To start with, you should know that if you have to take four separate planes of flight, you're probably in for quite a fun time of traveling. For us, it went something like this:
Our three hour flight from Anchorage to Seattle was rather uneventful. It was already late when we boarded the plane, so we just chatted
for a while and got more acquainted with each other whilst munching on cinnamon pretzels thanks
to good old Alaska Airlines.
5:30 AM on Tuesday found us in the Seattle Tacoma ai
rport waiting only a short while to catch our next five hour flight over to the Dulles International airport in D.C. This flight was actually rather pleasant, as it was oddly empty and we both were treated to aisles all by ourselves. So, with a pillow behind my head and a blanket draped over my gratefully stretched out legs, I finally got about, an hour, of sleep.
Flight #3 from D.C. to Frankfurt was, to put it mil
dly and in one word: miserable. I was at first excited to learn that we would receive both dinner
and breakfast, however, I soon discovered that this was not such a great thing, because to get TWO meals all in one flight just simply mean
s you are on the plane for way too long. Needless to say, we could not get off of that plane fast enough.
The bus at the Frankfurt Airport that taxied us to our last plane that would take to Florence
Just a typical European EXIT sign.
As we stepped off that horrid plane, we were struck with the realization that we were definitely NOT in America anymore. And I quickly learned that German security guards are not the nicest people when you forget that you left your nalgene bottle full of "liquids" in your backpack. Let's just say I was rather humiliated to have to stand in front of her until I drank down the entire contents of the bottle.
Katy stood patiently by my side as my personal cheerleader, thanks Katy!
Some German newspapers in the Frankfurt International Airport... who knows how they read.
Frankfurt International airport was home to our first scare of not making it over to Italy. Apparently the cabin crew for the Lufthansa Airlines went on strike that morning at 6AM and we did not know exactly when they were planning on coming back to work. Thankfully, God was in control, of course, and we actually got out of there on time and were on our way, finally, to FLORENCE!
We felt like celebrity as we walked out of the airport to a kind looking young girl holding a sign with our names on it. Praise the Lord, THEY actually knew we were coming and WE had actually made it all in one piece. We we then quickly whisked away with all our luggage across the crazy streets of Florence to our new home on via Palazzoulo 57.
Katy and I got a great workout as we both got to carry our nearly 50lb (or more in my case...) suitcases up FOUR flights of stairs because we were, of course, residing on the fourth floor. Hysteria becoming us as we laughed our way up the narrow (30 inch) stairwell with our wide (28 inch) suitcases. We wont be needing a stair-master this semester, that's for sure.
The place was not quite what we expected, but we found comfort later that evening as Katy read through some Psalms before we fell into a greatly needed slumber. Our journey was not complete, just the travel. The journey had really just begun.
