St. Louis, Missouri, United States
Our trip began with us staying the night at Tammy's house so we could travel early the next morning. We thought we should leave earlier than usual so as to miss the crowds that have been gathering at airport check-ins recently. So 7:30 a.m. saw us packed and heading to the airport. Of course, the best laid plans and all---we left the car at the Park Express and took the shuttle to the gate. What is this? No lines at all!!!!! We questioned the flight attendant at the check-in and she said that we had missed the earlier rush and the late morning had not yet begun! Wow this was a fortuitous beginning!
Next step was to check the bags and then head to a Starbucks for breakfast fortification. Then on time we started boarding. This was American so the only snacks were some mini-pretzels and water to drink. Next stop was Charlotte so we didn't have a long first leg of the journey. We arrived without incident only to find that our flight was delayed. That was not a shock as it seems as if most flights are delayed for some reason or another.
Since we had a while to wait we decided to get something to eat--you all know us--if there's nothing else to do, just find a restaurant! The lucky winner was Casa Bacardi where Mike had Bacardi Rum Shrimp lettuce wraps, Tammy had chicken tacos, rice, and beans, and I had Mahi Mahi tacos, rice, and beans. Food was pretty good so we felt better about heading to the wasteland commonly known as airline food.
Once again when we arrived at the gate we found that our plane was delayed. There are always mixed feelings when this happens--concern that we will miss any connecting flights but at the same time glad that we aren't flying on a defective plane. Now our time was 9 p.m. instead of the original time of 6:30 p.m. Thank goodness we did not try to book a close connection in Rome as we would never have made it. So while we waited we charged our phones and then had to walk to another gate as they had changed the gate without an announcement! Yikes! We along with the rest of the maddening crowd rushed down the concourse to the new gate assignment. Finally about 9:15 p.m. we boarded the plane. We were all really tired as it has been a long day and we were ready to sleep.
Of course they needed to feed us--using that term loosely, for sure. They offered chicken and rice or bowtie pasta (very oily). Each came with a salad (rather tired), a roll (hard and sawdust like), a package of crackers and a cheese food triangle, along with a brownie. I ate hardly any of it--as it was so late and it just didn't taste good to me. Mike finished his and then mine--said mine was the best--whoa that is a scary thought! We both did get a glass of wine which wasn't too bad--in fact the glass was a tumbler so rather a lot--Tammy said they wanted us to drink and just go to sleep so we wouldn't bother them. Ha ha! May be some truth to that.
My touch screen wouldn't work (neither would Tammy's) so it was just time to go to sleep. Well as much as one can sleep twisted like a pretzel in these seats. When we awaken we shall be in Italy!
2025-05-23