Leaving on a Jet Plane!

I wasn't really sure how to start of, so I'm just going to pick up on the morning after the wedding (I can't wait to get the pro photos back so that I can do the recaps!).  

Anywho, we stayed at the Comfort Inn & Suites on our wedding night.  We thought we'd wake up with plenty of time for breakfast (it is served from 7 to 10am), but we were wrong.  We went to bed around midnight but we didn't wake up until 10:45am -- only 15 minutes before check out!  We quickly got our stuff together and checked out.  Then we drove back to Dave & Melisa's house (our reception site) to gather all of our luggage for the trip.  We also took showers and printed our boarding passes.  

Then, we headed over to Philip's Nanny & Pappy's house so that they could drive us to the airport.  However, because of the flooding in recent weeks, the route that our GPS was trying to take us was out of the question (there were bridges out).  So, we had to drive around in Amish country until our GPS figured out a new way to get there.  We arrived at their house a wee bit late, but it was okay in the end.  It took less time to get to the Philadelphia airport than we had thought it would.  

Philadelphia Airport  (Source)

We drove right up to the international terminal and found the U.S. Airways entrance.  Easy peasy.  Then we hugged Nanny and Pappy goodbye and dragged our luggage into the airport. We dropped our luggage off at one of the self-check-in booths and then headed up the stairs to security.  Security there was very simple.  The line was fairly long (it started even before the stairs started), but it took less than 20 minutes to get through.  

Then we made our way to our gate to wait almost two hours for our plane to take off.  We checked email and, of course, Facebook.  I read for a while and Philip checked on baseball stuff.  Soon, it was time to board.  The boarding process took forever and, of course, we did not take off on time (I can't tell you the last time I was on a plane that actually took off on time).  

Then, we spent over 8 hours in the air.  I read for a little while and tried to get as much sleep as possible (we were arriving in Italy at 8:30am).  I wanted to be rested.  Well, that's impossible on a plane, but I tried my darndest and managed a few hours of rest.  We also watched Something Borrowed -- I don't recommend it.  

Soon, we were being fed breakfast and then it was time to land.  The landing was smooth.  We exited the plane and were herded through the airport.  Apparently they no longer stamp your passport in Italy.  Total bummer.  

We paid to have our hotel pick us up from the airport.  Well, our driver wasn't waiting for us when we arrived at the baggage claim.  We wandered around for probably 20 minutes before we finally found him.  I think he was late and just pretended he was there the whole time.  He drove us out of the airport and I got my first taste of just how dangerous riding in a car in Rome can be (it's terrifying!).  

He dropped us off at our hotel and then we checked in.  Our hotel room was already ready, so we took our luggage upstairs and cleaned up a bit before wandering out to see the beautiful city that is ROMA!