We got up at 6 am to get ready for the airport.  We packed the final few things and washed the dishes in the apartment.  Then we walked to the taxi stand two blocks away.  As you may recall, we bought roller bags so we could check bags with large quantities of olive oil.  Once again, I was reminded of what a pain it is to pull a roller bag on a cobblestone street.

We stayed in the Trastevere neighborhood, and it is very easy to get from there to the airport, only 35 minutes.  We arrived at the airport 2-1/2 hours before our flight.  Plenty of time!  Or so we thought.

Since we had bags to check, we couldn’t go straight to our gate.  There were two lines – Check-In and Bag Drop.  Since we had already checked in via our phones, we got into the bag drop line.  Our line was moving very slowly.  Then we noticed that the Check-In line was moving much faster.  It turns out that the Check-In line had five counters open, and ours only had three.  At least we arrived at the airport with plenty of time.  Right.

Then the baggage conveyor belt stopped working, so all bag check stopped.  It started up again a few minutes later, and we were all relieved.  Then two of the three people working the Bag Drop counters went on break.  Now there was just one guy to receive all of our luggage.  People started getting nervous and looking at the time.  After about 15 minutes, one of the staff members came back from break, and people in line cheered.  Meanwhile, I looked at my phone to double-check when our flight would start boarding, and I noticed that it was now going to leave 10 minutes early.  Mamma mia!

Luckily, a Delta supervisor came over asking, “Who’s on the 9:45 to Atlanta?  Okay, come with me.”  She paused the Check-In line and cleared the way for us Atlanta flyers to check our bags.  Whew!  We dropped our bags.  The agent gave us paper boarding tickets with bag-check stickers on them and noted that our flight would board at 8:45.  What time was it?  8:45.

We speed-walked to passport control and zipped through security.  On the other side, we noticed that our gate was on the far end of the terminal.  Of course.  And Fiumicino airport is huge, so it was quite a walk to get to our gate.

Sure enough, our flight was already boarding, but they had just started with the premium class.  So it was a hurry up and wait situation for us.

We’re happily on board.  Lunch was pretty good.  Now we’re passing time watching Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy, reading, napping (me).

lunch on the plane – veggie lasagna, Italian salad with tomatoes/olives/mozzarella, strawberry gelato, red wine

We’re both looking forward to being home.  We thought we would be sad to leave Italy, and I guess we are in a way.  But we’re looking forward to being in our own house and, especially, sleeping in our own luxurious bed.  Plus, there are the cute kitties waiting for us.