Itay Vacation Day One- Oh The Places We Thought We Could Go- One Long Journey

The first two days of our journey/adventure/excursion or maybe we should just call them a “NIGHTMARE”. Up early Thursday AM to catch our initial flight to JFK. Arrived JFK approximately, 5:00 pm and then had to wait for our 10:00pm flight to Paris. Well, so far so good on the journey. We made our original flight and sailed through security at home, sailed through security at JFK again as we changed terminals. Had a bite to eat and recharged our electronic device batteries while we waited for our flight. Hm…maybe the forewarning was our hamburgers that on the menu sounded delicious; however, when we ordered the food we were informed that the bar was out of all their main courses and our deluxe hamburgers would be missing mushrooms and onions and when set in front of us no bacon neither. Hmm.. buyer beware.


Well after boarding the 747 flight to Paris, we waited and waited and taxied a little and taxied a little bit more and after a one hour delay finally took off. Okay, we should be okay they often times make up ground and our 1 ½ hour layover in Paris shouldn’t be in jeopardy. Landed in Paris with 30 minutes to locate our next flight gate and board the plane. Oh did I tell you we were on the very last row of the 747, and as usual Charles Degaulle Airport was a Nightmare.

15 minutes to deboard, made a mad rush to locate and ask where the next gate was located. Good it’s in terminal two and we landed in two but we still have to pass through customs and show passports another 10 minutes and the airport is assuring us that the airline is aware of the delay and will hold the plane. Okay we are through customs and another line appears and they rush us to near the front of the line and inform security that we have a plane close to departing and we need to be expedited through security. Cheryl’s first and beep goes the alarm. She gets the opportunity of having a body search okay wave the wand to ensure no concealed weapons. I’m next and inform them of my insulin vial and walk through the scanner with flying colors. Grab my belt and shoes and have them on and ready to grab the laptop when the security person ask me if the bag she has is my. “Yes, ma’ma, sir you need to come back and remove all electronic devices from the bag.” Are you kidding me? I just went through two other security points today and not had to remove anything but my laptop from the backpack. Out came the Camera, extra lens, Video Camera, Cell phone, & I-phone. Oh yes please remove your belt and walk back through the scanner. Finally, received a clearance to proceed and literally threw everything back into the backpack and we ran to the gate.

The gate was emptied. The plane was parked on the tarmac and a bus had to take the passengers to the plane to board. Therefore in order to depart on time the airline closed the boarding at 12:35 and we arrived at 12:40pm. All we could do is watch our flight taxi to the runway as it departed from Paris.

Okay now what? Quick let’s book another flight and hopefully, we can still catch our tour group dinner this afternoon. First flight 3:30 but it goes to the “other” airport approximately a 1-1/1/2 hour shuttle ride to the Milan/Malpensa Airport. Next flight to Malpensa Airport departs 9:05 pm and arrives around 10:35pm. Great we just got the opportunity to spend 7 hours in the airport that I have come to hate the most Degaulle Airport. Remember we have been up since 6:30 AM Thursday morning and now some 22 hours later we are being held hostage in an Airport for another 7 hours before we can catch a flight.  Ugh!
On the brighter side we did catch a bit of a nap while waiting for our flight and I started the blog other than the blog site was unavailable and I had to utilize a word document to compile the blog thoughts and post later. Hm.. the day isn’t over, I wonder what will happen next? Hey Cheryl where do you think our luggage wound up?  Oh and by the way it is Friday the 13th. 

Finally after a seven hour wait we boarded the plane to Milan and arrived at 10:30 pm. Walked right out picked up our luggage and walked out the exit to met our tour guide, Thea and soon we were checked into the hotel in Milan.