Return to Minneapolis

We were booked on a different route than usual for our return to the USA.  Delta had booked us on Alitalia via Rome and New York City.  The scheduled departure time was 3:31 a.m., just one minute later than our usual KLM flight to Amsterdam.  Alitalia has figured out how to squeeze about three more rows of seats onto an A320 which makes for a rather unpleasant journey.  We arrived in Rome and, I believe took a grand total of three buses across the tarmac before boarding our flight to JFK.

Rome would be a good airport to avoid - Schiphol in Amsterdam is about an order of magnitude better organized.  Of course, there are no drinking fountains.  The concessions are poorly staffed making it a major effort to even buy bottled water.

From Rome we flew out over the Alps on another Alitalia plane, this one an A330 with much better seating arrangements.  My A/V unit never did work, however, in spite of all efforts.  I had Linda take this picture for us.






It was definitely economy class - the poor fellow across the aisle only had a badly torn pair of pants to wear on the plane.  Perhaps a skiing accident?


After a couple of hours delay at JFK, we ate a $30 sandwich and salad and resumed the flight home.  At JFK, when there is a bus involved, there is someone with a portable ramp to ensure that no one has a problem leaving the bus.  Water fountains are in abundance since it is safe to drink United States water.  You can even refill your fancy European water bottle from the fountain.  Enjoy!



After arriving we divided up the mail and began going through it.  We only have the essentials since our house-sitter throuws out all of the atalogs - otherwie we would have two or three times as much.