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Published: September 10th 2008
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I have finally returned to Roma, and this time for more than a day! The weather is beautiful, and I am excited to see the various sites that we have planned for this week. But first, about my journey...
It all started with the bad news a few weeks ago that Alitalia had declared bankruptcy. I hoped that this wouldn't affect the flight, and it didn't, though I could see a little why they had declared bankruptcy (ie, rather un-helpful flight attendants). I knew I was in trouble when I arrived at the gate pretty early, with two hours before boarding, and there was already a sizeable group of seniors, all wearing name tags. They were pretty rowdy, and I soon learned that they were worse than a group of high school students on a school trip - they were just as loud, but more forgetful and unwilling to let go of showing off the American stereotype abroad. It was funny, but frustrating.
Also frustrating was the insistence of every passenger to get in line to board when the cabin crew arrived, well before a single boarding announcement was made. The airline attendant at the desk moved everyone for
security reasons, but they slowly drifted back to the same spots. This generally annoys me, but it was even more impossible, since I was sitting right by the boarding lane, so everyone was standing directly in front of me, and pushing into my bag and feet. International flights are always worse for this, because they only make the announcements in English, and any older passengers who only speak their native language don't understand the requests. I shouldn't say that, actually - most of the passengers seem to have little to no understanding of what they're being asked, and seem confused by the explanation that they will board by rows. When they announced that they would board rows 35-43, people next to me actually asked if that included rows 32 and 33. It sounded pretty clear to me!
At any rate, despite my frustrations, I boarded the plane and found my seat. This was where the trouble started - the rows weren't designated clearly enough, and it turned out that I was in the row behind where I was supposed to be sitting. When the person in my seat came back, I realized the issue, and switched rows. Apparently, I
also dropped my passport at this time, and I didn't find it until the end of the flight. You can only imagine my desperation when I realized partway through the flight that I didn't have it - the woman next to me was so kind, and helped me look through all of my carry-ons, in and around our seats, and in the seats behind us (since it fell between the seat and the window, there was no locating it until after everyone had gotten up). I am very grateful to this woman though (her name is Helene), because she kept me calm, and tried to distract me with conversation. She also advised me to talk to the flight attendants (this is where the un-helpful part came in). One of them was extremely rude, and basically shrugged his shoulders. Another one was helpful, and she agreed to make an announcement towards the end of the flight to ask if anyone had seen it. I felt sicker and sicker as we got closer to Rome, and my only comfort was that I happened to carry a copy of it in one of my carry-ons (I strongly advise doing this, both in your
carry on and in your checked luggage - it could come in handy!). But, as I mentioned, when we deplaned, I crouched down to look under the seats, and triumphantly called out "I found it!" Several people in the seats around me knew about my predicament, and they all shared my relief and excitement. I held on to it tightly until I was well through border control at Leonardo da Vinci airport. And I know where it is right now too.
Since I was so upset about my passport, I couldn't sleep at all on the flight, and was only distracted by Dane Cook's albums, which I was listening to. He's one funny guy! So I was extremely grateful to get to the hotel and lie down. My room wasn't ready, but the hotel has a transit room, with a single bed, that they put me up in for a couple of hours. I slept deeply, and managed to put the wrong end of the phone up to my ear when they called to tell me my room was ready.
My room here at the Intercontinental de la Ville Roma is beautiful - it's small, like any good
hotel room in Europe, but it has a balcony overlooking the breakfast area, with enough room for a table and two chairs. That makes me feel extremely fancy, though I have yet to use it. I did have the door open this morning while I at my breakfast, so that I could enjoy the beautiful weather. It's rather warm here, but the humidity is low, so it makes it fabulous. Unfortunately, Saturday's forecast is calling for rain, which will be a disaster for our final dinner - so keep your fingers crossed and do your anti-rain dances so that it works out! Our poor Italian host is so nervous about the meeting, and good weather would greatly comfort him!
I slept most of yesterday, woken only by a phone call from my contact at the hotel. I managed to iron all of my clothes for the coming week and put together all of the welcome packets before having a little dinner, while watching some Bloomberg and BBC World News. It seems the only channels they have in English at the hotel are all news channels. I guess Americans aren't supposed to have any fun? At any rate, I had
forgotten how much BBC World News anchors hate America, but I was reminded during their newscast. So, note to self, watch only Bloomberg!
This morning, I was up early to ease into the day before heading into a morning of meetings. But I can't complain, as my meetings were held in the garden area where breakfast is also served. So I enjoyed a cappuccino, and met with our Italian host, our contact from the Castel Sant'Angelo (our Gala Dinner location), the hostess for our meeting, and our hotel contacts. We went over all of the final details before checking out all of the meeting rooms, and discussing the proper set up. I will be meeting our Italian host for lunch at one at the Bar Ciampini, which is where we will be dining on Saturday for lunch. Then, the rest of the day is mine, perhaps to sleep or perhaps to check out a suggestion from one of my friends for an impressive site to see here in Roma. I will let you know! I am hoping that the worst thing to happen this week is my lost passport, so we will see how it goes!
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