Departing for Rome

August 4, 2010

Leaving for vacation is always exciting but stress inducing as well. I dropped the dogs off and picked up the rental car from the local airport. Renting a car one way from New Haven to JFK is cheaper than hiring a car to take us. It's a little more work, but a lot less money.

Because I did not want to carry the GPS all over Europe, I left the GPS home and took my chances. I should not have taken my chances because somehow I got lost. I don't know how I did it, but I thought I was lost and rolled down the window to ask for directions. I asked three times at a stop light and got three completely different directions. Finally someone offered for me to follow him and that's what I did.

We dropped the car off at Budget and headed over to Aer Lingus. We checked in and waited at our gate for our plane. The plane was on time, and the seats were pretty comfortable for cheap seats. We had televisions in the head rests and it really made the time pass quickly. We watched movies, played games and did everything but sleep.

We got into Dublin at some insane hour and waited the two and a half hours for our flight. The plane was more comfortable on the short jump from Dublin to Rome. Lots of nice folks on flight. We grabbed our bags pretty easily and I spotted an ATM. I knew I could wait but I had ordered cash ahead of time. Next time I'll just use my ATM card at the airport when we land.

Our Rome cabs dude was waving a sign with our names and it and I was so glad I chose this option. We were exhausted and if I had tried to navigate the train system I don't know if my nerves could have taken it. He drove us all over Rome, pointing at things but we were in a fog. He got us to our B&B and we checked in without a problem. We were at the B&B around 4pm. My goal was to make it to at least 8pm before sleeping.