Thanksgiving Week 2012 Travels

I haven't posted since my return from Italy; I've had some trips to visit Margaret and she to visit me, but I generally just think of posting about international trips and planning for them. By getting the United Explorer Card, I once again have the miles for one of us to go to Europe. I'm generally planning to keep to my practice of making an Italy trip in even-numbered years, but we also consider the chance to go to Italy in 2013 around a Big Event. My visit to Margaret for Thanksgiving week had enough practical travel things happen around the flights that I'm making a post now.

Margaret suggested a visit; with my having the whole week off work and flexibility in dates, I found a reasonable fare to Sacramento on United going Sunday-Friday. The Saturday before my departure, I went to the monthly Italian Club in Kansas City and stayed at the airport Econo Lodge, using points that would otherwise expire at the end of the year. When I arrived at the motel, there was a sign at the front desk saying "Back in 10-15 minutes." The people who came in right behind me called the motel number, and got the person saying she was driving the van to the terminals and would be back shortly. The people indicated they would cancel their booking, since they didn't like the thought that no one would be around in the event of an emergency. I got checked in quickly with no payment needed, and decided to wait for later to pay for parking, while the people behind me sorted out their wishes. With United flights being split since the March merger with Continental between Terminals A and C, I said my return flight would be to United in A, and the desk person said I was the first person to know which United terminal I would use.

I slept lightly, having my iPhone alarm set for 4 a.m. to get the 4.30 shuttle for my 6 a.m. flight. In the lobby, another young woman was sleeping on the couch through a phone alarm, but she woke up and was ready to take me early, the only passenger going at that time. Where I could have carried my bag on, I checked it for free on the minor perk of having the Explorer Card, and was quickly to the gate; I could easily have taken the shuttle at 5.

Using another perk of the card, I boarded the first flight to Denver in Group 4, Priority, not to be confused with the Premier groups who board first. On the turboprop plane, it didn't seem that there was any heat, and I kept my coat on. We sat until departure time, and they said there was a maintenance issue (related to heat and pressurization?) that could not be resolved quickly, but there was a substitute aircraft available, and we could probably make our connections o.k. So we de-boarded; the revised departure time showed briefly as 6.30, then became 7. I thought the original 1 hr. 15 connecting time in Denver was o.k. for having breakfast there, and had charted out the options. Now that was looking unlikely, and I went to the little concession stand in this 3-gate area, getting an $8 not-good sandwich. As I was buying it, I saw pastries that might have been a better choice.

Although it took longer than expected, having a substitute plane on hand in a non-hub airport was a good break. We boarded, with a departure finally at 7.30. This Q400 turboprop was reasonably comfortable compared to the other prop planes that I remember. I turned my phone on on landing, hoping for a text message with the gate number of my connecting flight. That wasn't coming through, and I turned data on (I mostly keep it turned off, aware of the data limits on my plan) to see an e-mail, giving the gate number of the flight but saying that if I missed it I was confirmed on the next flight. This plane came to a stop, having us get off on the tarmac by the ground-level extension of the concourse, at 8.25, with the connecting flight at 8.35. I went to the connecting gate and no plane was there. I'm a big worrier about tight connections but was reasonably confident in this one, with a 6 a.m. departure meaning delays wouldn't have built up during the day, and feeling that overall missed connections are rare, but here I had missed one. It was nice to be confirmed rather than be on standby through who knows how many flights.

I texted Margaret with the new arrival time, and decided this was the time to use one of the United Club passes that I got with the Explorer Card. I went to the Customer Service agents there to get my new boarding pass. I was the only customer, with three agents working; those on each side were advising the one in the middle on getting me the seat assignment and pass; apparently the computer system used since the merger in March is still a problem. She got me an exit row, classed as Economy Plus; I could have gone to a self-service kiosk, but the exit row may have been a benefit of using the Club and getting agents who work with the top customers.

The Club wasn't too crowded, with some bagels and doughnut holes; there was a delay for the bar to open, but I got a Bloody Mary, catching up with things online before going to the departure gate a little before 11.

An advantage to the flight change was that I was on a mainline rather than regional jet. There was seatback DirecTV, which I considered trying but preferred to try to sleep with the full day still to come. The TV was on with a free preview during boarding and through takeoff until 15 minutes into the flight; I could follow football but I figured we'd land just short of the finish of those games.

So, arrival was fine, Margaret met me, and we went to her mother's in Davis, leading to dinner out and going to a symphony concert. I held up well, including driving afterwards to Margaret's home in the Sacramento suburbs.

This is a report mainly on the flights, but it was a great week with Margaret, including seeing the Crocker Art Museum and Thanksgiving at her mother's with more of the extended family.

On Thanksgiving morning I got a text message saying my Denver-Kansas City flight was cancelled. I got online for more details, and found that it really meant that the scheduled turboprop was replaced with a regional jet with a different flight number but at the same time. Also the seating chart was wide open and I could select a seat.

Margaret took me to the airport Friday; with no place to eat outside security, I went on my own to eat at Vino Volo, a good airport option for a brie and prosciutto sandwich with wine. The Sacramento-Denver flight also had DirecTV, but it wasn't interesting enough for me to pay the price. On landing in Denver, again there was no text message about the connecting gate; I went to e-mail and found another flight cancellation notice; oh no! Looking at it more closely, I saw that it was a repeat of Thursday's message about my original flight 4901, and there was no mention of flight 3966, where I was checked in. I used the iPhone browser to find the gate number, wanting to know it in this 50-minute connection (landing 15 minutes before boarding time); I got it and that was sure helpful, because when I was in the terminal and looked at the departure board, they only showed the cancelled flight 4901.

I had also noted that while my flight was showing an on-time departure of 5.40 p.m., they also had a link to the aircraft's previous segment, which was showing a 5.34 arrival, so I figured there would be some delay. The board at the gate kept changing the time, sometimes having gone past the scheduled time, and the gate agents sometimes announced that they weren't being told much, but there was a minor maintenance issue. We eventually boarded and took off about an hour late. This
ERJ-170 felt similar to the mainline flights. We landed, I got my bag, and called to get the van back to the Econo Lodge and get my car.

So these were my flights this week; most of my domestic flights are on Southwest, and even when they have delays, there aren't such big consequences. This trip on United had the noteworthy missed connection, and I felt like making this report, but things could have been worse.

The long return home

On Sunday we talked to some Canadian guests at the Girasole, who advised against doing the Grotta Azzurra tour: a rowboat trip where we would need to lie down while it goes through the small opening: two minutes in there while the oarsman sings O Sole Mio, all for €12.50 per person and he's aggressive about a tip. The advice was that it would be better to take the boat tour around the island for €16.

So our tentative plan for Monday was to do that tour and go around Capri town. In the morning Margaret wasn't feeling well, and then a steady rain started, so we just stayed inside. So we had nice memories of Capri without doing that much. I got these pictures of the sunset with clouds from our terrace:

I was worried about how well Margaret would feel on Tuesday when we needed to get to Rome, but she got up and was well. I'd arranged the hotel shuttle at 9.40, and once again we had the little van going part of the way on what are really walkways. Once again we had spectacular views on the ride to Marina Grande. We were planning to take the hydrofoil at 10.35, but we were in time to catch the one at 10.10. Up to last week, that one had a promotional fare of €10.10, but now its fare was like the others: what had been €17 had increased to €18.70; local people had protested the fare increase, blocking a departure, on Sunday morning. After the purchase, it wasn't that clear where to board. We started on the right-hand side of the pier but had doubts whether it was correct; we went back to the head of the pier and had it confirmed; a board there lists numbered boarding spots. We joined the waiting group and the hydrofoil turned up; it was easier to board than the other ferry, without steps. It was a faster, sometimes rocking, crossing that got us to Molo Beverello in Naples.

We went to the front of the line of taxis and got a ride to Stazione Centrale; the meter was off, and at the end the driver counted bags and assessed a fare of €15. We were way early for the train we'd booked, at 13.45. That's a consequence of getting the great €9 Mini fare on a high-speed train, having time to kill once we made sure to get to the station on time. We had sandwiches at a bar, moving to tables once they opened. Then we had coffee at the bar past the low-numbered tracks, catering mainly to rail workers. We found seats open among those scattered around the station; a little past 1, we reclaimed Margaret's checked bag, at a cost of €28. We went to the track that showed on the poster as our train's regular track, although it hadn't been posted on the board. A train turned up, and people appeared to be confident that it was right, even though it wasn't posted. We found our seats in car 6, at one end of the car with seats facing each other, with bag storage space on overhead racks and between the backs of seats.

This was a train with a final destination of Torino; the stop in Rome was Tiburtina. Once the train left the station, there was wi-fi available with the password sent to my cell phone. I learned there of the new earthquakes in the North. There was an information board with the speed of the train, which got to 300 km/h. It was a nice experience, without any discomfort from the speed. Not many people were getting off in Rome, using that secondary station. When we got off onto the platform, we had the ramp down to the underpass; we didn't go up to the new area over the tracks, part of the project to increase the importance of Tiburtina. We had an elevator take us to street level. A taxi that was letting people off wouldn't take us; we needed to go to the regular stand, which was hard to reach around construction barriers. We got our ride to the Hotel de la Ville, where I'd booked an award stay with my points for getting the Priority Club Visa. This driver charged the metered fare plus €1 for each bag in the trunk, for €12.40 total.

I'd seen warnings about the hotel, at the top of the Spanish Steps, being a luxury hotel that was somewhat worn, with snooty service. Without great expectations, we found it to be nice; they gave us an upgraded room with a little more space. In this brief time in Rome, we just wandered the Spagna-Popolo area and enjoyed the room. I got persuaded to go to the 6th-floor panoramic terrace, where we had cocktails (a Bellini for me) at a high price. For dinner, we were going to try one place based on a SlowTrav review, but found it closed down. I had general memories of a place near Piazza di Spagna but didn't find it; we went to Il Re degli Amici on via della Croce and had a serviceable final Roman meal of spaghetti carbonara and saltimbocca.

I set the alarm for 5.30 as we'd booked a car from Rome Shuttle Limousine for 6.30. We checked out and the hotel person offered to put our charges (cocktails and city tax) in dollars using dynamic currency conversion, which I knew to decline. The driver was there and got us going ahead of schedule. We arrived at Terminal 5 around 7 a.m.; he said he didn't have change from my €50 for the €40 fare. I asked about paying by credit card, and he had €8 to give me in change, reasonable enough.

In my studies of Terminal 5, I saw a disability assistance area, marked by a smiley face, near the front. I saw the door and knocked as instructed; an unfriendly man came out and said to go through the airline. We had the first checkpoint where they ask security questions, and they couldn't find Margaret's booking; we needed to go back to the ticket counter for them to locate that. Then we went through to the regular check-in; they instructed us to wait five minutes for wheelchair assistance. We could have had breakfast at the non-busy Terminal 5 bar, but we waited past that time without help. We got an agent's assistance to call again, and got help. I was with Margaret, but they told me I would need to get the regular security screening and take the regular bus to the departure area, while she got the special bus.

I got through that, and not knowing how long it would take her to get there, went to the bar in the G satellite, getting something for her to eat. Margaret found me there, but it was questionable whether it was worth it for her to stand in the long line to pay the cashier before ordering to get a coffee. We went to the gate area, where someone was watching Margaret's bag, but I needed to stand. When they started boarding, at 9, they just called group numbers without a call for those with disabilities. We boarded regularly in our group 6. United flight 41 to Newark pulled out of the gate on time at 9.50, and took off around 10.10. The 767 has seatback monitors with many selections. For the meal, I selected a beef brisket rather than a chicken or vegetarian dish. I've been writing this onboard, and we're over Labrador now.

Finishing off when I'm home: there was a sandwich and bag of chips for the late snack. Although I preferred the Lufthansa service going over, the time of this return flight passed well. We landed a little ahead of the scheduled return time of 1.40; this flight arrived at Newark's Terminal B, which United (mostly former Continental flights) doesn't use for departures. It was good to tag onto the disability assistance that Margaret had booked. A wheelchair attendant took us through some elevators and the crew passport check. Then we had our baggage claim, were cleared through customs, and left our bags off for the next segment. There we had more elevators (where it was crowded, I went up the escalator to meet them at the top) to get to the monorail to Terminal C. We didn't find room on the first train and needed to wait. An elevator down to the security checkpoint, where we got to a privileged lane: got through the ordeal with a basic metal detector. I cleared there even though my much later flight would be from Terminal A.

The attendant left Margaret at her posted departure gate of C120 at the start of concourse C-3. We'd made good time, still with three hours before our departures, and we'd decided to have a meal at whatever nice restaurant was nearby; we went to a sushi place. We did what we could to catch up on things on our phones; when Margaret turned on her phone to get texts, her son welcomed her to the U.S. pointing out that it was still 12 hours until her final arrival: quite a long day for her. We went around some more, having coffee, then looked at the departure board and saw Margaret's flight now showing as going from gate C112, at the far end of concourse C-2. At the gate where she'd been left, the departure around that time was to Berlin; who knows how that might have wound up. I accompanied her to the revised departure gate for Houston, where she had the long time ahead to connect to Sacramento. It was 4 p.m., well ahead of her 5.25 departure, but we needed to say our good-byes for me to get to Terminal A in comfortable time for my 5.15 flight.

I went to the place at the start of concourse C-1, where there's the not-pleasant area to catch the airside bus to the area of Terminal A that most of United's regional jets use. I got to that terminal and found a seat in the crowded gate area. I boarded that regional jet and took my combined aisle/window seat in the 1-2 setup. It was nice when the pair of seats across the aisle was empty, and I could put my bulky shoulder bag there. The flight didn't have much of a wait to take off from Newark, and arrived in Kansas City early; I had to think with concern about finishing my flights six hours before Margaret.

I had called from Newark to book a taxi. The cab company said I'd need to meet it at the Marriott, taking their shuttle. I had some calls with the dispatch and the driver while I waited for a Marriott shuttle for nearly an hour to no avail. They finally advised me to go in and call the hotel; I'd been worrying whether that was proper when I wasn't staying there. Anyway, that finally got me to the Marriott and the cab, getting home in a rainstorm that I might have beaten if I'd gotten the cab promptly.

Still not fully recovered from the trip, I don't know if I can make final comments. It was a great trip, and great to have Margaret with me. Being together all the time we found that we continue to be comfortable with each other. She loves the thought of basing in Umbertide for slow travel or something more permanent, and I was glad to be part of it even if she sometimes had health slowdowns. I have to consider this a great trip, pointing to much good for the future beyond travel.

Capri Sunday

We had the hotel's nice breakfast, and Margaret was slow in finally getting up. We had the appropriate Insalata Caprese at the hotel. We took the walk to Piazza Vittoria in Anacapri There I had in mind to take the chairlift up Monte Solaro at the top of the island. We boarded it with some terror on my part, but we got to the top and had great views of the island and across the bay to the Sorrento peninsula.

We got back to the hotel, where we had drinks before dining at Il Cucciolo, a seafood specialty restaurant where the hotel arranges a shuttle bus; the ride calls for impressive maneuvers on the narrow sloping two-way streets. It was a nice meal, with the ride coordinated with two other hotel guests who went, and we had a great view of the sunset and the lights coming on over, I think, the Sorrento-Amalfi coastal area.

Getting to Capri

In the last few days in Umbertide, I didn't have my camera out. Margaret was happy to enjoy the time, and would like to have more long-term stays. Our trip to Perugia was just to have a SlowTrav GTG with Tery and Greg, no sightseeing, and we didn't do the usual Assisi trip. We went to the nearby hill town of Montone, eating at the Trattoria del Verziere. We had a last Umbertide dinner at a third ambitious restaurant in less-touristed Umbertide: da Zibu' . We had a juge dish for two of veal shin, getting it wrapped up to have in sandwiches for the next day's train ride.

The next day we had everything packed and needed to drive to Perugia to return the car. We made good use of the GPS to get to a gas station and Perugia station. I feel stress in these situations, but overall it wasn't too bad. There was no place to park in front of the Hertz office, but from previous experience I knew of a lot where I could park it and go to the office, and wait for the agent to check it out. Although I wanted to allow more time, we were 30 minutes ahead. We used the ticket machine to get, we decided, first class tickets. I validated them, and I think the conductor found people who hadn't done that once the trip was under way. We needed to deal with taking our bags down and up stairs with the underpass, located the first class car, and boarded with time for me to rush back to the station bar and get a bottle of water. I'm on the slow train as I write this.

Now updating: the train arrived at new tracks at Roma Termini, 1 and 2 Est, comparable to the Ferrovie Laziali tracks on the other side, set back a distance from the main tracks. We went to the head of the main tracks and had coffee. We found, 30 minutes prior, our train ready, IC 555, which goes to Reggio Calabria. I was expecting the IC train to be in compartments; in fact it was a new train with an open seating area, with 1/2 seating in second class, where we'd gotten a €9 fare. Our assigned seats 65 and 66 were in different rows; we went ahead and sat together, letting the person who eventually turned up take the previously assigned seat. I don't remember if I saw the diagram when I booked those seats, or perhaps the train was scheduled to be in compartments at that point, so we would have been together. Margaret reports a revolting experience in using the lavatory.

We arrived in Naples on time; we'd decided to store Margaret's big bag at the station. Based on what I'd observed at luggage storage in Rome (we weren't putting it there because we'd be coming back to a different station), I expected this would make it sure that we'd miss the earlier possible ferry to Capri. In fact the bag check was quickly done, even though they needed to copy her passport. We took the taxi at the front of the line to Calata Porta di Massa; we had our brief look at the craziness of Naples traffic; this was a Fiat Multipla, where from what I could tell the middle front seat was down and covering the meter, and the driver charged €20. We were in plenty of time for the fast ferry at 17.25, when we had expected that we'd get the slow ferry at 18.35. We got the tickets, and did some searching to find our right ferry, next to a big Norwegian Cruise Line ship.

Boarding meant carrying our bags up a long stairway, and finding seats in the big seating area. I called our hotel, Il Girasole in Anacapri, to alert them when we'd be arriving, so they could send their shuttle. The crossing took a little under an hour; on the phone they mentioned Largo Fontana, which I was worried about finding, but in the crowds on arrival I saw a driver holding a sign for Il Girasole. We got into his little shuttle vehicle, and he described the features of Capri during the harrowing drive. We got a friendly check-in and were helped to our room., exiting to a garden with a room.

We had seen rain on the train to Naples, and the weather on Capri was potentially threatening, but we got this nice view.

One drawback of the hotel is that there is a walk to get to anyplace to eat. We talked about getting to a seafood restaurant that offered a ride, but they needed more notice, so we walked to the Pizzeria Aum Aum. It was nice enough, but Margaret wanted a taxi back, which the waitress called and took it as close as it could (only the narrow shuttle could get close) for €10.

Finally getting out

After some time in the house awaiting various services and when Margaret wasn't feeling the best, we took some trips. One was to Citerna, a hill town just on the Umbria side of the border with Tuscany, which also had an interesting photography show. The view:

A grocery store offered a cold cut plate; I've found this to be a common type of offering:

Today we went to Gubbio, a nice town, and it's especially nice to see Margaret enjoying it. Banners are up from last week's Ceri festival, and there were views with interesting cloud formations:

Historic day: Moving the newsstand

It continued being a slow time as Margaret wasn't feeling the best, but she's gotten better and I'll report on some outings.

In my time in Umbertide going back 40 years, I've been very interested in getting newspapers and magazines from the newsstand on Piazza Matteotti. It was interesting to feel that I was around on the historic occasion when it was dismantled and replaced in a new location. On Sunday night, the owners were packing up the magazines.

On Monday morning, I saw a blowtorch being applied to it; then it was being trucked away.

For the record, there was quite a lot under it.

Later on Monday, I found a new newsstand being set up. For people familiar with Umbertide, it's in front of the park between the Reggia and where the non-food market is set up on Wednesday morning.

And seeing it fully in business.

Slow time in Umbertide

We've mostly just been around the house in Umbertide and seeing friends. Adding some pictures of the house and the Wednesday market.

Getting to Umbertide

Saturday was our departure from Rome. I had booked a rental car to pick up at Termini, with worries about the drive from there to our apartment, and the parking when we loaded the luggage. The previous night, we saw the Baci da Roma owner at the restaurant; she said it could work out, including getting the complex's garage opened. In the morning I found the doorman, who said it could be done when I got back with the car.

I took the Roma-Giardinetti train to Termini, went to the Hertz counter, and there was a line. It took time to get to the front, I got the paperwork done, and was sent with keys to the garage down the street where I was to get a garage exit ticket at the ground floor office and take the elevator to the 7th floor to get the car, a VW Golf. I did that, I had my GPS good for Italy on me, but the battery had no charge and I'd left the charger at the apartment. I'd studied the route pretty well and made it without mistakes, just impatient drivers behind me and the harrowing changes of lane needed around Porta Maggiore. I found parking in the median; that was enough for me to find Margaret in the apartment and get the bags down.

I plugged the GPS in and followed directions. The route I'd studied had us going out on the A24; the GPS had me take the Tangenziale/Via Olimpica to Via Salaria to get to the G.R.A. and A1. We had a smooth ride to the Orte exit; with the later start than planned, it was time to stop for lunch. I exited at Narni Scalo, where there was a ride to take before we got to the town (the Scalo in the valley, not the hill town) and had a self-service selection at the Paprika bar-restaurant. Then it was a smooth enough ride to Umbertide.

The keys that I brought worked. We settled in, but the wi-fi wasn't working. We went out to market and had our walks around town. When I wanted to put the car into long-term parking, I found that most of that space had been taken by a new park relating to the walk along the Reggia stream, which had basically been a drainage ditch and was now prettied up:

Sunday and Monday we settled into town, seeing old friends, and getting prompt service for an unmentionable plumbing problem and the wi-fi connection. We're looking for a nice slow stay here.

Friday: the Sistine in a Dream

I learned yesterday of a city transit strike today. We started the morning slowly, and I saw some buses and trams go by, most going to the garage, but some in service. Going by Porta Maggiore.

We walked to Piazza Vittorio Emanuele and tried to catch a cab on this transit strike day. While I was on hold with one of the switchboards, an available one showed up. We went to Campo de' Fiori, and ate at La Carbonara, which she wanted. Good memories and o.k., but I think it's declined. She did some shopping, and we visited the Pantheon, a great place, and it's been decades since I've been inside. Then some time at a café nearby.

She really wanted to see the Sistine Chapel; I warned her about the current state of the crowds, but when I learned, I think from Sandra, about the Friday evening openings for this season, I booked us to go there at 7. It's questionable whether I should have had us walk with time approaching, since she was aggravating her ankle injury. The approach to Castel Sant' Angelo:

We got to the Vatican Museums entrance, and found the line for people with 7 p.m. reservations. We got in through the entrance new to me. We went straight to the Sistine Chapel, without being in position to run. It was amazing to see the Chapel almost empty, and admire the art without the crowds. We were getting, from what I could tell, only the natural light, so it was interesting not to see the effects of the post-restoration bright colors so much. A very memorable experience for the current time.

With a bit of a wait, we found a taxi to take us home. We've come to like the Miseria e Nobilta restaurant under the apartment, a hangout for the residential neighborhood, with karaoke tonight.

That ends our stay in Rome; off to the Umbertide house in the morning.

Full day to start in Rome

A busy day; I'll try to be brief. Thursday, our first interest of the day was to get to the Centro Storico. At Piazza di Porta Maggiore, at a tabaccaio we got transit passes for the day for €4 each. Rather than the bus, we took the Roma-Giardinetti train, which is really a tram, in this section operating on the street (via Giolitti) but ending at the Ferrovie Laziali section of Termini station. We split a panino in the station bar rather than planning a full lunch, and boarded express bus 40, to Largo Argentina. We cheated a little more on a rich calzone at Il Delfino.

Great memories for Margaret to see Piazza Navona. People were gathered an apparent fashion model on a shoot.

We went through more familiar streets to Campo de' Fiori.

Sat down at a café on Piazza Farnese, and walked down via Monserrato, seeing our old school building: it has changed.

We turned around and went to the Campidoglio museum for the Lux in Arcana show, the Vatican's secret archives. We got tickets and had a bathroom need. Being directed to that, we followed signs upstairs to the show. It was a small show on preservation matters, such as dealing with document deterioration. This was what the whole widely promoted show was? I thought we had some time to visit the main museums. Then I saw that the main show was near the entrance; we'd just seen a final technical section. The main show had important documents like Galileo's recantation and on matters with the end of the Papal States.

At the Campidoglio:

We had our booked tour of Palazzo Valentini, where there are recent excavations of an ancient Roman house. There was confusion as we walked down glass steps on top of historic steps. Fascinating, although the TripAdvisor rating of it as the number 1 sight in Rome may reflect more ratings because it's new rather than objective fact. Margaret was feeling her old ankle injury flaring up.

The full day ended with a get-together at Piperno with Slow Travelers Sandra and Heidi. I'd known of Piperno as a well-regarded restaurant in the Jewish Ghetto; it was nice to have their specialties including carciofi alla giudia and gnocchi, as well as meeting with nice people.

We went to Largo Argentina to catch the two buses that we planned, but Margaret said to go ahead and get a taxi, so the transit pass was not put to good use. Still, it was nice to get promptly to our apartment at the end of this full day.

Flights and surprise on arrival in Rome

Noting while I'm offline: The flight to Chicago was on a United CRJ-200, a cramped regional jet, but it was short enough not to be too painful, and it was on time. Unlike most of their RJ flights, it arrived at the main Terminal 1, concourse C, with the design evoking grand old train stations. I have three hours to wait for Margaret's arrival, and don't know much about that flight's status; for now I'll just count on everything working right.

The flight, scheduled for 7.30, arrived at 7.50. I was getting worried about getting to our departure gate in time for the international cutoff for the 8.50 departure. We took the underpass between concourses C and B and went to the Lufthansa boarding gate at the far end of B. An agent said Margaret's carry-on had to be checked, and he let us sit in a special sitting area for preboards. We got to preboard, and when boarding was complete there was a couple behind us whom Margaret met on the flight from Sacramento; they were also going to Rome. It was nice to meet them.

The aircraft, an A340, was reasonably comfortable in Economy. The lavatories were on a lower level, nice that waiting passengers weren't in regular aisles. I took the dinner choice of curried chicken. It's different than usual having Margaret with me, but I got a fair amount of sleep.

The arrival in Munich was scheduled for 12.50; we were early, landing at 12.15, and getting to the gate at 12.30. The arrangement was simlar to Frankfurt; we disembarked on the upper non-Schengen level and walked the length of it, clearing passport control, then went downstairs to the Schengen level. We went through an area of several shops and an airy gate area. I was surprised that there was no security check; they relied on our TSA clearance in the U.S.

Margaret got an iPhone plan that seemed to be a good deal, although I'm skeptical. We got euros at the ATM. We asked to get seats together and for Margaret to preboard. That boarding gate had stairs down to the tarmac where we were the first to board the bus. Our preboard status wasn't much help in getting off the bus and taking stairs to board the plane; our new seats were in row 7, towards the front. We were served cake. I'm writing this onboard as we're on target for an on-time arrival at 4.30 p.m.

We arrived. and baggage claim at Fiumicino airport was surprisingly fast. We had reserved a car and driver with Rome Shuttle Limousine; the driver was there and took us to the Mercedes. We were reserved at the Baci da Roma B&B www.bacidaroma.it ; even though the area south of Termini isn't a favorite of mine, I was intrigued by the rooms evoking fashion and pop culture icons. Just to be extra sure, I called the owner while we were on the way; she said there was a complication with the room and asked me to give the phone to the driver. She asked him to take us to an alternate nearby location. We got there and the owner said the previoius guest had left with the key; even though they had other keys, she couldn't guarantee the safety of the place, especially if the guest had lost the key. So we were booked in a 2-bedroom apartment with kitchen, a more complete space, in the same general area but beyond Porta Maggiore, and so outside the Aurelian Walls. We'll see how it goes; we had our first meal in Italy in a restaurant downstairs from the apartment.

Taking off to Rome

Margaret and I are at our respective airports, ready to join on the trip to Rome. So far we're showing our flights on schedule to Chicago, where we connect to Munich and Rome. There's the confusing matter of when we get the boarding passes for Lufthansa after the first United segment. United could check us in online but not print boarding passes unless our passports were scanned in their system. Then when I got to Kansas City airport, the check-in counter just gave me the United pass; for LH they gave cards saying "This is not a boarding pass." They said the gate counter might help. I asked there and they gave me the LH passes.

Meanwhile, Margaret got all her passes; we compared notes and, in spite of my having asked LH to link our reservations, our seats were separate for the Munich-Rome flight, where seat assignments open only when check-in opens. So we'll wait and see if we can get that sorted with Lufthansa somewhere. That's it, I don't think I'll be posting until Rome.

Italy trip approaches, I think

So much of my blogging is about planning; things have happened and I haven't posted much. I'm not sure how I'll be about posting during the trip.

What can I remember about the planning that's gone on? United sent me a schedule change giving me a connection in Chicago that's legal, but much shorter than I'm comfortable with, especially wanting to meet Margaret on her arrival. This was because my original Kansas City-Chicago flight was taken off the schedule. I was able to change to the earlier time, giving me a lot of time at O'Hare. Once United and Continental were fully merged, there were new confirmation codes, and there have been minor schedule changes. Margaret's connecting time is pretty short, and we've talked about contingencies if something goes wrong there. I've been keeping a spreadsheet of how her inbound flight has done, and it's usually gone well.

Basics of planning: a B&B in Rome on arrival, car rental through Auto Europe to go to Umbria for two weeks in my Umbertide house, return car, train to Naples for time booked on Capri, return to Rome, return to U.S. On the reservable trains Rome-Naples and back, I got a €9 Mini fare.

Worrying me: Margaret had a badly sprained ankle, and more health problems, having me worried about her, but so far things look good for the trip. So I'm looking forward to a trip unlike any other for me, in terms of the type of companionship I'll have. This update on the planning has been brief, and I hope to do some blogging during the trip, with less detail than I've done before.

Air booking to Italy

Once I had Margaret booked to Italy on my award, I was going to make every effort to book myself on the same flights. Fares were higher than I was hoping for May; I was set up with Yapta to check for any notable decrease, but I was ready to book whatever there was on Jan. 13 when a new credit card cycle opened. In the time I was tracking the fare, it reached a maximum near $1300, but mostly hovered around $1150; usually the difference over the lowest fares for any flights on those dates, also on United, could be explained by the extra taxes for connecting in Germany.

Would that Friday the 13th be my lucky day? When I got home from work, the fare for those flights was in the $1060s (before any Yapta alert showed), lower than they had been in the time I'd been checking. Even though connections on US Airways were in the $880s, I was determined to be on Margaret's flights and started to book. Kayak directed me to the United site, which asked me to log in. Once I did that, I got a message that the fare was gone and was now near $1200. When things like that happen, I stop and hope things will settle down later. I was leaving for Arizona the next day, and packed my netbook computer, which I wasn't sure I would take, so I could check fares during the trip.

I did another check at 11 p.m. The fare had gone down to $947.70, and I was ready to book. There was another hiccup in going from Kayak to United, but the fare was still showing. I started the booking process, including selecting my seats. I opened the United site in a second window to see what Margaret's seat assignments were, so I could select seats next to her (and it would include going to the Lufthansa site to make a selection for their Chicago-Munich flight). When I finished selecting my seats in my window on the United site, the final booking page showed Margaret's itinerary, not mine! I was able to start over with the fare still there, and get it booked.

So I'll be worried about the Chicago connections to the flight to Frankfurt, with myself taking a 5 p.m. flight on a regional jet, when aircraft can accumulate delays during the day, and Margaret having 1 hr. 20 to connect; I get agitated when time at airports gets short. For now, I'm glad to have the flights booked; my mother may join us in Italy for some of the time, and I'll be looking at what "on the ground" plans need to be made for Italy.

Arizona visit with Haydee and Margaret

After Margaret couldn't join me at my parents' in Vermont over the year-end holidays, it worked out that we could both go to Arizona mid-January, meeting my first cousin once removed Haydee in Phoenix, and going on to Sedona. It was a wonderful time: Haydee is the granddaughter of my mother's Mexican half-brother Enrique, who had a big family. We had dinner out with a group including her father, my first cousin Enrique Jr.

Margaret became instant friends with Haydee, and invited her to join us in Sedona. We stayed at the Sedona Real The first part of the stay was overcast, but then the sun came out and we got these great looks at the red rocks, and got to understand the magic of the place. Here are the pictures:

Sedona, Arizona Jan. 2012