The return home

It was the morning of our return flight, and we had an afternoon departure; we could still have our leisurely bar breakfast.  I had arranged an airport transfer through Rome Shuttle Limousine.  I made the request based on the apartment's published checkout time of 10.30, but they told me there that we could have stayed until 11.   Anyway, I wanted to get down before the appointed time, because we were on small streets where vehicles couldn't easily hover.  I found the driver there; he had parked on the Lungotevere, which we could access by steps.

The fare had been set at €50 if a Mercedes E-class sedan was sufficient, €60 if a minivan was required.  Even with an extra bag, I was confident that the sedan would work; still, this driver came with a minivan, and we had a nice ride with a €50 charge, which I could put on a credit card because I requested it with the booking. 

At Fiumicino, we took advantage of the service to wrap our bags in plastic, and got to the Vueling checkin counter for passengers needing special assistance, trying to stay together while some people tried to charge between us. It may have been a little early for our flight to check in, and it raised alerts that we each were allowed two free checked bags because of being in Premium Class on the longer segment; they called to verify and we were o.k.  We had another waiting area for a wheelchair, which eventually showed up and got us to our posted gate.

A previous flight boarded, and the next flight on the board was something after ours.  Word got around (no announcement) that our gate had changed; we got to our new gate and didn't have seats together.  The we first boards got down the first ramp and needed to wait for disembarking passengers.  Then as we went up the ramp to the aircraft door, we were blocked because of another "situation," and it was confusing what was happening, but we finally boarded.  The flight went smoothly enough to Barcelona.

On arrival there, we had assistance and boarded a motorized cart.  We didn't have our boarding passes for the LEVEL flight home; the driver stopped at a counter with our passports and got our passes.  There was an elevator to the floor where we cleared exit passport control and got to our gate, once again one without seats together.  In our original plan, we were going to go into Barcelona during our long connecting time; now we didn't even have time to pick up a snack before boarding as we'd hoped.

The signs posted that boarding would start an hour and 15 ahead, and there was again a confused boarding process.  There were lanes for boarding, including for the small number of Premium passengers, but no call for those needing assistance.  In fact, we were just in the first group to board the bus, which filled up to take us to the plane parked at a remote stand.  We then walked to stairs put at the front and rear, glad we were capable of that, and got to our Premium seats.

While the LEVEL boarding processes were disorganized (sometimes handled by local contractors), the inflight experience was nice.  The dinner was a beef stew dish, which Margaret liked enough to want to replicate at home.  On the way to the lavatory at the front, we saw the crew putting together what looked like nice jamón serrano, which we were hoping would be the late snack, but it didn't turn up for us.  The seat-back entertainment worked well enough for us.  We landed, cleared border controls easily enough with Global Entry, and had a hotel for the night in the Boston airport area.

Once we were home, I was ready to book the next trip, which I've done: next spring, an award on Iberia with Premium Economy to Madrid to connect to Rome. After time in Umbertide, ferry from Ancona to Split (with some hesitation after I read things about the ferry and boarding process); on arrival in Croatia, ferry to Hvar for our prize week.  Then ferry to Dubrovnik for three nights; I've booked a return flight by converting credit card points to United, and getting an award with a first segment on Croatia Airlines to Frankfurt, connecting on Lufthansa to Boston.  After one good trip, looking forward to adventures in the future.