What?
So we got in line for Aer Lingus. And we waited and waited and waited. And I swear our line didn't move at all, while all the other lines for the airline did. Lance thought I was crazy and scoffed at my idea of changing lines. But when I saw someone who got in a different line after us get all checked in and leave, I told Lance he could stay in that line but I was moving.
We were done in 5 minutes.
Then we had to go through the rigamarole of Italian TSA and customs, which wasn't as bad as I thought it might be, but still was not fun. Right after we passed through the customs gate I smelled something. And then I saw something. There was a trail of poop on the floor, leading into the terminal! It went on and on and on. Seriously, SO MUCH POOP. There's no way this was a kid who had had an accident. This was an adult amount of poop. A large adult.
It was gross and amazing all at once. Italian janitors scurried around, trying to clean it up. We tried to wander through the customs shops to get away from it - it was in the shops, too! WHAT?!? The trail finally ended, and I had to agree with Lance who said "Our day may not be going great, but it's better than that guys'." Amen!
We eventually flew from Rome to Dublin, and apparently Aer Lingus is like the Frontier of Europe, because EVERYTHING on that flight cost extra: drinks, food, entertainment, etc. And the prices were crazy. So we opted to wait until we got to Dublin to eat.
Once there we found out that Dublin has American customs there, so that you don't have to do it when you get back to the states. But that meant we had to go through all of that before we could eat. (I was getting hungry - the granola bar I had packed didn't cut it!) It took quite a while to get through customs and show 4-5 different people my passport and prove I am who I say I am.
But we finally got through and then found a place to eat overpriced airport sandwiches and Coke Zeros. Then we spent our last few Euros on vending machine candy bars because it didn't make sense to exchange less than 5 Euros when we got home.
We finally boarded and flew back to Chicago. The flight was long, but at least they didn't charge for food and drinks. (Sheesh!) Only one side of my headphones worked, which was annoying, but I survived and watched several movies. I didn't want to sleep too much so I could get over my jet lag easier.
We landed, got our luggage with little trouble, picked up the car, and were on our way home! US freeways just weren't as fun as the Autobahn. And it was sad to be ending our adventure. But a quick pit stop at Burger King helped us feel welcomed back to the States, and sleeping in our own bed that night never felt so good
People keep asking if this was the trip of a lifetime. And while it's probably the best I've ever taken, I don't want to call it the trip of a lifetime, because I still have a lot more traveling to do!
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