Wednesday, 14 October

Early rising today, I should be at Naples airport by 6:00 am. I was awake just before the alarm went off. The shower was a challenge. You could not enter if you opened the doors. I had to open the left door, step over to that side and then open the right door to get in. I survived that challenge and then packed up. The next challenge was trying to leave the hotel. There was no one at the front desk and the automatic door would not open. I rang the bell twice and someone finally showed up to check me out and open the door.

It is a nice cool morning and the fifteen minute walk to the airport was well lit and the crazy Naples traffic had not started yet. Even at six am the Naples airport seems like (un)organized mayhem. I did find a tiramisu croissant and coffee for breakfast. Italian airport food is even delicious.

My boarding pass did not work to go through security, there is a separate line for going to the US with special screening. After that it was passport control. You scan your passport, scan your fingerprints, have a photo taken and are finally through. Off to find the gate. Another coffee and wait to board. Another Airbus for the eleven plus hour flight to Atlanta seems to be full.

Almost missed the Naples flight. I heard no announcements of boarding groups and headed over to see if they were displayed. Final boarding to Atlanta. I was selected for an extra security check which consisted of a 30 second conversation about why and what I visited in Italy. The good news was that the bus out to the plane was not crowded. Up the back steps to get on the plane and I found someone was in my seat. He had the aisle seat on the other side. Plenty of room for my carry-on. Looks like a full on time flight.

Twelve hours is a long time to sit on a plane. Delta did serve two meals. I thought they might be a little better than usual since they should have been prepared in Italy. No luck with that, just the usual airplane quality food.

FLASH! FLASH! For anyone who makes an international trip, download the Mobile Passport Control app, it is available for Android and Apple. Download it before your trip. Enter your travelor info at home, one app for the whole family. Before you land, complete the trip info. While everyone in in the long line at passport control, you get in the short MPC line and breeze through. MPC does not save any time at customs, but I have not been stopped at customs.

So I breezed through passport control in the MPC line. I only have carry-on bags so no baggage claim, no stop at customs. Since I have a connecting flight to Dulles, there was another security screening. The only thing you had to do at Atlanta security was empty your pockets. A beep at the metal detector meant I was randomly selected for extra security. Extra security consisted of taking my shoes off and running them through the baggage scanner.

I had about three hours between flights so I did not have to rush. My flight to Washington leaves from the furthest gate. The Plane Train arrived and quickly whisked me to Terminal T. After sitting for all that time walking was a relief. I walked the length of the terminal to check out the dinner options. Tropical Smoothie was the winner with a jerk chicken wrap.

Back to the gate to await my seat assignment for the 6:30 pm departure and 8:10 arrival. Gate T1 is at the end of the terminal and I am sitting here watching planes land and take off while I write this.

The gate attendant announced that we would be boarding late. The flight attendants were arriving on three different flights. Only one flight attendant had arrived at the gate, we were waiting for the other two. Three were required for boarding to start. The delay turned out to be only about 15 minutes. About seventy minutes in the air and we landed at Dulles. I picked up an Uber and was home before 9:30. A long day, good to be home and see Dolora.

Dolora reminded me that yesterday’s post did not include a photo album at the end. I have corrected that and added two short videos, a theater in Pompeii and a sample of the Naples traffic.

One more post in the next couple of days will include a summary of the trip. Enjoy the fall weather.