After 2 years of waiting and months of planning, I finally found myself at the ticket counter at LAX presenting all that documentation required to enter Italy as my final destination. Could this really be happening? Was I really going to travel over there solo after my travel buddy Carla was not able to come last minute because of an unexpected hospitalization? How bad did I really want to go back to Italy?
I guess pretty bad as I decided to proceed with the trip and and look forward to meeting the friends for the Thanksgiving reunion we had planned for 2020 that was delayed. I would spend my first week in the hills above Florence in Fiesole, working on my book and taking in the countryside at an agriturismo. That was the plan!
I upgraded to Business Class, securing the best deal I could – waiting until check-in day. I wanted to treat myself as I would be flying solo round trip. That upgrade also gave me access to the executive lounge – pre flight. I went there after check-in hoping for a little bite before I boarded. I guess Covid really has taken a hit to these executive lounges now with options. I literally felt like my choices were something I might find in the refrigerated section of a 7-11. I decided to exit the lounge and find a good meal pre-flight. I went over to Vino Volo and that did the trick – I had a wine flight paired with a beef brisket served on a bed of Arugula with roasted peppers, avocado and a balsamic glaze. All fantastic.
Vino Volo lunch at LAX. So delicious!
Finally, it was time to board that flight. I floated down the aisle to my business class seat against the window and got settled in. I decided to try to find the most Italian movie I could with the movie options and settled on Goodfellas for the flight. I hadn’t see it in years. The movie does a masterful job of making the most intense mafia actions seem like normal every day talk and actions. I think real life in the world the last 2 years is so mutes, that this type of movie is an escape that feels better, like a more simple time – ironically! I was riveted all through dinner service and paused it as I tried to settle down to sleep in my flat bed.
Absolutely, I love sleeping like this. It’s totally normal. I can breathe just fine.
Okay – who has tried to sleep with a mask on all night? Um, it is just plain horrid. You feel like you just need to sneak it under your nose so you can breathe and not suffocate. I’m astonished that on a plane that you can’t board without a negative COVID test, 100 other details about your life, and you are in a cabin where everyone is 6 feet apart, and the cabin air is filtered – all that and you have to wear a surgical mask while you sleep. What? I guess I should be thankful I could remove it to eat and drink. Even in that situation, you feel like they expect you to put it on in between bites. I threw caution to the wind and fully took the mask off to eat. No one said a word. Okay, back to trying to sleep with a mask on – it was so claustrophobic. It makes you hot and really, I don’t think I slept. I would wake myself up when I did dose for a few, cough-choking. So my trick was, to turn so they couldn’t see me, literally hide my face and sneak my mask under my nose. How is it we live in a world where we have to hide our face to breathe? Anyway, so many times I felt so hot, I just stripped off all of my layering to sleep with just my t-shirt and joggers – that did the trick to cool my body temp down.
90 minutes before landing they woke us up to serve breakfast. The food was generally pretty good, so I kept eating trying to get myself in the Italy time zone of meals. We soon landed and I knew I had a tight connection. For whatever reason – Paris airport Passport control is always severely understaffed and it can take 30-45 minutes to get through even in the off season. You are also required to go through a security one again to board. My 1:15 minute transition time made all of this tight as they close the doors 15 minutes before arrival. I literally got to my gate after running once I passed through passport control right at the time they close the gate. The gate lady said as I arrived huffing and puffing, ‘You can relax now, you made the flight.’ Phew! She should have had a shot of Limoncello for me waiting – that would have been amazing.
The flight from Paris to Florence is short and soon I was viewing the beautiful autumn rolling hills, with little farms as we descended into Florence. It felt so incredible to be back on Italian soil after I exited down the plane steps and walked on the tarmac to the terminal. Once in the terminal, my bags came quickly and I was outdoors headed to the rental car area. I had to take a shuttle bus there and it was packed. It also took at least 20 minutes before it showed up. Once at the rental lot, it seemed like everyone on that shuttle bus needed to go where I went and it was 4 agencies represented by one lady. I was at the back of the line. I thought well, I have no where to be, even though I know I have ‘platinum’ status, I doubted anyone would have appreciated me walking to the front and using that leverage to get serviced right away. I didn’t have anywhere to be other than just wanting to make it to the agriturismo before it got dark.
Well, it took over an hour before I made it to the front of the line. The couple in front of me was an older couple from Montana and ALL the wife wanted to talk about was COVID rates and the vaccine. I kept trying to change the subject as it was the last thing I felt like talking about on vacation. She was obsessed though – and borderline manic in wanting to process it all and had her opinion she kept wanting to barf on me. I finally was able to just get her to talk about her plans and where they were going. An all inclusive Hilton near Pisa? It didn’t sound appealing at all to me, but I told her that sounded lovely and I was sure they would have a great time. What do I know? Maybe the Hilton all-inclusive near Pisa is amazing.
I finally make it to the beginning of the line and the woman there was so apologetic when she saw I was platinum. She said, ‘Why, why didn’t you come to the front? I would have taken care of you right away?’ I told her not to worry, I wasn’t in a hurry and felt bad moving ahead of everyone. She quickly processed me – and asked, do you want the extended coverage for insurance. Many trips ago I researched this and remembered my Visa covers me for this so I am good. I was fuzzy on the details, so declined because it can add up on a 2 week rental. She said, okay, you are sure you want to be responsible for the cost of the Volvo? Yes, I said confidently. Still, I walked away thinking…hmm, am I covered? Note to self, check on that when you get settled in.
Soon enough they brought the Volvo SUV around and I plugged my destination into WAZE and I was on my way. It was only about 8 miles out of Florence but a 30 minute drive. It was about 4:15pm. I followed the directions pretty easily, even when it started getting hairy with traffic and it was sending me up crazy hills in neighbors with cars stacked up on my left coming the other direction, cars parked on my right, motorcycles trying to fit in between, and locals on my bumper. This car I was driving seemed 3x bigger than the other cars. I was sure I was about to sideswipe 50 cars in a row and thought, hmmm, I do hope I am covered. Gulp. I was about 8 minutes away when the directions were trying to send me down a skinny road that suddenly had a makeshift gate up. The kind that they use for crowd control that can be moved. I thought, what? How is this road closed? Every alternative route wanted to send me down this road. I’m being generous when I say road – in the US we call it a very narrow alley. WAZE you don’t know what is up!? You aren’t accounting for this little make-shift gate. Clearly I need to go around. But I have no idea how to find an alternative route.
I drove around a bit, back-tracking, hoping it would redirect. Still it was trying to send me back to this ally of a road. Also, it was getting darker and it was more and more rush hour with cars either stopped or riding your tail when it had any opening at all. I decided to pull into a parking lot of what I think was an engineering university. What to do? I felt stuck. It was madness out there. I switched over to Google Maps, and PTL, it showed me an alternative route. True I would have to go back into the jungle of Florence rush hour traffic, but at least it was a route to get out of this mess and to my final destination. I called the inn-keeper to let her know I was in route but delayed. I have driven in Italy many, many, times but this ranks up there with one of the most stressful experiences. I thought, I think this is the most stressed I have been all year and I’m on vacation. I just kept breathing and whispering, help me Jesus, you are with me. It was dark now, and my death grip on the wheel tightened through each turn and two-way road, that should have been one way roads with drivers on my tail. Somehow I made it. I was so happy to pull into the long country driveway of where I was staying and seeing the little inn-keeper there waiting for me waiving me in (much like my own mom and dad would have done if they knew I was coming).
The driveway I pulled up into where the inn-keeper was waiting.
She took my luggage and brought me up to my spacious room. Showed me where she would have my breakfast ready for me in the morning and with that I got settled, sent all of the ‘I made it safe’ texts back home and then showered and went to bed around 7pm. That was probably too early and I should have forced myself to stay up longer, but I was just so tired. So there I was, after 4 hours sleep, about 11pm – WIDE AWAKE. This turns out, is a perfect time to obsess over the extra car insurance I maybe should have purchased. This is the time of night where every little molehill in your life becomes a mountain. I found myself calling my agent from State Farm in the middle of the night, ‘Hey, am I covered in Italy?’ Nope. Okay, let me call my Visa company. ‘Hey, am I covered in Italy.’ Not sure. Call this 1.800 number. Hmmm, that number isn’t dialable from Italy. Okay, I will have to figure this out in the morning. Or go back to Hertz and get coverage. Yes, this is a plan. I will be fine. Still, this stuff has a way of hanging on in the night and I was up for several hours worried about all manner of things in my life. I think my right ovary is twitching. OMG. What if I need to go to the hospital because it is going to burst. See what I mean, totally irrational. If you are in my life and are reading this, I was probably worried about something for you. I’m not even a worrier, but Jet Lag was playing crazy tricks on my mind. I finally fell asleep again – worn out from worry. Tomorrow would be a new day – and I would be rested. For now I was safe in this beautiful room and a cozy bed and back in my favorite spot in the world.
The cozy bed.
Where I thought my ovary might burst because it was twitching. Probably from lack of oxygen.