Monday, October 11th

Note: our internet connection here is too slow to support pictures, so I will be adding those after we return.

We woke up Monday and finished some last minute packing, ate a quick breakfast, and headed to the airport after saying goodbye to the puppies. Evelyn had driven up from Portland to pick up the dogs and she was able to get us to the airport as well (BIG THANKS!!!). We we’re flying American Airlines for two reasons: cheapest price and frequent flier miles (on Alaska Air). From Seattle, we headed to Chicago on one of American’s newest 737-800’s (Built in Nov. 2009). The flight was uneventful and we landed in Chicago a few minutes early. On the ground, we experienced what I call “gate serendipity”. Expecting a long walk through O’Hare airport, we were pleasantly surprised to find our connection was from gate K10 to gate K13 (all of about 200 feet!). You can’t ask for much better in one of the busiest airports in the world. We had enough time to sit down and eat a nice dinner before the next flight.

From Chicago, we had a direct flight to Rome on a 767-300 that was almost as old as Christina and me. The seats seemed smaller than the 737 and we found it nearly impossible to sleep. The only benefit was that the 2-3-2 seating allowed us an aisle and a window seat without anyone between us. The food was pretty standard airline food, but at least it was included! Despite the Italians chatting throughout the night, we did eventually manage to drift off to sleep for about two hours.