Chris was probably the saddest one of the bunch having to stay in Europe. He was headed to Munich for the night to retrieve his luggage from his friend Stig and then continue on to England, France and then back to Rome to finish up over the next ten days. He can’t say anymore that he has only seen Rome at night.
We walked many miles throughout the city in the morning, afternoon, and evening. Many miles throughout Europe--142 miles over the past two plus weeks--according to my Fitbit.
Chris and I were up before his alarm went off at 6:15, I guess just anticipating the day. We had showered the night before, so really it was just some final packing up and getting the girls going. Misha and I had found out that we were both upgraded to first class. Since we couldn’t check Kristen in online (she was too young), we had to wait to see if she got the upgrade as well. She was a little bummed to think that maybe she would be flying in Economy Plus by herself.
Chris had arranged for transport to the airport a couple of days prior, so when we arrived in the hotel lobby with our bags in tow, the driver was there as well. When Chris plans his time to the airport for travels on his own, he cuts it as short as possible. We could have used more time as the look of the gate agent clearly showed her disapproval. We had to say goodbye to Chris after checkin since he couldn’t go through our security with us. Always a lonely feeling to say goodbye after being together so much.
I got the dreaded SSSS on my boarding pass which meant I would have to go through extra screening at some point. We determined to give Kristen my backpack and empty all of my pockets to expedite the process.
We almost got through customs when we read a sign that read kids under 14 couldn’t be processed at this location. The agent wasn’t so specific here and said just get out of the line and go all the way to the end to the left. So stupid. No wonder the gate agent was disapproving of us cutting it so close on the time.
I found another guy to ask where we were to go and interrupted his phone call to inquire. He directed us to another long line. I said no that we had been at the front of a previous line and he indicated that we should just stay where we were in the diplomat line. We would have never made it otherwise.
While in line, Chris texted that Kristen had been upgraded but would need to have a new boarding pass printed. She and Misha urged me to run ahead and get started on the secondary screening process while they took care of Kristen’s pass. Without any carryons and nothing in my pockets, there was little for the agent to search. I was done and waiting for the girls as they nodded that I should go ahead. I shook my head. There was no way I was letting them out of my sight until we were all seated on the plane.
We walked on the jetway together only to find them closing the business class door. I yelled, “Wait!” And they simply said to go to the other door. It was with a lot of relief that I finally sank in to my seat. Kristen was at the front of the section, I was in the middle, and Misha was a couple of rows behind me. Whew. That was cutting it too close.
This was my only picture of the day.
Our flight was nine hours long and when we weren't eating a meal, I was typing and listening/half watching movies. So much typing and without a decent keyboard either. The time passed quickly for me (without any sleeping), and we landed in New Jersey for a three-hour layover where we were lucky enough to enjoy the new Polaris lounge. We gratefully found a quiet corner to wait until it was time to board.
I tried my hardest to not sleep on the last flight, but my body clock was thinking it was the middle of the night. So hard to stay awake.
As we landed in Denver, I texted my friend Maria that we had just landed. She left for the airport then, and after retrieving our luggage, we waited maybe two minutes on level six before we saw her pull up. Perfect timing. So glad to be home.