An inauspicious beginning

The other two blogs have already covered some of the issues with the trip. Yes, there were long layovers, along with long flights on the way there, which is very tiring, and Frankfurt airport is horrible, and Mom’s luggage was not in Verona when we got there.

We arrived at a time of flooding, with heavy rains and lightning flashes on the drive to Vicenza, and there was no free Wifi outside of airports, and then when we came home my bag wasn’t there, and I arrived home to a broken computer, messed up internet router, and now the float in the toilet needs replacing, which I cannot do on my own.

Fortunately, it’s Rose Festival, so I am seriously considering heading for the Fun Center, getting on a ride, and letting out all the pent-up screams in an appropriate setting. However, I’m not really much of a screamer. On roller coasters I usually just laugh. So, though I have wanted to scream, especially at the airport, it would probably just be forcing it now.

There were really good things about the trip, and I will write about those too. I’m just going to go over the bad things first, and get them out of the way, and then we are on an upward trajectory. And, there are good things from the bad: some lessons, or some humor, or something.

First of all, let’s talk more about the luggage. You know, Air Dolomiti, who took us from Frankfurt to Verona, gives you packaged wet washcloths. My plan was to wait until we were getting close to landing and then freshen up a bit. After all, we had left the house at 8:30 Wednesday morning, and were arriving at 7:15 Thursday evening, so even with the time difference, it’s a lot of time to be up, and two of my cousins were meeting us, and I wanted to be kind of fresh.

Well, I tried that plan, but after watching the carousel go around three times, and Mom’s bag still wasn’t there, and hunting and going for help, there was no freshness left. But really, that part wasn’t that bad. It was frustrating, but we filled out the paperwork, and I had to believe they would find it. It was the bag with Mom’s clothes, but my toiletries were in it. For one night, it didn’t seem too awful.

The next day Carlo called. Our bags had been left in San Francisco, but they were on the way, and they would deliver them. Okay, we could handle this. Remember, we are staying with an elderly aunt, and there are no 24-hour pharmacies and things. I suppose we could have found a way to get new toothbrushes, but she frets over everything, and we were going to get our bags the next day. Then we didn’t.

They never called to update us. Every update we got came through either Carlo or Alberto calling for us. The first problem was that they got the bag to Italy, but not to Verona – it went to Bologna. Okay, one more day, except there were no updates again. Maybe they don’t do deliveries on weekends, but no one actually admitted that.

Finally, Monday, Alberto went to Verona and picked up the bags and brought them to us. Valeria, his wife, told us that she heard him on the phone and he was being really forceful with them. I think without him, we would have just ended up picking them up when we left on Wednesday, or not realizing that we could and the bags arriving in America two weeks later.

Being stuck in the same clothes was frustrating for Mom, but also, I had not realized how emotionally dependent she is on her moisturizers and cosmetics. I don’t think she really needs them. I know people who need makeup, but she looks pretty good without it. And, yes, her skin is great, but mine is pretty similar to how hers was at my age, and I don’t use all that product, so it might just be genetics. Washing my hair with only water worked better than I thought, but still, the lack of toothbrushes was the worst. My teeth were fuzzy. Never let anyone separate you from your toothbrush.

The other thing that was really hard, well, it’s harder to talk about, and longer, so I think we’ll just do that tomorrow. One different thing was that with the short duration of the trip, I never adjusted to the time change, and sleep was bad. I lay awake a lot, though I was able to nap some, so that could have been worse, but it does lead to one weird and random thing.

One time when I actually was sleeping, I had a dream where I was on a trolley kind of near my home (there is not really one there) and I was in only a towel. Well, that was awkward, but I knew it was a dream, and I had a fair amount of control. Like I actually pinched myself in the dream and did not feel it, which I have never done before, but I knew it was a dream before I didn’t feel the pinch.

Anyway, it was awkward not being dressed, so I got off the trolley and started walking home to wake up, and that wasn’t working, and I thought, I should just wake up. I wasn’t awake though, so I focused harder on waking up and it was like I felt my legs start walking up a wall, though there was no wall, and I was moving up in my consciousness and I did in fact wake up.

If I had known how much trouble I would have sleeping for the rest of the week, I might not have been so determined to wake up, but it was still kind of cool. And freaky.

http://sporktogo.blogspot.com/2013/05/why-i-hate-frankfurt-airport.html
http://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2013/05/preparing-to-lose-your-luggage.html