WE MADE IT!

We made it to the airport with plenty of time, thanks to my always punctual Meme and Owen!  British Airways began to please from the moment we stepped up to the counter.  Our British Airways agent, Lydia, was helpful, kind and went above and beyond.  We had about 2 hours to kill, so we decided to see if they would let us lounge in the British Airways Club.  Once we stepped off the elevator, we asked if we could experience the club, and at first they denied us... until Matt used the "Honeymoon Card"!  Not only did we get in, we were escorted to the First Class Lounge... champagne, sandwhiches, beer, snacks, etc.  Heaven... in other words :)  After nearly an hour or so of chillin' in the lounge, we headed to the gate.  As soon as we got there, we were paged over the intercom.. "uh oh..." were my first thoughts... "the Matt Coker curse"..  Nope!  Just Lydia being her amazing self.  Our flight out of Heathrow was reinstated (from the former cancellation) so she had rebooked us on that flight and put us in the exact seats we had chosen on the other flight.  She was incredible!

The flight was nice.  Wine, snacks, dinner, etc.  Thankfully we chose emergency exit seats with no one in front of us. We watched a movie and went to sleep.  Overall, we were very impressed. 

One of Owen's favorites... Matt had to have one!

At exactly 8:35 AM, London time, we de-boarded the plane and ventured into Heathrow.  It was a nice experience.  I read my book while Matt played with our electrical gadgets.. plugging things in with his adapter kit... why not, right?  The airport has great shops, great restaurants and some really great cars on display.

Matt next to my new Aston Martin in the Heathrow Airport!

Once again, our flight was great from London to Rome... no problems at all.  Luggage was easily accessible and then we headed to the train to catch the Leonardo Express to the Rome Termini.  We stepped up to the ticket line to purchase our train tickets and they turned us away because we wanted to use a credit card.  So we used the automated system.  There we are, two dumb Americans, trying to read the machine prompts in Italian... Picture us with our sweats on, t-shirts, tennis shoes and HUGE back packs... yeah we were those dumb Americans back packing through Europe.  We did, however, figure it out :)  The police noticed us... not surprisingly, and asked us for our Passports.  Look... when a guy in a uniform approaches you and has a gun... GIVE HIM YOUR PASSPORT.  I didn't hesitate.  He did give us a great travel tip, though... "Lots of gypsys" in broken english..."be careful for the girls, you know the girls.." as he motioned with the "little" sign... ok we got it... be careful of little gypsy girls.... yea yea... and we were on our way with our passports.

We road the train in, for 11 euro each.

The directions that were given were not great, but they did what they needed to do... got us to the spotter.  The hotels around here, at least the cheap ones, have these guys who stand on the streets looking for confused Americans.  Which is exactly what we were.  He took us straight to a residential building and a guy came out and showed us to our rooms.  We actually love it.  Great location, good size, safe area and very inexpensive... perfect!  (We will post pics later).

Well, it's off to the city for some exploring!  Mom, Dad, Meme and Laura - WE MADE IT!

-T