The Long Road Home

All good trips come to an end. We left Hotel Artemide at 6:30 am Rome time on Saturday morning, June 22nd. That’s the same as 11:30 pm Friday, June 21st, at home.

We were a little concerned about relying on taxi availability due to our early departure time so we allowed the hotel to arrange for a car to pick us up.

After arriving in the lobby, we watched the couple who came down after us zip off in their taxi. We were early, it was only 6:15.

A large Suburban-looking black car pulled up and we headed toward the door. Nope, that one was for a man who had yet to arrive in the lobby. The concierge called him (with a hint of irritation in his voice) to let him know his car was waiting. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 9:15.

The man came down and headed out to his car. Then he came back in an asked the concierge for change. Then he headed back up the elevator. At this point it was almost 6:30 so Trey headed out to see if our car had arrived and was waiting behind the big Suburban-looking car. Nope.

The man returned with his wife in tow and headed to their waiting car. They pulled away and our car pulled up. A black Mercedes sedan. For 55 Euros we were traveling in style to the airport. The regular taxi (that left 15 minutes ago) was 48 Euros.

We zipped along on the way to the airport. I could tell we were going pretty fast. The driver was a quiet one. Just like Uber or taxi drivers in the US, some want to talk and some just want to drive.

Trey was acting weird. Reading signs out loud. Making clicking noises with his mouth. At one point he even said “drifting” out loud. He’s not usually someone who can’t just sit still and look out the window. It was very early and he was acting like a second grader.

I was looking out the window wondering what was up with him this morning…Is he sad that the trip is over? Is he happy to be heading home?

Well I got my answer as soon as the car pulled away at he airport…Trey said the driver was having trouble staying awake and was closing his eyes periodically to rest them! He said he almost texted me to tell me but decided to wait so I didn’t worry. I love him for that.

We arrived at the airport by 7:15. Our plan was to do the VAT tax thing to get money back on our purchases. There were about 20 people in line and we decided it wasn’t worth the risk to wait. We probably missed out on around $100.

It was a good decision not to wait as we arrived at our departure gate with about 10 minutes to spare before boarding started.

We were flying from Rome to Dallas-Fort Worth to home. At the time of booking the flights it seemed fine. A four hour layover in Dallas, no problem, we could check out the Amex Centurion Lounge. Driving home when we landed, no big deal, it’s only 45 minutes or so.

It was an 11 hour flight from Rome to Dallas. 5734 miles as you can see below.

11 hours is a loonnnnggg time on an airplane. The flight over from Charlotte to Paris was a little less than 8 hours and that felt like forever at the time.

Thank goodness we were in premium economy which is basically the same thing as first class on a domestic flight (free alcohol, food, amenity kit, etc). We are too old to fly economy for 11 hours.

It was a good, long flight. They fed us three solid meals in 11 hours. And strangely, we were hungry for all of them. The food was good and the desserts were excellent. We were both able to doze throughout.

We were able to snag a couple of chaises to relax in the Amex lounge in Dallas and even ate a fourth meal there. You can’t not try the free food in that lounge.

We made it home and were in bed by 10:30 pm Saturday night, making for exactly a 24 hour day when our heads hit the pillows.

All in all a successful day though I’m guessing we will think twice when we plan our next flight. It was rough watching the plane fly over home on the screen as it headed to Dallas.