I’m far from a well-traveled person. I’ve been only to a handful of states in my home country of the US, and have been, before my exodus to Italy, to a total of 4 countries; all of which reside very close to the US. But over the course of many months, my parents would plan a trip that would see me not only go to Europe for the first time in my life, but more broadly and perhaps more significantly, the first time I’d be in the Eastern Hemisphere of the world. Never before would I be so far from home and in such a different environment. But before we outline the merits and discoveries and memories of this several-day long trip, let us first glean the journey itself it took to get to our first Italian destination of Rome. To get there, I had to fly to Seattle where we would hop onto a direct flight straight to Italy. So off we went to Seattle, a city I had been to a couple years back and had thoroughly enjoyed. The flight to Washington was an uneventful one, lasting a negligible amount of time relative to the one to come.
Once we landed in Seattle, we checked into a lobby and waited a couple hours till our next flight was being prepared.
In the passing time, as I watched the rain run down lackadaisically upon the tinted windows of our lobby, I pulled out a book of mine and busied myself in the age-old pleasure of reading. Nothing beats a good book on a drizzly day in a cozy, sturdy chair in an artificially heated room. Truly, you haven’t lived till you have experienced such. Alas, all good things must come to an end, and our plane would finally be ready, meaning our boarding was imminent. We haggled our way through the line to board, crossed through the narrow jet bridge, and finally we would make it onto the plane. But, this would be no ordinary plane. At least, not for me.
It was the biggest plane I’ve ever been on. Ever. I’ve never been on a plane that had more than a single aisle; this plane had two. And not only that, it branched off into various sections as if the plane was much bigger than its exterior let on. I’m no aviation expert (I know nothing on the subject) but I learned that the plane was a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. It was the most beautiful plane I’ve ever been on. And the comparison isn’t even close. We had seats near the back of the plane, and we were lucky enough to be one of very few other rows to have only two instead of three seats, making the experience even more spacious than it already was. The leg room was godly, like I could extend the full length of my legs under the chair with no issues at all. It was absolutely wonderful. The plane came with screens built into the seats where you could watch movies and shows (so many great options) and also play some games to pass the time. The windows couldn’t be closed since there was no barrier to close it with and rather you could tint it dark to keep out light. As someone who enjoys looking out planes, I loved this feature so much. Even when tinted dark, you could still see out of the plane, but there would be no issue of lighting or accommodating with the fact that not everyone likes to have the window open. I could go on and on about the plane, but considering I already have, the point stands that this plane ride was prepped and ready to be an experience in itself. A 15-hour long experience to be exact.
And in a matter of no time, we would be off in the air. If I remember correctly, I would watch Sister Act and Barbie on the flight. The former I had seen multiple times; the latter I had never seen. I also made a point to play Angry Birds, a childhood classic of mine. In that time, they passed out dinner, which was surprisingly good and they even brought us dessert. The flight just kept outdoing itself! I don’t remember if I fell asleep or not on the flight. As one would expect I probably did, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I didn’t. And if I did, it must’ve been brief. But regardless, when travelling around, I seem to possess a new level of energy that keeps me going.
As the flight approached its final hours, they served us all breakfast, which just like the dinner, was great. I personally enjoyed it even more. This jaw-dropping of an experience on the flight would unfortunately end as it began its descent down toward the Leonardo da Vinci International Airport. And just like that, as the plane went from a thundering episode as it connected with the ground to a smooth drift, it was official. We were in Italy. We were in Rome.
