The View from 58-inches High

Well we made it to Rome but not as uneventfully as I would have hoped. I woke up at 6:30, after only 3-hours of sleep. It was nice to have time to double check everything before leaving but I was very tired. We got to the airport with plenty of time and actually got into Charlotte 30-minutes early. I could not get comfortable on the plane and was feeling nauseous by the time we landed. We were checked through to Rome but had to show our passports and boarding passes at the gate prior to boarding. It seemed like it took forever for them to get started boarded. When they finally did start boarding, Brian and I were in the early group for business class. They scanned Brian’s ticket but mine wouldn’t scan. The woman told me that my boarding pass would have to be “pushed” by the gate agent. I went over to the gate agent who searched through a list of tickets and told me I didn’t have a seat; it would have to be reassigned. She told us to stand behind the gate and she would call us. 20-minutes went by as the boarded the rest of the plane and still there was no word. Finally we asked what was taking so long. The woman, a different one than before, told me I would have to get in line to get a new ticket. I was really starting to get livid. There were a number of us in the same boat, literally as many of them were also on the cruise. When they finally assigned my ticket it was clearly a coach ticket. I’ll never forget this; I looked at the woman and said “this is a coach ticket”. She grabbed it back up, glanced at it, and said “No, it’s and isle.” By this point I couldn’t help it, I was so exhausted I just started crying. Brian ended up taking the coach seat and not sleeping at all. I spent the first 3-hour of our flight trying not to vomit I was so sick with anger and frustration.

We got off the plane over an hour late, got our bags and started looking for our cruise representative. Turns out, everybody was coming in at the same time and when we left, it was with a full bus load of people. The bus stopped at the first hotel and most of the bus got off. We were at the Excelsior, further into the city by the Spanish steps. It appeared that there were about 25 people staying in our hotel; most of them much older than us.

Our original plan had been to immediately hit the city to take in as many sites as possible. The boat didn’t leave until 6:00PM the next day so we figured we had about 2-days to sight-see. Well, we didn’t actually arrive at the hotel until 12:30. When we did arrive, our room wasn’t ready so we couldn’t change into more comfortable clothing. Also, the Regent agent told us we were to meet at 9:45 the next morning to catch the bus to the harbor; much earlier than I had anticipated given the 6:00 departure. They were offering a tour that evening and, since we were exhausted and had no plans, we signed up.

After lunch, I begged Brian to come to the coliseum with me so I could see it. He did not want me wondering around Rome alone. I had GPS on my phone so I figured we could find our way to the subway and take the subway there. After walking far too long to a station that was not actually the closest to our hotel, Brian decided we could just walk to the Coliseum. We continued to head in that direction as best we could, given that the streets constantly twist and turn you off your path. We came upon the junction point for the two subway lines and Brian suggested that we take the subway the rest of the way instead. We searched for the actual train platform in the midst of a huge mall. When we finally found it, it turned out they only took coins! Brian got very upset that I didn’t do my research and the whole thing devolved into two temper tantrums; his and mine.  At the end, I gave up and we went back to the room so he could sleep before heading out for the Regent dinner that night.

The dinner was totally campy. They fed 61 people and served bottomless wine. Our guide was cute and very funny. She had to kill quite a bit of time because the bus was stuck in a huge traffic jam due to a celebration of the police. We watched all sorts of dignitaries fly passed the bus with their police escorts. We even saw the president of Italy’s car. The highlight of the night was the people we met. It was funny because they told us all that we had to pack into the seats in order to ensure no seats were left empty. They basically told us where to sit. They were pointing for one couple to sit with us and the husband was saying “do I have to sit there? I don’t want to sit there.” I can only imagine what he was thinking when he saw us. Little did he know we were so old at heart.

The night ended on a good note and I’m hopeful that the rest of the vacation will be much better than the start.