July 1, 2007 – Homeward Bound!

We were supposed to be down in the lobby by 7:30 to leave for the airport since our flight left at 10:30. We ate breakfast with mom and dad and were on our bus to the airport at 7:30 sharp. This airport was crazy! I have never been so confused. Nothing was well marked. We were in the wrong line about 5 times. People were upset with us because they said we were cutting, when we had no intention of that to begin with. We were so confused. We finally got through security and sat at our gate waiting to board. Five minutes before we were supposed to board, they announced a gate change, so we all rushed to the new gate to board our plane there, which began boarding immediately. Our plane had many open spaces in First Class and Chris was already cramped and we hadn’t taken off yet, so he asked one of the flight attendants if we could move up there. They said we could, if we paid the difference. Chris asked what that might be and the flight attendant got really irritated and said, “I don’t know – like 2,000 Euro per person!” Well, they obviously were not interested in Chris moving up. So he came and sat down with me again. That wasn’t a big surprise, but he figured it was worth a shot. Our flight was delayed over an hour, which made us really nervous because we didn’t have much time to switch flights and go through customs in Ontario. Come to find out, we were all on the plane and just sitting there for an hour because we were waiting on 2 people. It was rather irritating. We were just hopeful our flight in Ontario would be so kind as to wait for us. We finally got to Ontario and raced to US customs, only to wait and wait for our bags so we could go through customs. Our bags still hadn’t come and we only had 15 minutes to make our flight. I spoke with a lady and she said we would have to wait in Ontario until our bags came. I asked what would happen if they didn’t come for days and she said we still had to wait. She sent me to her supervisor and he told me he would stamp our tickets so that we didn’t have to wait and we could go through customs and catch our flight. So we ran. We got to our gate just as they began boarding. But without our bags. We made it to Raleigh- Durham right on time. I had to fill out a missing baggage claim so while I was doing that, Chris found Grant. Bummer. When Chris reached the top of the escalator, Grant, who had been playing, froze completely in his tracks. He didn’t even move. Chris brought him down to see me and I took him to give him a hug, but he wanted Chris again. I think he was punishing me. The little stinker! I finished filling out our baggage claim and we were on our merry way. It was like midnight in Italy and we had been up since 6:00 am Italy time. We were tired. And I had a pounding headache, so much so that it was making me nauseous. We ate at Moe’s Mexican Steakhouse. Actually, they ate. I didn’t. My head hurt too badly. Grant was so cute. Every time he would look at Chris or me, he would gasp, smile really big and wave. He was evidently so happy to see us. He did that for days after our return. We finally pulled in to our driveway around 11:30, 5:30 am Italy time. I was never so happy to have our own bed! Ahhhh! Welcome home!