We came, we saw, we slept….a lot

Well – we did it!! We made it to Italy!! Our trip started on October 16th in Sacramento – a nice early flight to Dallas. We got to spend a couple hours in the American Airlines lounge (thank you status) before getting on our flight to Roma! From Dallas it is a 10.5 hour flight. We flew premium economy, which is basically like domestic first class. We had just the two of us on the side of the plane. Mom very rudely took the window seat (she wanted to see all the things).

We stayed awake until they served us dinner, and then she crashed. I on the other hand, did not. Sitting on the aisle really did me in. Also I think I was so excited for mom to see Italy that I couldnt sleep. I nodded off here and there, but I really fell asleep about an hour before they served breakfast and of course, they wake you up for that!! It was a struggle after that, but we made it!!

We did have a scare though because I checked the AA app for our luggage location and it said only one bag had made the whole trip. Thankfully, that was wrong and both bags made it! But for a minute we only saw mine. After we gathered our bags, mom switched her socks, I switched my outfit and we hit the moving walkway to the train!

Rome has a direct train from the airport to the central Rome station every 15 minutes. Its about a 40 minute trip, but its nice and easy on a nice air conditioned train.

We got to the station and headed the one block to our hotel! It was such an easy walk, and by this time (yes, barely into the trip) mom and I have a new set up. She carries my regular backpack, I carry her big backpack.

Anyway, we dropped our stuff at our hotel, went to get her a Coke Light (turns out they just use Coke Zero now) and then headed towards the Forum so we could take a free walking tour.

We got there like 30 minutes early, so swung by a little grocery store. Mom found her “candy” (doesnt everyone have a favorite foreign candy?) black licorice rings. I got some blood orange juice and we went to sit on some steps near where the meeting point was.

About 20 minutes before the tour I saw the guide so we walked over to check in. I had spelled my last name wrong and he got all bent out of shape saying we couldnt go. He was a jerk. He said “Maybe you can write and email and they will update the information, but its Sunday morning so maybe no one is working.” I did what he asked, and someone responded, but of course, because it was clearly him. Anyway, we were able to go on the tour and it was just a total of 4 of us, all American.

The tour was about 2.5 hours and the other Americans just jetted after they paid (you tip as your payment). Mom and I headed back to one of his recommended restaurants, but it was packed, so we just ate next door. It was good – we both got quattro fromaggi pizza and water.

After our late lunch/early dinner we walked back to the hotel. It was early – maybe 330pm, but we really wanted to get cleaned up. We stopped to get some cash and then I was planning on going out for some gelato later. We got all cleaned up and settled into our room (even though we were only there for a night) and then both laid down on the beds. Mom crashed right away, out by 430pm. I made myself wait until 6pm. It was hard. I had wrote my blog, chatted with some friends and then finally put the phone down to sleep.

Both of us got up at 4am, were up for a bit. However, we both ended up sleeping UNTIL NOON!! Whoops!!

Thankfully we are so close to the train station. We left the hotel around 1230 and got on the 1255 train. Thankfully its the nice bullet train and included no stops. We had a snack on the train and then arrived an hour and fifteen minutes later in Naples.

We had to switch to the local, crappy train there, but then made some friends from Charlotte, NC. These two older ladies with three suitcases on a three week holiday – crazy!! After our train trip we had a 15 minute walk down towards the water to our hotel.

Our hotel is BEAUTIFUL. Mom is super impressed (as am I). We dont have a water view, which is a bummer but we do have cute little room and there is a nice deck we can enjoy, so tonight we sat and watched the sunset while I typed this up.

But before the sunset, we went to grab dinner at a place that is also a cooking school – and it had GREAT reviews. The food was great. We got bruschetta and gnocchi. Both delicious!

Tomorrow we are hitting up Pompeii and Herculaneum. Looking forward to it!