I DONWANNA GO!!!!
We arrived at gate B54 an hour early and finding a spot near the Charging Station, Chucky plugged in and knocked out another NOWAT [he is Sooooo behind] as the waiting area started to fill up.
As our flight is announced in 3 languages, we begin to Queue up for boarding only to be left standing another 30 minutes until all the 1st class and disabled are shuffled through to wait on the bus that will take them to the aircraft… another half mile away. We finally get to pass through and were crammed onto another bus like cattle only to wait… and wait… and WAIT, no AC… until they figure they have crammed enough on and we head out to the aircraft, only to be left parked, waiting… and waiting… till the first bus finishes boarding. The only thing about Alitalia I don’t like.
Once ready for departure, we learn that there are exterior cameras that will broadcast our actual takeoff and ascent over the Italian Alps, which DL and Chuck video tape on their smart phones. [another picture of a picture - to what end use is anybody’s guess…probably just the novelty of it.]
The Pesky alarm on Chucky’s dinosaur Treo Phone pierced our peaceful sleep one last time.
Fortunately for the phone, it was across the room in the charge cradle and by the time Chucky stumbled to it, he was awake enough to not bounce it off the peeling wallpaper of the Sheraton Malpensa.
A steamy relaxing shower, one last check of the LUGGAGE and stowing of the laptop after checking email, and we were off to the far away elevators, and a balky check out. Apparently the hotel computer systems were on the fritz again and we did a manual check out with the clerks taking an email address to send along the final bill.
Yeah… one year old and this place is falling apart.
Fortunately [we thought] the Hotel is on the same level as the connecting lobby of Terminal 1 and after finding the direction to Departures, we took the mile long escalator up to the departures level and trekked another half mile to the Alitalia desk. Check in was uneventful, and we headed back out to find gate B54. We weren’t sure what was available on the concourse past security so we decided to grab breakfast here consisting of a couple of Quiche, 2 croissants, juice and 2 Cafe at the REDI CAFÉ, just outside Security.
Passing the Italian version of the “TSA” was pretty easy… didn’t even have to take off our shoes, and they really hustle you through. It was Chucky this time that set off all the alarms, forgetting to put his money clip into the bin, otherwise… all is good.
We arrived at gate B54 an hour early and finding a spot near the Charging Station, Chucky plugged in and knocked out another NOWAT [he is Sooooo behind] as the waiting area started to fill up.
As our flight is announced in 3 languages, we begin to Queue up for boarding only to be left standing another 30 minutes until all the 1st class and disabled are shuffled through to wait on the bus that will take them to the aircraft… another half mile away. We finally get to pass through and were crammed onto another bus like cattle only to wait… and wait… and WAIT, no AC… until they figure they have crammed enough on and we head out to the aircraft, only to be left parked, waiting… and waiting… till the first bus finishes boarding. The only thing about Alitalia I don’t like.
Since our seats are near the rear, we chose to board the plane up the rear stairwell and make it to our seats before the crowd starts to descend from the front. What is annoying about all this is, as the National Airlines of Italy Milan is that aside of being a direct flight to Miami
Once ready for departure, we learn that there are exterior cameras that will broadcast our actual takeoff and ascent over the Italian Alps, which DL and Chuck video tape on their smart phones. [another picture of a picture - to what end use is anybody’s guess…probably just the novelty of it.]Once airborne, Chucky breaks out the laptop to continue the NOWAT and DL settles in to play with the nifty seatback video screen, only to freeze it up. Since the dude in front of Chucky decides to recline for a nap which limits the laptop space, they swap seats so she can watch a movie and he can type… only to have the other passenger in front ram the seat all the way back…. Oh wellllll, he's dealt with this before and he kills half the flight, catching up on NOWAT’s and editing the pics for uploading.
Meals aboard Alitalia are always a joy and after Lunch/Dinner… whatever, we get the flight attendant to reboot Chucky’s video screen and after a movie and more NOWAT drafting. Its time to start packing it all up.
Miraculously the pilots found the way to Miami
and we dropped into MIA just a bit behind schedule. Of course... Greg forgot to check the flight status before leaving Hollywood
Customs and immigration moves quicker than expected and we finally find the right luggage carousel, that is handling 3 different flights, and porters are manhandling luggage off the belt after one pass and stacking it along the back side of the carousel. We find this out, after grabbing one bag and waiting 10 minutes for the other. Seeing the stacking routine, Chucky races around to get her bag, only to find that one of the outside pockets was wide open and most of the contents missing. Nothing earth shattering, just the nail repair kit and some incidental stuff… but still annoying.
Luggage in tow, we hand off the customs forms to the waiting ICE agent and make the long trek to the exit
not paying attention that we are on the departures level and head outside and start looking for the kids in the van with DL on the phone trying to direct them to the Alitalia spot… only to realize… they're circling the Arrivals section down below that is not marked at all sooooooo, we head back inside to the escalator down and out to the curb, just as the kids pull up on the outside lane.
Big Hugs and kisses for the babies [Dragon Granny has been having such Baby Withdrawals you cant even imagine] LUGGAGE loaded and we’re off, zipping along the Toll lanes past the stalled commuters and home
to Casa d’ Chaos in Hollywood
Yeah… we’re finally back, Now he is haveing Italia withdrawals. If he had his druthers... she'd be shipping his stuff to Il Pianaccio... but thats another story... for another time.
For those that keep asking for more pictures... the slide show on the right panel here will have loads more, once he can sort and upload them - they only took 3,155 the blessing and curse of having a digital... there's gonna be a lot of deletions.]
Chucky will do his usual wrap up shortly, and rearrange the entire blog in first to last order so those that haven’t had a chance to get bleary eyed can log on and read it from top down.
Heck… maybe he'll just do it in the Final Nowat Alert email and save time since it doesn’t require pictures etc.
Who knows… he may even keep it brief… but not likely.
To those that actually read it all to this point... Thanks for Traveling with the Wacky American Tourist and the Ever-Lovely Illy, we hope you enjoyed it half as much as we did... and Boy Did We!!!
Chucky will do his usual wrap up shortly, and rearrange the entire blog in first to last order so those that haven’t had a chance to get bleary eyed can log on and read it from top down.
Heck… maybe he'll just do it in the Final Nowat Alert email and save time since it doesn’t require pictures etc.
Who knows… he may even keep it brief… but not likely.
Ciao 4 Now
Uncle Chuck & The missing Italia already but glad to be home, Dragon Lady
Now Missing all that Fine Wine, Sharp Cheese & Great Crusty Bread
We may be a little lost (sending you to a place that closed in 19880 out here by the Sound, but we know the sights of Italy. now we know them better than ever. What a wonderful blog you've created! your writing style brings us right there with both of you and we can feel the energy and taste each dish - bad cannoli? Is there such a thing?
ReplyDeleteThat you for doing the bull dance and sharing that. The Last Supper makes us all want to go. It was closed when we were there so we bought some stationery at a store across the street! Of course, we love that daVinci (whose birth place we visited (Vinci)) painted all the disciples to look like then current day Italians!
You captured Air Atalia better than I remember it! Mostly, the plethora of Italian Newspapers with paparazzi photos that are too risque for Playboy!
THE BEST PART WAS THE THEN AND NOW COMPARISONS - WITH THE REALITY THAT THE ITALIAN EXPERIENCE HAS NOT CHANGED --- AND NEITHER HAVE EITHER OF YOU!
WAY TO GO NOWAT! WITH APPRECIATION... EARL!