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Just got back from a wonderful trip to Italy for Spring Break. Everything went smoothly and we had an excellent time on American Airlines, they were great and we are probably going to fly on AA again soon. This report will include the entire trip, not just the flights. I tried to include some pictures, too.
Enjoy!
(Times are local, Italy is 7 hours ahead from Central Time)
Day Zero- American Airlines 110 Chicago-Rome
We booked the entire trip with American Airlines Vacations, via a local travel agent at a place called "Oui Travel" Our flight was scheduled to leave from O'Hare at 3:40pm on March 25. That ment I had to go to school for the classes before lunch. Finally, it was 10:45am and my Mom got to my school and said the ride to the airport will arrive at 1:00pm. I packed my last minute things and the taxi to the airport got to our house at 12:45pm.
The taxi dropped us (me, mom, and dad) out infront of Terminal Three. We waited in the line for International Check-In for about five minutes, and had no probems with getting our checked bags scanned by the TSA. There was barely a line for check in, but I did have a nice little conversation with the scanner.
ME: Do I have to take my shoes off?
SCREENER: No, but it is recommended.
ME: So I don't?
SCREENER: It's your decision.
(I walk through with shoes on)
BBBBBBEEEEEEEEEPPPPPP
SCREENER: Please step back
(I take shoes off, walk through, nothing)
SCREENER: Thanks, have a nice flight.
It would probably just be easier to take off the shoes first, huh. Anyway, with this minor annoyance behind me, I continued to find Gate K5. Seeing as how there was a while before boarding, I walked over to Terminal Two, and looked around for my cousin, who is a flight attendent for Air Wisconsin/United Express, but I did not see her and walked back to Terminal Three. I took a picture of the 767 waiting.
And I walked over to the center of the concourse and got a picture of a large hanging globe, with Italian flags around it
American Airlines flight 110
Chicago (ORD) - Rome, Italy (FCO)
Scheduled Departure: 3:40pm
Pushback: 3:35pm
Wheels-Up: 4:30pm
Scheduled Arrival: 7:55am (next-day)
Wheels-Down: 8:32am
Takeoff Runway: 14L
Departure Gate: Terminal 3, Gate K3
Arrival Gate: Teminal C, Gate T8 (C30)
The flight time was 8 hours and 30 minutes, and Carl Wagner was the Capitan and John Shuster was one of two First Officers. I don't have the second name, sorry.
Boeing 767-300, N352AA, Coach Class, Seat 25G
We pushed back and taxied for about 45 minutes before coming to a stop. The Captan came on and said they were using 14L for take-off and landing, so we would have to wait for our clearence. I got up really fast, (ignoring the light) and stuffed something into the bin, I tried not to be noticed, but the flight attendent made a very embarrasing announcement.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, need I remind you AGAIN that we are on an active runway and could become airborne at any time. SO SIT DOWN AND CLOSE THE BIN" I sat down to my parents in 25C and 25E laughing really hard. Then, for some unknown reason, my seat belt came off from the seat. I lifted the corner of the seat cushion and saw the ring to hook it back onto, and right as I was about to we turned, and began to acclerate. Oh well, takeoff with no seatbelt. We tookoff and I fixed the seat belt. The flight attendents came around with a small snack of pretzels and a drink of your choice. We had a really good crew, and about 7 drink services in Coach. I watched CBS Eye on American, which is just really snippets of various CBS shows. 60 Minutes II then came on, and that was followed by Without a Trace. I saw the flight attendents walk to the front of the plane with meal carts, and a good smell came from them.
Dinner in Coach:
Choice of Chicken Parmesan or Beef
Salad with Oil and Vinegar Dressing
Potato Slices and Green Beans
Bread and Butter
Chocolate-Chip Brownie
Mini Water Bottle.
I really liked having the small water, because I then stowed it in the seat back pocket. The crew came around and collected the trays, and I put $3.00 in the Unicef donation envelope they put on your meal tray. I walked that to the back galley and sat back down and watched "Under the Tuscan Sun" it was OK, seemed to fit in for a flight to Italy. The next movie was "In America" it was sad, but it was a good movie. Every thing pretty much shut off then and the entire plane was asleep, except for me and my mom. There was a flight attendent in the back, strapped into the jumpseat snoring away, with drool in her mouth and in her lap. A few people began to put up the shades up (the crew made them down) and we could clearly see that it was now morning.
Breakfast:
Crossant with Jam/Butter
Yogurt
Raisins
Orange Juice
We touched down, got onto a quick tram, and headed for "Dogana" (thats the Italian word for Customs) and cleared that effortlessly. Our bags were already on the carousel. We were starting the trip in Florence, Italy, that is North from Rome. We walked to the airport train station, and got on a train called "Leonardo Express" that connects the airport to Rome's main train station, Termini.
Day One- Florence and Termini Troubles
The quick 32 minute ride on the Leonardo Express, it dropped us off at the lower level of Rome Termini. Ok...we are where we want to be. Now, where are the tickets? We cannot find anything. Nothing. We start walking down Track 25, the last on the platform. (A train was there, blocking everything) we turn around, find where we can get tickets on the Eurostar Italia train, a high-speed train that can get you from Rome to Florence in 1 hour 30 minutes, where as the regular train takes 3 hours and 30 minutes. Now we learn that the staff of the Eurostar Italia is on a planned strike. They are going to end the strike at 1:00pm. We are on a 1:15pm train, it is now 11:30am. The ticket lady shows us where to go, and we walk down to Track (Binario) 4 and sit and wait. Our EUR-500 train arrives on Track 7 and we walk there and wait for the train to open the door.
The train was really nice inside, nice wide red seats with the TRENITALIA logo on them. We started going, and you could feel that you were going really fast. There were a lot of tunnels on the route, and we were served a snack and drink. We got off the train in Florence SMN (Santa Maria Novella" and walked the wrong way to our hotel, when we realized that we went the wrong way, it started to rain. Fun. We checked into our hotel, the FENICE PALACE (http://www.florenceby.com/fenice/index.html). We were in Room 307. I really liked the windows, you could open them and open the shutters and there was nothing there, no screens, nothing. It just opened and you could easily fall out. We searched for dinner, and went to a small restaurant called "Rose Cafe" We went to sleep early and was ready for a full day in Florence.
Day Two- Bus Tour, Churches, and David
We ate breakfast at the hotel this morning and then took a double-deck bus around Florence for a tour. You can hop on and hop off whenever you want and the ticket is valid for 24 hours. We took that to the Michealangelo gallery and saw David. And yes, that is the naked statue. We then spent the rest of the day touring Churches and things like that before going for a late dinner at about 10:00pm. We were back at the hotel at 12:00pm, ready for our last day in Florence.
I am really tired, so I will post the rest later. I just got off a nine hour flight and I want sleep!
Comments are welcome.
Enjoy!
(Times are local, Italy is 7 hours ahead from Central Time)
Day Zero- American Airlines 110 Chicago-Rome
We booked the entire trip with American Airlines Vacations, via a local travel agent at a place called "Oui Travel" Our flight was scheduled to leave from O'Hare at 3:40pm on March 25. That ment I had to go to school for the classes before lunch. Finally, it was 10:45am and my Mom got to my school and said the ride to the airport will arrive at 1:00pm. I packed my last minute things and the taxi to the airport got to our house at 12:45pm.
The taxi dropped us (me, mom, and dad) out infront of Terminal Three. We waited in the line for International Check-In for about five minutes, and had no probems with getting our checked bags scanned by the TSA. There was barely a line for check in, but I did have a nice little conversation with the scanner.
ME: Do I have to take my shoes off?
SCREENER: No, but it is recommended.
ME: So I don't?
SCREENER: It's your decision.
(I walk through with shoes on)
BBBBBBEEEEEEEEEPPPPPP
SCREENER: Please step back
(I take shoes off, walk through, nothing)
SCREENER: Thanks, have a nice flight.
It would probably just be easier to take off the shoes first, huh. Anyway, with this minor annoyance behind me, I continued to find Gate K5. Seeing as how there was a while before boarding, I walked over to Terminal Two, and looked around for my cousin, who is a flight attendent for Air Wisconsin/United Express, but I did not see her and walked back to Terminal Three. I took a picture of the 767 waiting.
And I walked over to the center of the concourse and got a picture of a large hanging globe, with Italian flags around it
American Airlines flight 110
Chicago (ORD) - Rome, Italy (FCO)
Scheduled Departure: 3:40pm
Pushback: 3:35pm
Wheels-Up: 4:30pm
Scheduled Arrival: 7:55am (next-day)
Wheels-Down: 8:32am
Takeoff Runway: 14L
Departure Gate: Terminal 3, Gate K3
Arrival Gate: Teminal C, Gate T8 (C30)
The flight time was 8 hours and 30 minutes, and Carl Wagner was the Capitan and John Shuster was one of two First Officers. I don't have the second name, sorry.
Boeing 767-300, N352AA, Coach Class, Seat 25G
We pushed back and taxied for about 45 minutes before coming to a stop. The Captan came on and said they were using 14L for take-off and landing, so we would have to wait for our clearence. I got up really fast, (ignoring the light) and stuffed something into the bin, I tried not to be noticed, but the flight attendent made a very embarrasing announcement.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, need I remind you AGAIN that we are on an active runway and could become airborne at any time. SO SIT DOWN AND CLOSE THE BIN" I sat down to my parents in 25C and 25E laughing really hard. Then, for some unknown reason, my seat belt came off from the seat. I lifted the corner of the seat cushion and saw the ring to hook it back onto, and right as I was about to we turned, and began to acclerate. Oh well, takeoff with no seatbelt. We tookoff and I fixed the seat belt. The flight attendents came around with a small snack of pretzels and a drink of your choice. We had a really good crew, and about 7 drink services in Coach. I watched CBS Eye on American, which is just really snippets of various CBS shows. 60 Minutes II then came on, and that was followed by Without a Trace. I saw the flight attendents walk to the front of the plane with meal carts, and a good smell came from them.
Dinner in Coach:
Choice of Chicken Parmesan or Beef
Salad with Oil and Vinegar Dressing
Potato Slices and Green Beans
Bread and Butter
Chocolate-Chip Brownie
Mini Water Bottle.
I really liked having the small water, because I then stowed it in the seat back pocket. The crew came around and collected the trays, and I put $3.00 in the Unicef donation envelope they put on your meal tray. I walked that to the back galley and sat back down and watched "Under the Tuscan Sun" it was OK, seemed to fit in for a flight to Italy. The next movie was "In America" it was sad, but it was a good movie. Every thing pretty much shut off then and the entire plane was asleep, except for me and my mom. There was a flight attendent in the back, strapped into the jumpseat snoring away, with drool in her mouth and in her lap. A few people began to put up the shades up (the crew made them down) and we could clearly see that it was now morning.
Breakfast:
Crossant with Jam/Butter
Yogurt
Raisins
Orange Juice
We touched down, got onto a quick tram, and headed for "Dogana" (thats the Italian word for Customs) and cleared that effortlessly. Our bags were already on the carousel. We were starting the trip in Florence, Italy, that is North from Rome. We walked to the airport train station, and got on a train called "Leonardo Express" that connects the airport to Rome's main train station, Termini.
Day One- Florence and Termini Troubles
The quick 32 minute ride on the Leonardo Express, it dropped us off at the lower level of Rome Termini. Ok...we are where we want to be. Now, where are the tickets? We cannot find anything. Nothing. We start walking down Track 25, the last on the platform. (A train was there, blocking everything) we turn around, find where we can get tickets on the Eurostar Italia train, a high-speed train that can get you from Rome to Florence in 1 hour 30 minutes, where as the regular train takes 3 hours and 30 minutes. Now we learn that the staff of the Eurostar Italia is on a planned strike. They are going to end the strike at 1:00pm. We are on a 1:15pm train, it is now 11:30am. The ticket lady shows us where to go, and we walk down to Track (Binario) 4 and sit and wait. Our EUR-500 train arrives on Track 7 and we walk there and wait for the train to open the door.
The train was really nice inside, nice wide red seats with the TRENITALIA logo on them. We started going, and you could feel that you were going really fast. There were a lot of tunnels on the route, and we were served a snack and drink. We got off the train in Florence SMN (Santa Maria Novella" and walked the wrong way to our hotel, when we realized that we went the wrong way, it started to rain. Fun. We checked into our hotel, the FENICE PALACE (http://www.florenceby.com/fenice/index.html). We were in Room 307. I really liked the windows, you could open them and open the shutters and there was nothing there, no screens, nothing. It just opened and you could easily fall out. We searched for dinner, and went to a small restaurant called "Rose Cafe" We went to sleep early and was ready for a full day in Florence.
Day Two- Bus Tour, Churches, and David
We ate breakfast at the hotel this morning and then took a double-deck bus around Florence for a tour. You can hop on and hop off whenever you want and the ticket is valid for 24 hours. We took that to the Michealangelo gallery and saw David. And yes, that is the naked statue. We then spent the rest of the day touring Churches and things like that before going for a late dinner at about 10:00pm. We were back at the hotel at 12:00pm, ready for our last day in Florence.
I am really tired, so I will post the rest later. I just got off a nine hour flight and I want sleep!
Comments are welcome.
. However on tuesday my dad went to a confrence at LGB on AA and when he called he said that the flights were good and he didn't have any problems and they gave him an exit row cuz there weren't many ppl on the flight and they didn't change anything w/o telling him. Lets see how it goes for him when he comes back on Sunday.
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