A few months ago, Karen asked if I wanted to come with her to Italy on a 19-day textile tour run by Loom Dancer Weaving Odysseys. Loom Dancer focuses on rich and diverse textile traditions all over the world. Karen had loved her experience with them a few years ago to Salt Spring Island to learn about Saori weaving (she now has a giant loom in her bedroom!) The tours cater to "adventurous fiber arts enthusiasts of all kinds" and always include an opportunity for hands-on textile workshops in the style and tradition of that country, taught by local masters. I definitely wouldn't define myself as an adventurous fiber arts enthusiast but as an adventurous appreciator of fiber arts I figured I could pass. The tour begins in Rome, then heads to Umbria, Tuscany, Florence and ends in Lake Como. It promises "medieval hillside towns, legendary food and wine, tapestries, truffles, silk, and alpacas!" With retirement 3.0 wrapped and years of Covid non-travel, it was easy to answer, "Yes to everything!"]
The war brought concern as our departure date got closer but we decided to go for it. I spent about a month obsessively checking the forecast in the cities on the itinerary, (a range of 45-75 degrees!) packing, unpacking, changing my mind about shoes, and arranging to be away for three weeks. Then finally, I left on April 25th for LAX.
Karen was already there hanging out with her daughter Kira for a few days so we had a nice goodbye dinner with her and our nephew Alex in Marina Del Ray. Such cuties!
Then, at the crack of dawn, we caught a shuttle to LAX for our trip through Washington Dulles to Rome. After checking our heavier-than-we-had-hoped bags we headed to the United Polaris lounge (A few weeks earlier we were super stoked to hear that our Dulles to Rome leg had been upgraded to business class and we sprung for lounge access all the way to Europe and back.) The lounge has good food and service, showers if you want em and quiet rooms with amenities for resting. This turned out to be both good and bad - (more on that later!)
Once onboard, the pilot announced that this was a special flight to deliver his great grandfather, his grandfather, and his father’s remains to be interred at Arlington National Cemetery. He gave some background on their service and shared that thirty members of his family were also on board. It was a perfect landing, and as we pulled up to our gate, two fire engines created a water salute, forming a huge arch above the plane.
I had never experienced this airport tradition to honor military veterans. It was very touching, and the whole plane waited respectfully for the family members to disembark.
It was about 6:00 PM, so we headed to the DC lounge for our two hour layover, and happily ensconced ourselves in side by side quiet rooms to relax and regroup. We turned on the white noise, ate some snacks, charged our devices and dimmed the lights. Aaaaaaahhhh! Sleep!
After setting alarms we both passed out then something caused me to jolt awake. I pick up my phone and see a text - our flight to Rome is cancelled! (Apparently the baggage forklift guy damaged the cargo door. He had ONE JOB!) I hurry out of our pods of tranquility blinking my dry eyeballs and see a big line of Rome passengers already waiting to get rebooked! Oi! Wake up! I grab Karen, she hurries to get in line and I get on the phone.
After about 35 minutes of back and forth and inching forward in line, we have an option to get on a flight through Munich the next day, getting us in Thursday morning at 6 am, just a few hours before we are supposed to meet the tour to leave Rome. It is in economy, but dang it, we decided to hurry and book it, knowing that every single person on our flight is also trying to get to Rome. At the same time, we are next in line to see Maggie, the United rep extraordinaire. Maggie clacks away at her keyboard then tells us we can actually go that night, business class all the way to Rome on Turkish Air with a stop in Istanbul. Turkish Air? She assures us it's great and we'll love it. "Yes to Everything!"
I should add that this whole process took about an hour and everyone in line had begun commiserating, comparing notes, laughing and drinking heavily. We were next in line to three women who may have been on their 5th glass of wine and finishing up their rerouting on British Air through Zurich. When Maggie said "First class, Turkish Air" these gals started yelling "we wanna to go to Istanbul too!" and toasting loudly to our good fortune. After much more clacking away, Maggie assures us our bags will follow us, and tells us to get over to Turkish Air. We felt really lucky and booked it out of there before anyone could change their mind. All hail Maggie who called out as we left, "Check out the Turkish Air lounge! The food is great!" As you can see from these pictures on the way to the other terminal, there may have been a tiny bit of drinking by us too....
We get our boarding passes at the gate which was a big relief. Unfortunately, many others weren't in the Turkish Air system yet and had to go all the way BACK to United to sort it out.) We get to our lovely seats, and then the amazing service and free stuff starts coming!
Slippers, Versace amenity bag, Denon headphones (alas had to give those back) and delicious food and beverages. We are now fans of Turkish Air. Plus, they got us safely to Rome!
Just one more small glitch in the adventure - Karen's bag arrived and mine didn't. However, it is NOT LOST. they know exactly where it is and will be sending it by courier. I'm calling it DELAYED! Fingers crossed! Here we are, finally making it to the 47 Boutique Hotel in Rome - 30 hours after leaving our hotel in LA. Whew! Internet is a little spotty so bear with me as I get these bloggies out. Please feel free to comment and share. More coming!
Andrew
2022-05-02
Awesome start to the blog can’t wait for more
Alison Baclig
2022-05-02
Maia, somehow you often have very exciting travel stories to tell. This is a good one. Really good. I can just picture all those folks in line with you, inebriated as they were, and the dash to Turkish Air. Thanks for the great read. Onward!
Linda
2022-05-02
Sounds like a great start to a grand adventure! Here's to fun, safe, and less 'adventurous' travels!