I’m putting two pictures at the top. Kim took the one of me with the camera slung across my shoulder, which is how I carried it when it wasn’t in the backpack. Everyone said I should make this the picture on my Facebook page, but since I don’t really do much there, I’m putting it here. (May make it to FB sometime.) This is the raw me on a hiking trip. No makeup, no hairdo. The other folks on the trip commented that I didn’t quite look like myself when I didn’t have the camera with me!

The second is one Jo took on that same day using my phone. I think it’s a pretty good shot of how I was feeling, and the scenery can’t be beat! (That’s Kim, too.)

Anyway, no more pictures, but here’s the story of the next two days. We were not actually that far from the Milan airport, just a couple of hours. So after a leisurely start, we actually arrived there about 11 AM. We dropped Chris and Patricia here to catch the train into Milan, where they were spending another day. Nikki’s flight wasn’t until late afternoon so she decided to go with them to see the city. Kim and Tricia were catching a limo from a local hotel to their next adventure, so Robyne and I tagged along since we had time to kill, too.

After that drop-off, Jo and Andrea drove us back to the airport. Jo and Robyne went to find a place to wrap Robyne’s luggage and get her situated for her flight, and Jo was flying out, too. I went to see if I could check in. This was about noon.

So…I found where I WOULD check in, but turns out I couldn’t do that until a couple of hours before the flight. Yikes. My flight wasn’t until 9:50 PM! Having to haul all my luggage with me was a real bummer, so I spent most of the time just sitting in a couple of places (outside part of the time, to warm up). I got some reading done, and when I got hungry, went looking for a restaurant. Would you believe that the best restaurant in the departures area at the Milan airport was McDonalds? True. Turns out there were other places after getting checked in, but I didn’t know that and couldn’t get there anyway since I hadn’t checked in for the flight!

Sitting around for about 7 hours was a real bummer, but somehow the time passed. I went to the British Airways counter to check in and there were just two lines–Priority and Luggage Drop. Well, neither fit. I’m not in a priority class, and since I hadn’t checked in online, I wasn’t just dropping luggage. I opted for Priority and they didn’t bat an eye. Whew. And I was able to check the big bag all the way through to DFW, so with a considerably lighter load, I headed toward the gate.

There was lots of shopping after going through security, but I surely wasn’t interested in buying, or hauling around, anything! I checked the monitors and only the terminal was announced–no gate yet. So I waited until the gate was showing and headed that way. After the shopping places, there was an area called “Passport Control.” This was like another security line and it was long! Since my flight was now less than an hour away, I began to get a bit concerned I wouldn’t make it.

Once through Passport Control, I made it to the gate and there was a whole gaggle of people! I didn’t know quite what line to get in, but soon a British Airways person came by calling for anyone on my flight. Turns out most of the crowd was waiting for another gate/flight. I went in the direction she indicated and walked right into the airway bridge for the plane. Whew!

My seat on this flight was in the middle of the second-to-last row, but no matter. I was on, and the flight was only about an hour and a half.

There was some turbulence on this flight, and apparently it was delayed a bit. By the time we got into Heathrow, it was late (an hour earlier than Milan, though). I followed the signs and bodies and headed to the hotel shuttle area. I’d like to give a shout-out to this airport for clear markings and signs. Even if you didn’t understand English, I believe it’d be easy to figure out where to go.

I got to the shuttle stand and figured out what shuttle to take. I was just in time (only had to wait 10 minutes) for the last bus of the evening going where I needed to. I could have taken a taxi instead, but was just happy to be almost at my destination.

The shuttle was for a fee. I didn’t have cash (required Pounds, not Euros) and my debit card didn’t work for some reason, so the driver just said, “never mind.” Bless him. I was the only one on this bus, so we headed off. It was about a 20 minute drive, even though the hotel is considered at the airport.

Got checked in at the Raddison and kudos to them! This was about the most perfect hotel room I’ve ever been in. Spacious, comfortable, quality furnishings and finishings. I wasn’t up long since it was already about midnight, but I thoroughly enjoyed my overnight here.

I started the next day with breakfast in my room, then headed down to get a shuttle back to the airport at about 9. When the bus came, the driver asked if I had a ticket. No ticket. He pointed to the ticket machine outside of the door of the hotel. As I looked that way, he asked if I’d like some help. Sure! Good thing, too, as the machine was jammed. He got it working, I got my ticket, and off we went! Shout out to another great bus driver!

I got to the airport in plenty of time for the flight (leaving at 12:50). I was able to change paper Euros back into dollars, but they didn’t change the coins. That turned out to be a good thing as I was able to buy a water bottle and donate most of the rest of the change to a mother who needed change to buy water for her family. Win-win! 🙂

The flight finally loaded and this was a much nicer plane than the one over from DFW. This was a 10-hour flight, but we had power outlets and movies right at the seats. I watched a couple of movies, ate dinner, and got a nap.

The flight arrived at 5 PM and after following the lines, going through immigration and security, I was out! Denise was surely a welcome sight. Thank you Denise!

So…home. First order of business was to unpack and wash everything. It took a few days for me to get back on the right time schedule, but it was only a problem in that I was waking up really early. Can’t really say that was much of a problem!

Well, this has turned into a really long and detailed account. I was going to put together some reflections about Italy and the trip here, but I think I’ll do that in a separate post. For now…home sweet home!