Traveling

This morning I woke up with knots in my stomach.  Even though our flight wasn’t until 3:30 I was anxious to get to the airport.  We woke up early and took care of all the last minute errands we needed to run and prepared our house for us to be gone for two weeks.  We enjoyed our last ‘American’ meal in true fashion with BBQ.  I am confident we will not be eating anything like that when we get to Italy, which excites me.  Rather then watching the clock until we had to leave, we decided to go ahead and get to the airport.  I think Logan was feeling the same eagerness I was.  

When we arrived to the airport we experienced what has been my smoothest experience since 9-11.  Due to the anniversary this weekend, there was extra TIA staff on  hand, but with the mid afternoon flight the security line was completely vacant.  We were 2 hours early for a process that took no longer then 20 minutes from start to finish.  Since we had down time we were able to enjoy a beer and relax for the first time in over a week.  For the first time we could finally put out of our minds work, moving, and all the other daily stresses of life.  For the first time I feel like I am actually on vacation.   

The flight to Rome was a lot more enjoyable then I anticipated.  Maybe it was all the excitement I felt for the adventures to come.  Maybe it was because I finally had a clear head and no stress.  Regardless, it was uneventful which is all you can ever ask for.  As I watched the sun rise over the clear skies an announcement came over the intercom communicating that coffee and a hot Danish were coming to us and we will be touching ground in 45 minutes.  Even though I only caught an hour worth of sleep, it felt right.  We flew through customs and into a taxi cab on our way to drop luggage off at the hotel.  It still hasn’t hit me yet exactly where we are and what lies ahead.  As I sit at a tourist catered pizza joint sipping on a Peroni while looking at the Colosseo writing this I am wondering when reality will hit.