I made it!

My main objective was of course to make it to the boat. Check.

My brother told me they redid the terminals in the Jacksonville Airport and he was right. I took it all in and enjoyed this window art where my flight was taking out of. Well done.

The flight to Detroit was practically empty and I had a row to myself which was really nice. The Detroit airport itself is really nice, and probably the nicest thing in the city. It’s a Delta hub and apparently little Tokyo because the signs had English with Japanese translations under it.


The flight from Detroit to Amsterdam wasn’t so empty. It was a full international flight so there wasn’t much space for anyone. The guy I was sitting next to was named Ethan and was on his way to Russia to study abroad in Siberia Russia. After that cold 6 months he will be on his way to Germany to study his major, German. He reminded me of Bryan a little because the guy was 6ft 2in. 8 hours is a long time to have your knees up around your ears (something to look forward to Bryan…). I couldn’t get to sleep because I was so excited and anxious so I watched “Date Night” which was cute, predictable but cute, and “The Joneses” which was… interesting? It bugged me a little and was entirely too long. They do “feed” you on international flights though… I got the pasta which they said had spinach in, but I’m not completely sold on that claim. Then they make you close your window shades to pretend it is dark outside (at 5:30pm our time) and it’s then that you are supposed to sleep. Oh well.


Once we arrived in Amsterdam, I had an hour to find and get to the next gate, but to just find it and get there would’ve been WAY too easy. Instead I had to go through customs and run to the gate. When you approach customs in Amsterdam (which is a really nice airport by the way) it’s a cluster of people… or mob perhaps. All different nationalities and all trying to get to connecting flights. You go through a security check point also. Luckily for me they had an “Express Lane” for people who had flights leaving within the hour and I fell into that category. While it wasn’t a short process, it was a little bit better than fighting with the mob to get through. Once the Passport is stamped you go through a pretty laid bad security check that they don’t make you undress for like in America. That was a pleasant surprise. I ran to the gate (which was not close) and just made it on the plane. There was actually a 5 minute delay because me and a small family had checked bags but we weren’t checked in so they gave us an extra couple of minutes and then they would’ve had to remove the bags from the plane so yay!


My only memories from Amsterdam are a blur, which I hear is what happens when you exit the airport too, so I guess I got the real experience? I do have to say that the flight from there to Rome was one of the best flights ever. There was one downside – I didn’t get my window seat because the people in the row had already moved over and I didn’t really care at that point. But that was it. Everyone was super nice and they really like to feed ya. It was an hour and 45min flight. The beverage cart came by twice – once with a bread and cheese sandwich and once just to see if we wanted anything else. Then there was a coffee or tea choice that was accompanied by a caramel filled biscuit that was like a cookie. The announcements from everyone were in Dutch and English and the Captain kept coming on over the intercom to just share things like if you look our your window now you’ll see the Alps. I was so impressed. Oh something that was a bit weird about the airport was that everything was in English… advertisements and everything. I think I saw one or two things written in Dutch, but there was English in equal sized font under it. Weird.






When we touched down and they said “Welcome to Rome” I started freaking out a bit. It was a healthy mix of nerves and excitement and downright fear of the unknown. I wasn’t expecting aliens or anything like that, in fact it wasn’t the airport or people that were unknown as much as the quest to get to the boat. I made it through the swarms of people and managed to get my 50lb bags off of the baggage claim with the help of a nice man in a suit and found a car (it wasn’t a taxi per say… there was a man that saw ‘easy’ target when I got out of the airport and told me that he had a taxi which ended up being more of a car service and cost more than a regular taxi would’ve been, but I made it in one piece untouched to the boat so chalk that up as a learning experience and move on).


The boat is located in Ostia, which is right outside of Rome on the tiber River in a somewhat shady neighborhood. There are a ton of marinas up and down the river so just saying to go there isn’t as easy as it sounds. It’s off aof a dirt road literally around the corner from Torre San Michele which is a pretty random and inaccessible castle looking structure built in the Renaissance to house various goods. While we are by the main Roman Port, we aren’t there. This is a big work/storage area for boating so Dad, like I said, was able to get a lot of work done on the boat and is able to make a mess while he fixes things, cheap. We are currently dry docked (meaning the boat is on land) so it was just a matter of finding where the gate to the marina was, locating the big crane, and looking to the right and there is the boat!


So my first impression of the boat is that it looks awesome and new with the paint job and especially compared to some of the other boats located in the marina, but it’s essentially in a parking lot made of gravel. We can’t use the bathroom on board because there is no place for it to be pumped to so I have to climb down scaffolding to walk to the porter potty type of bathroom (that does flush and have running water in a sink). There is running water and I was able to take a shower today which was interesting and effective at least. The fridge and freezer don’t work and we don’t really have ac right now so those two things sorta suck, but the weather has been in the 80s with little humidity and in the 60s or colder at night. We go to the market almost every day by bike and just buy anything we want to eat that night that needs to be kept cold. It’s a lifestyle I will get used to, but it will take some adjustments.


I am happy to report that there is internet. I’m making an effort not to spend too much time on the computer. We had a pretty eventful day earlier today so I’m just spending the afternoon catching up on things and relaxing. The next post will be about today’s adventures.

I made it! Dad and I toasting our first dinner on the boat together – grilled chicken, peas, salad and a bottle of wine – Fattoria Collefiorito Chianti – 4/5 stars.