The adventure started about three weeks before Christina and I left for our vacation to Italy (purely by coincidence). My manager e-mailed me about an opportunity for a 6-month assignment in Italy and I tossed my name into the hat. Within a week, I found out not only that I was on the team, but also that I was supposed to leave on October 11th (the same day we were supposed to leave on our vacation to Italy). After some negotiation, I arranged to start the assignment on October 26th, 4 days after returning from our vacation.
So it was that on the morning of October 26th I found myself back at Seatac waiting for an American Airline flight to whisk me off to JFK, then Rome. The major difference was that this time I was in First Class to New York and Business Class to Rome. And what a difference it was! Having just returned from Rome in coach with Christina, I was pleasantly surprised by the dramatically better service in the front of the plane. The food was wonderful on both flights (huge steaks, salads, and chocolate cake!). The flights were both on-time and uneventful. My only complaint was that the “lie-flat” seats in business class on the 767-200 would not recline to fully flat (I’d say it was about 150 degrees). Still, I was not about to complain about an all-expense paid trip to Europe!
Landing in Rome was strange because we came in on the auxiliary runway which is almost a mile from the main terminal. After taxiing for almost 20 minutes, we stopped in the middle of the tarmac far away from any gate. After a few minutes the doors opened and we all descended to waiting busses. After a short ride to the terminal, we were dropped off a customs.
For anyone who has not traveled through the Rome airport, I will explain how the customs process works. As with most countries, the first stage is the passport check. The difference in Rome is that the check lasts all of 5 seconds and sometime you have to ask to even get a stamp (to prove when you entered the country). There are no questions, no fingerprinting, no customs forms. The next step is to pick up your checked bags and proceed to customs. The difference is that there is a sign pointing towards the declaration area or the exit. If you have nothing to declare, you go straight to the exit and enter the EU officially. Everyone I’ve talked to gets to the stage and feels like they have entered the country illegally (seems like it really shouldn’t be that easy!). After that point, the only time you have to show your passport is when checking into a hotel or using the internet.
Once in Rome, my mission was to meet up with another engineer who was reporting to Foggia the same day. Our plan was to meet at the car rental counter after she landed (scheduled for about 30 minutes after I did). It turned out that her flight was about an hour late, but I was able to catch up on e-mails during the wait. She rented the car (a diesel Mercedes C220) and we hit the road.
The city of Foggia is located about 3 hours SE of Rome, on the East side of the country near the “spur” of the boot. It is about 20 minutes from the Adriatic Coast and an hour and a half from Naples, on the Mediterranean side. The drive from Rome took us across the mountains to the city of Pescara, then down the Adriatic coast. Foggia is located in an agricultural region which can be described as the Wichita of Italy. The land is flat and the city is a cacophony of densely packed one-way streets with no semblance of order and structure. I had loaded the European maps on my GPS before the trip, but even Garmin became thoroughly confused by the traffic patterns.
We eventually made it to our destination: the Cicolella Hotel. This would be my home for 44 nights while I waited for an apartment to be ready. It’s very hard to describe the Chic, as the Cicolella is known to locals (and Boeing residents). Words just can’t do it justice. The website calls it a 4-star hotel, but many would beg to differ. The hotel décor is about 50 years removed from modern, and most of the rooms are decorated to look appropriate in a 70’s-era porn flick. Mine had velvet walls and mirrors above the bed! What it lacked in style it made up for with an incredibly nice staff, central location, and free internet and breakfast. It was only after the first week that I actually looked at Trip Advisor and was amused to read all the negative reviews of the Chic. Had I read them before the trip I may have chosen another hotel, but I’m glad I didn’t.
The hotel was located in downtown Foggia, 2 blocks from the train station and 3 blocks from the central plaza. The city of Foggia is a lot bigger than I expected. It has several large plazas, a huge park, and some wonderful restaurants. We jumped into work the day after arriving in Foggia, but spent the evenings exploring our new home and eating great pizza, pasta, steak, and buffalo mozzarella. I spent the first few weeks settling into work and meeting everyone in the group. Several folks were staying at the Chic as well, so we had great meals out. Which brings me to my next topic…FOOD!
