CIAO, FIRENZE!

I am finally back on U.S. soil... but I still have no idea how. The Florence, Munich, London, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt airports are all closed/ a mess and most of my friends are still stuck in Italy, or other random cities, 3 days after they were initially supposed to leave. It was SUCH a mess in Florence, the 9 inches of snow caused the taxis, buses, trains, shuttles, busses and even the airport to shut down. Friday night I was up until 2:30 in the morning figuring out how I would try to get home, since my Alitalia flight  for the following morning out of Florence had been cancelled. Contacting the airlines was nearly impossible, and when we finally did they were no help at all, so my parents graciously booked me a flight out of Rome with their US airways miles that would take me to Charlotte and then to Phoenix. This was finally all set by 2:30 am, and I proceeded to get up an hour and a half later at 4:00 am in order to drag all my bags 20 minutes in the snowy streets of Firenze to catch the 5:50 am train to Rome in order to catch my flight. I met my friend Amy outside her pensione and we made the horrible walk together, not even knowing if trains would be running that day. The whole way I was praying and praying that we could make it out of Florence, meanwhile everyone else was trying to find a way to the Florence airport to figure out how to get out via plane. While I was making my horrible snowy way to the Santa Maria Novella Train Station, which, by the way, my right arm still throbs from dragging my 60 pound rolly bag all the way there, I had no idea that it was the smartest decision I would make, getting out of Florence and heading to Rome.

So we made it to the train station, which was up and running, and we were so relieved! Almost every train route was cancelled, except our 5:50 departure to Rome. This was the first of very lucky instances that I would come across that day. So we board the train, me amy and my friend Drew who met us at the station, and head to rome, all the while all I could think about was how the rest of the day would go: would the train make it all the way to rome? Would my flight be cancelled? What if that, what if this, blah blah blah. After thinking all these horrible thoughts about my day going all wrong, I decided that the only way I was getting home was if I pictured myself getting to Rome, getting on my plane, and finally arriving in the US. I couldn't doubt that I was getting on that damn plane if it killed me. So when we finally got to the Rome train station,  20 minutes later than scheduled, we jogged with all our bags 15 platforms away where the train to the Rome airport would arrive, only to find that it wasn't there, and wasn't coming. That's Italy for you.. nothing runs on time. Drew kindly asked the train station guy how the HELL we were supposed to get to the airport without the airport train, and he gave us metro directions. I was not a happy camper, but there was no way I was giving up. So we ran to the metro station, bought and ticket, and hoped for the best.

We rode the Rome metro, which is the most horrible and disgusting metro system I have come across in my 4 months in Italy, 10 stops to Pirimade, where the second airport train was supposed to be. We get there and have to lug all our luggae up 3 flights of stairs, because ( of course ) the escalator is out of service. By this time all three of us are drenched in sweat and red in the face, but we found the Billeto machine and got 10 euro tickets for the airport train that was leaving.. uh oh... one minute ago. I told Amy and Drew that I needed to just sprint and see if I could catch the train because my flight was much sooner than theirs, so we said a quick goodbye and I took off to platform 12 to find the train. I get up another 3 flights of stairs to the platform, only to find the train is 15 minutes late. "Of course it is!" I thought. So Drew and Amy catch up to me and we all waited anxiously for the stupid train.

We finally boarded and rode the train 25 minutes to the airport, which was extremely painful because all the while I was watching the minutes on my watch quickly tick away. This is the point where I began to actually panic. By the time I got off the train it was 10:30... and I had an international flight to catch at 11:20. So i resorted to turbo mode, because I knew I had to stick with a positive attitude: I was getting on that damn plane if its the last thing I would do!!!! And, besides, if I didn't I was screwed.

I burst off the train, yelled goodbye to Amy and Drew, and took off down the long corridor, past the out-of-service moving sidewalks, and checked the flight monitor. Amy caught up with me and she was the one to find my flight on the screen and yelled, "Jenny! Terminal 5! Go!!!!" So i took off running down the zig-zagged ramp to the ground level that was apparently the direction of T5, according to the signs. I got to the bottom to find a bus labeled "Terminal 5" parked by the sidewalk. I headed towards it, trying to calm myself, only to see the bus pulling away and closing its doors!! I took off running behind it, while tearing up and still sweating, screaming "NOOOO!!!!" while flailing my limbs in an attempt to get any sort of attention from anyone on that bus. Thank God an Italian man who was closer to the bus saw me and somehow got the bus to stop. I sprinted up to it, dragging all my luggage and myself onto the bus  in a very startling manner that definitely had everyone on the bus staring at me in terror. Luckily, the first people to approach me were two American men, about my dad's age, and they were very nice and gave me a seat and struck up a conversation about my interesting arrival, and we eventually realized I was on the same flight as them, to Charlotte. This was the second of lucky instances I came across that day.

So the three of us made it into the terminal up to the US airways desk where the lady proceeded to tell us "Charlotte is closed. No more passengers. Flight is closed." This is the first time I felt my heart completely drop. So many thoughts went through my head: I have to call Mom and Dad, I'm gonna be stuck here, I have no working phone, I'm never making it home. Then, to my surprise, three more passengers for the Charlotte flight showed up, and after some Italian walkie-talkie-ing, the lady told us we could check in for the flight. It might have been because half of us were Envoy class, including me, but that was only because my parents' miles could only be used for an Envoy seat. For whatever reason it was, we checked in and cut the entire baggage line and security line, which made the other US airways customers very, very upset, and even yell inappropriate things at us, but at this point I didn't care what anyone said or did to me, I was making it on this flight!

After all of this chaos, we got our passports stamped and got on another bus to gate G, where I got off and ran to G14 where our flight was leaving out of, and stumbled into the boarding line with Zone 5, with 5 minutes to spare before our scheduled boarding time. My mind was such a blur at this point that I could not even be sure I was definitely getting on the flight.. after everything that had happened that day, who knew what could have happened next? However, I was very pleased when the next thing that happened was me plopping into my giant, comfy envoy seat, next to the window, and hearing, "Honey, would you like champagne, a mimosa?" Yes and yes. At this moment my body finally became less tense, my mind wasn't quite as frantic, and then the tears that were welling in my eyes for the past 7 hours finally started flowing. What. A. Day.

So here I am, sitting in my parents' kitchen, reliving that horrible day, and still not comprehending how I even made it here. I guess I could call it my Christmas Miracle. or my Christmas Nightmare. Either way, I'm home for the holidays, and couldn't be happier. The only thing is that because of all the chaos that came with getting out of Italy, I didn't get to say a proper goodbye to Florence, or all the new friends I've made. The transition of coming from Florence to the US is such a blur that I can't even decide if I miss it or if I'm relieved to be in America for good. I guess only time will tell. Until then, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and never, ever travel during the holidays. Ciao!