And the return

We'll try to cover the story of our return.  We pretty well relaxed through to our Saturday departure.  With a Saturday afternoon flight out of Rome Fiumicino, we stayed in Umbertide until mid-morning, saying good-bye at our regular spots, with my longtime grocer friend Angelo offering us sandwiches for the road.

We hit the road, with one stop to eat the panini, another to fuel up, having used a little over half a tank of diesel on the whole trip.  I thought we were leaving pretty early, but we reached the airport at about the right time.  As I look over the still accessible SlowTrav page on returns at the airport, I see that the return locations have changed:  there were small signs saying which garage and floor are used by which companies.  I think Hertz was garage A, first floor, meaning one level up from the entrance.  We dealt with the return and took the elevator to level 2 to reach the overpasses to the terminals, still a fairly long way to Terminal 1.  Margaret sat there while I went to Terminal 2 to return our portable Wi-Fi device.

We asked for wheelchair assistance and gotten taken to the designated counter for Air Berlin check-in, handled by Alitalia staff.  We were spending the night in Düsseldorf and we could have asked for our bags to be checked through to the next day's flight to Boston, but we didn't plan for that and I was worried about the airline's reputation for handling luggage: better to have it in our control for the night.

We got to the gate, with concourses full of gleaming shops, and had a bit to wait with a late inbound.  We eventually got on with a half-hour delay, and had that flight to Düsseldorf.  We arrived at a gate with a jetway, and were helped to baggage claim, our bags turned up, and we went to the arrivals hall to be greeted by our friends Ben and Ellen.

Ben was an exchange student with my parents in 1988-89 in St. Louis; now he's an accomplished doctor and collector of my father's art. He and Ellen had visited us a few weeks prior and gave the news that they have a baby on the way.

We saw a bit of the city from the car on arrival, as we were taken to their apartment in the area of Land government buildings.  We saw their nice place and went to dinner at their "second home" restaurant down the street.  The owner wasn't there and things were botched in several ways, but we eventually got a nice dish of pork strips and spätzle.

On Sunday morning, Ben and Ellen put together a nice spread for a German breakfast, and we went for a walk along the Rhine.

  It was nice to see all that, and we got to the car for the drive to the busy airport.

We got to the designated counters for Air Berlin's USA flights, got checked in, and had some time to wait for a wheelchair attendant.  We were taken through exit passport control and security, with instructions to take electronics out.  There was an area at the end of the concourse for U.S.-bound flights, with extra security around.

Eventually it was time to board, for an on-time departure of Air Berlin's last flight to Boston.  There had been confusion about whether this was the flight, or the flight was discontinued as of today.  In a FlyerTalk discussion, I saw of another participant who was scheduled for the same flight, sent him a message while we were in the gate area, and he greeted us at our seats.  There were some people, I'll guess from connecting flights, who boarded close to departure time, then the pilot said we'll no longer wait to account for everyone: there may have been people who missed the last chance to get to Boston on AB.

The selection of movies on the seatback screens was reduced from the outbound flights.  We couldn't tell a lot about it being the last flight, but when I wondered whether the crew would go back as passengers on that night's return flight, Margaret asked a flight attendant, who said no, they'd return on a later date's Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt.  This FA was working her last flight after 30 years.  The next day would bring the news that AB would end all long-haul service by Oct. 15, and likely shut down around Nov. 1.

We arrived in Boston and took our first advantage of Global Entry privileges, which we got at a lower price through the U.S.-Canada NEXUS program.  There was a group of kiosks, with a wait to get to one, where we had our passports scanned and fingerprints taken, and they printed a slip to clear us.  We went to baggage claim with a bit of a wait, but we were at the bus stop for our shuttle to our home area about 30 minutes after arrival.

The bus came a bit late, and we had the last stage of the long day's trip (but nice to have an afternoon departure from Düsseldorf, rather than starting from Rome in the early morning).  A good trip, without a lot of activity, but great to spend time in other home.

A restful week

Most of this trip has been a matter of relaxing at this home, rather than going out and seeing much.  One thing we did was to meet with Slow Europe members at a restaurant in the country outside Marsciano.  Then, after there was confusion and they overcharged us, most of the group went back there for another meal with the refunded funds a few days later.

Wednesday, a new market day, we decided to go to lunch at La Botticella, on the road to Pietralunga. The owner, Leon, had made Facebook friends with us, as he had with several others in networks of friends, and recognized us when ee came in.  We were the only customers, and he put together a nice meal of Puglia-influenced specialties.

The time of the trip is getting short, and we're in suspense about the operation of our Düsseldorf-Boston flight.  It shows as the last day of operation of that flight, and is bookable for that day, but Air Berlin also issued a notice in German that apparently says the flight is discontinued as of that day, and people booked on the flight to Boston will be rebooked to New York and be on their own from there. I'm going on the assumption that the flight will operate, and there was some confusion in the composition of the notice, but we'll see.

Pictures include a street in Umbertide with old photo displays, more pictures of our house and the weekly market, and the sad matter of the gathering in front of the church for the funeral of a high school friend of mine, a prominent business owner, who died in an automobile accident.

Umbertide pictures

Here are pictures from Umbertide, including the Wednesday market.  Margaret took most of them.

Catching up: Rome pictures

We've mostly just been around the house in Umbertide: not a whole lot to report.  I have a problem posting pictures on the blog: here are a few more of Rome, Trastevere mainly.

Through Rome to Umbertide

Margaret generally doesn't like me to mention her getting disability assistance, but there's enough of a story from the continuation of the Düsseldorf stop that she agrees to have it mentioned.  Backtracking to our arrival there, her having a wheelchair assistant helped us slip past people in line in narrow hallways, and we had chair lifts next to short steps.

When it was time to leave the lounge for the flight to Rome, I first had the lounge agent tell me it was too early, but when boarding time was close we got the same friendly attendant.  Like many  German airports, this one has gates on multiple levels atop one another, and our gate would call for walkimg down three flights to get on a bus to the remote stand where the plane was parked.  The elevator by that gate was out of order, and we went to the opposite corner to  get a working elevator, to get to a van that our attendant drove to the plane.

We were the first on board, as other busloads followed.  This intra-Europe flight charged for soft drinks and bottled water.  Having gotten no sleep on the transatlantic flight, I slept for most of this 2-hour flight.

We arrived in Rome at a jetway gate.  We were pleased to see that our checked bags made it, and we were taken to the taxi to get into Rome.  We got to our hotel, the Cesàri, in central Rome.  I'd heard of it as a good deal in that area.  It was nice enough, but behind the times in their giving a key that was to be turned in when going out and, although there was an elevator, there was an extra half-flight of stairs to get to our room.

I went out to the TIM store around the corner: it being right there saved me from stopping at their store at the airport, as I'd considered doing.  This was to put my iPhone on that provider, using my established Italian number.  The store had a "take a number" system: the person ahead of me and I missed that people were being helped in two rooms and they'd passed over our numbers.  When I got help, the lady was rather abrupt, getting it done but I needed help after she said it was done, to understand the scratch-off PIN system.

Margaret was reluctant to go out to eat, but I could finally persuade her to go as I wanted to Ristorante Abruzzi.  We had a nice meal of Carbonara and Saltimbocca, and talked to an interesting young man near us comparing our multinational life experiences.

The next day was a landmark birthday for me, and we had imprecise plans for a certain amount of wandering.  Margaret wasn't well, and I first went alone to the rooftop  breakfast area for their buffet. Then, while regularly checking in on Margaret, I went on some walks, starting with our being on the busy pedestrian route between the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain. I found refreshing drinks to bring back to Margaret.  I did one walk up via della Scrofa, and got packaged salads to bring back.

With Margaret still not up to go out, I made my own determination of something new to see, and chose the Centrale Montemartini.  Going on my own, I was ready to take the city bus: the mobile version of the city transport site wasn't working well, but I found better advice on Google Maps.  There was a tabacchi place near the hotel to get tickets, and I could follow my progress on the map.  Still, the stop I wanted hadn't been rung for, and I got off at the next stop.

The Centrale Montemartini is an old power plant that has been redesigned to hold Roman antiquities, an interesting setup, also including Pope Pius IX's train.

After this, I decided that I might as well go to Trastevere, which Margaret and I had talked of wandering and where I hadn't been in 30 years.  I took a bus, getting to Ponte Sisto which has become a pedestrian bridge, and going through familiar small streets.

I got back to the hotel and Margaret still wasn't up to going out.  I went to the hotel's rooftop bar, and to an unmemorable place for dinner.

In the night Margaret's health had me worried, but in the morning she was well enough to get to breakfast and check out.  In fact first I went to the location off Piazza Venezia to pick up a portable Wi-Fi device.  While I'd tried to review the things she was at risk of forgetting, when we were at checkout the desk got a call: the housekeeper had gone right in and found Margaret's passport: we were lucky to get that notice.

We had a cab called to take us to Hertz on via Sardegna.  The problem was that the driver took us to the return garage, rather than the office a couple of blocks back.  He circled to get there, I arranged the rental, and we were sent back to the garage.  We waited on the muddy garage floor while the car was washed: I got the car and made the drive to Umbertide without problems.

Now we're in Umbertide and have had restful times including the local feast day, and there's been a fiera with market stands.  This post has covered a lot of ground.

Making the flight

There were worries in our families, but the designated departure day arrived and we took off on our trip.  My father took us to the shuttle bus in Lebanon, N.H., and we got to Boston Logan Airport.  It was impressive to see what major international flight operations are there.  It was good to see Air Berlin operating, but our flight was delayed because of a late inbound.

The departure time was about an hour late.  Covering the flight more briefly than normal: the Extra Legroom seats helped some: I still saw during the night that I needed to put my tote bag in the overhead bin for comfort, and that's another area where it helps not to have rows too close together.  A problem was the woman in front of us, who spent some time in other seats, but was alone in the two seats in front of us.  She spent some time in each seat, and left each one fully reclined, bad for our comfort and impossible in standard seats.  There were nice seatback screens including USB ports. The meals and drinks were served at the same time, and the trays were cleared pretty quickly.  The delay was cut to about 30 minutes on arrival.

Some of this was possible because the plane wasn't that full.  The flight operated efficiently, and It will be sad to see Air Berlin's likely shutdown (Boston service is to end Oct. 1).

We artived at Düsseldorf, and noted a terminal on the old side, with stairs.  Since the delay cut only a half hour off our six- hour layover, we opted to pay for access to the lounge there.  In the morning there was a nice layout of pastries, self-service espresso-cappuccino drinks, and other drinks.  It's while sitting there that I compose this, and we wait to connect to Rome.

So many changes, and the next trip to Italy comes into place

I haven't posted since the end of the last trip to Italy, and much has changed in my life.  I've retired from my job, and we have moved in with my father in Vermont.  One feature of being in New England is that we're closer to Europe.  Margaret had urged us to go on a trip to Italy this year; I had my hesitation.

We had the American Airlines miles for two of us to go, but I was thinking of waiting the usual two years before using them up.  We were seeing enticing fares from Boston, and in May when I happened to search the Hopper app I found a round trip fare of about $450 each in September, and it could be done with a stop on the return in Düsseldorf, where we could see friends.  I messaged the friends to see if they could be seen that date; the affirmative reply came in, and I was ready to book.

The airline of this trip gives its name as airberlin, but I guess it's normally read as Air Berlin, as the media calls it, so I'll write it that way or as AB.  I would normally book on the airline's site, but it was giving error messages when I tried to force the overnight on the return.  I was hesitant to make such a big purchase on a smartphone (the Hopper app) but that might have been a good way of doing it.  I used Kayak and Momondo to search itineraries including the return overnight: many of the third parties they directed to had bad reviews.  I found airfare.com, which I know people to have used with success, and booked through them with, I think, a $25 fee.

AB charges for advance seat assignments, with varying categories according to the type of seat.  With such a low fare, we decided to spring for €99 extra legroom seats on the overnight segment going over.   I made the booking at the start of my June credit card billing period, and got an error message after entering the payment information.  After that, I called up the reservation and it showed the seat assignments, making me wonder: did we get these seats without paying?  I used the online customer service form to clear it up, and the first reply said no seat assignments were showing and went over the basics of getting them.  I replied with a screen shot of the seat assignments that were showing, and got a reply asking for the confirmation code, which showed in the correspondence that that agent had quoted back.  After about a week of no reply to that (we were in the July billing period by then), I made a phone call to the U.S. number, but during German business hours since the call reportedly goes to Germany, and there can be long hold times outside business hours.

The agent I got said that the seats had been requested but payment not completed, so I completed payment on that, and the non-XL seats we wanted for the other segments were given without a charge, because of Margaret's disability category (something I learned from the first otherwise unhelpful reply).

Then, in mid-August, came the news that Air Berlin had filed for insolvency, under German law more severe than U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which most U.S. carriers have used to reorganize and eventually continue operating (some of them merging).  AB was out of money and could have left many travelers stranded at their summer vacation destinations, and the German government gave them a loan to assure operations for three months, so we're hopeful that our flights will operate.  Still, the general thought is that the airline will cease operations after the three months are out, and we'll have to expect low staff morale.

Beyond that, to keep the trip one year after the previous and not spend too much, just about the whole trip will be at our house in Umbertide.  We have two hotel nights in Rome booked using Chase points, and a car rental.  We're hoping for a nice one.