Home, finally

Morning Selfie
Rome Da Vinci Airport, Italy
May 28, 2024

 We are home! Chris and I arrived home last evening about 8:45 PM after a long day of traveling which began at the equivalent of 1:30 AM EDT, or 7:30 AM Central European Summer Time. That was over 19 hours of travel related time.

Except for about a 45 minute air hold because of thunderstorms delayed landing in Miami, the travel day was as perfect as it could have been. We were fortunate not to have stood in any long lines and our bags even arrived with us. Yay!

Prosecco with Chris
Da Vinci Airport, Italy
May 28, 2024

We thoroughly enjoyed our flight on ITA Airways! We flew them both ways and they were great! I recommend them for international travel. 

I was in awe of the International Terminal at Da Vinci Airport. Wow! Huge and filled with so much to see and do. We enjoyed a glass of Prosecco while waiting for our flight. That was after discovering that all three of the airport lounges for which I have a membership were full and not allowing people into them.

Hot Meal after Take-off
ITA Airways Rome to Miami
May 28, 2024

Our flight was smooth and I was astonished by the amount of food and drink we were served. We had a hot meal, a mid flight snack, and then another hot snack at what was supposed to be about and hour-and-a-half before landing. We did experience the aforementioned air delay after the snack was served. As for the hot meal, I should have taken an image of Chris's meal because the salad had shrimp in it and I gave it back to the server--so that is missing from the place where I have my wine sitting. Oh wait, I had two glasses of wine with the meal. The pasta was fantastic! The other meal option was veal.

The trip is over. We have many memories and will be cataloging and reviewing photos and videos during the next few days.

Statue at Pompei
Pompei, Italy
May 17, 2024

To close out our trip, after clearing customs, we chose to take the Tri-Rail from Miami to West Palm Beach so that our friends would not have a 5-hour round trip to pick us up in rush hour traffic. That worked brilliantly and we will remember the Tri-Rail if we ever use Miami International again. The most northern Tri-Rail stop is just 20 minutes from the house. Very doable. And the cost was less than $18 for both Chris and me, combined. 

We enjoyed nearly perfect weather for the whole trip. There were only two days where the rain interfered with what we had planned. The skies were blue and the countryside was beautiful. We enjoyed using trains, metros. busses, boats, aircraft, and of course our cruise ship. 

As Chris remarked last night, she is looking forward to a few days of vacation from our vacation.

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL