The night before I’d packed most of my stuff away except what I needed to get ready in the morning like my toiletries and clothes.
Even with thorough planning I still worry that I left something behind (I’ll never forget you, my dress clothes that I left in Rome).
It’s not a completed day if something doesn’t go wrong. Today’s wronging… I woke up around the time I needed to be awake (5:30AM) due to an intense cramp in my right calf. What was the cause of this???? Why now??? Luckily I became conscious enough to slightly ease the pain, otherwise I would’ve cried like when someone steps on a dog’s tail (but worse).
Already in a sore mood (physically and mentally), I slowly spider crawled off from the top bunk bed (did I mention that I was sleeping on a bunk bed?) and carefully made it down somehow. Limping through my morning routine as well as closing all my luggage assuring I had everything, Kayla and I made it downstairs with our luggage. We ended up being the last ones on the bus, but I literally had to limp and hop my way through the morning.
We were handed lunch bags with a croissant, two muffins, an apple, and a water bottle inside as our takeaway breakfast. I know I’d eaten my croissant, but I was too tired to eat anything else. In a sleepy state I slowly sipped water, nodding off while it was still uncovered. I just wanted to rest.
We’d arrived at the Milan airport, passing through check-in (prior to that I freaked out over forgetting which bag I put my passport in), found said passport, and my headphones then panicked, while roaming the confusing maze that is Milan’s airport (10/10 would not recommend).
I’d lost Casey and Kayla awhile back after checking our bags at the ticketing booth. The process coming into the country was a piece of cake, but leaving it? I felt like I was being questioned for choosing the clothes I was wearing.
After two passport checks, multiple scans of my boarding pass, and another Matteo-pace non-official tour of our terminal, we finally made it to our gate. Eventually I found Casey at the gate, and soon after we saw Kayla.
Casey and I decided to look for last minute souvenir gifts for people back home. Not realizing what little leisure time we actually had, we ended up having to rush to make it to our gate for boarding (Why does this keep happening to me!!!???)
Rushed and annoyed (at ourselves), we got to our seats and endured an 8+ hour flight to JFK airport in NY. I knew re-entering the US was going to be complicated, but this was next level. Back in the day you had to fill out a physical custom declaration form before stepping off of the plane. I guess nowadays, or at least at JFK, it’s computerized. So we spent another eternity walking and waiting in line, 5mins to take what might have been the worst photographic proof that I am the same person on my passport, and then had to re-retrieve our bags from baggage claim only to place them back on another conveyor belt.
As all this was happening, I had to use the restroom so badly. And others felt the same way because misery loves company. Once we got through customs, rechecked our bags, and went through more passport checks, it was finally time to enter TSA security AGAIN.
That meant taking off our shoes, placing any laptops in an empty bin, taking off any outerwear or accessories, and then rushing to put everything back in place.
I wish I were joking when I say we had less than 20mins to get our stuff back together and meet at our final gate, which was on the completely opposite side of the terminal. My calf had never felt so sore and mentally, I was ready to be unconscious at a moment’s notice.
Another hour and a half on a plane, we finally made it to Pittsburgh International Airport. Once I got home (which was after 7PM–1AM Italy time), I’d fallen asleep. I woke up and it was after 3AM.
I may be back in the US, but I still have to work tomorrow morning. Will I ever rest? Probably not.
Stay tuned for my post-trip blog post and my special blog posts about Pittsburgh connections in Italy as well as my post about Italy’s slow food movement.