Buongiorno! Our alarm rang at 7 am this morning tempted to hit the snooze button but it wouldn't be any easier in 5 mins. The reality is we are leaving Italy today, sad but true. We dressed for the pending travel day and finished packing up. The luggage is full and heavy… hopefully no issues at the airport.

Next we headed down stairs to fill our hunger on a delicious power meal before our water taxis due to arrived at 9:30 to pick us up from the dock outside. Breakfast over we headed up stairs to collect our bags. Noticed out the window our taxi had arrived early.

*Our water taxis has arrived at Cima Rosa dock early…so excited for this transfer to the airport*

So convenient to walk out on the dock hand our luggage to the captain and hop on board.

Now all we have to do is sit back, relax and enjoy ride. I think this is truly the best way to arrive at an airport. What do you think?

*The most relaxing taxi ride to the airport ever!*

*Notice how shiny even the top is..of the boat not the captain…*

We’ve been so looking forward to this experience of riding one of these beautiful boats to the airport. It’s not cheap but well worth the convenience especially with our burdens of luggage. Taking the water taxis to the airport cost one hundred twenty euro. It’s about a 20 to 30 min ride.

*We have arrived! Look at all the water taxi docks at the airport*

A little treck later we arrived at the terminal. We booked through Delta, however this flight was with their partner airline Air France. Spotting the Air France airline counter we headed over to check into our flight from VCE to ORD in Paris. The monitor showed the flight to be on time all was going as planned so far. Until we reached the ticket counter…

The lady helping us to check in, asked for our passports to look up our reservation. Soon she told us there was a problem with our reservation, she said wasn’t able to fix it and that we needed to go call Delta Airlines. This was all very strange and confusing being we had all the information needed on our app but the seat assignment and boarding pass. She said we had no seat on this flight and our reservation only showed assigned seats from ORD to ATL and ATL to GTR. So we headed off for a quiet spot in the terminal to try to call Delta.

As expected we couldn't get through to them with a 1800 number in Italy and the international number didn't work for us either. Bummer…Time is ticking by are we going to make the flight? The anxiety level was starting to creep up alittle, then alot. I decided to go back to the ticket counter to pleading with them to help us figure what was wrong with the reservation. This time I was met with a more helpful personnel the same lady but she was now ready to look into what could be done. Great I wonder what changed! She contacted her manager to help her figure out what to do. Mandy was waiting with the luggage aways off, still unsure how this was going to turn out, getting hopeful I messaged her to come to the ticket counter. After awhile I was told the problem with the reservation was that someone had taken our seats…? They did have some seats available in the back of the plane would we like to take them? Yes! With a big sigh of relief we headed off to the security line and on to the gate. Soon the boarding call came. At the boarding gate we were told one of our carryon bags was just to heavy and we would need to check it in all the way through to GTR. Finally on board and settled in, the flight departed on time at 12:15 bound for Paris.

It was good flight and the scenery outside wasn’t bad either!

Two hours later we landed in Paris ORD safe and sound.

We needed go through passport control. Impressed with this airport seemed very clean and tidy. We passed through a nice shopping area on the way to Gate E44. Here Delta had a couple tables set up to check our passports and Covid test results. We also had to filled our some other paperwork. All good we are cleared to fly!

Close by our gate we notice a vendor selling Laduree Macarons. No way we could pass this opportunity up to have a taste of Paris to take with us on our flight.

We bought a chic box of six macarons pistachio, coffee, lemon, chocolate, orange blossom, and a maple flavored. Of course we had to try as many as possible! They are the best…and helped bring back memories of the few days we spent in France in 2019.

Our flight from ORD to ATL departed a bit late due the luggage loader's transmission giving out…Lol. Twenty to thirty minutes later we were finally on our way. Oh well just makes our connection a bit tighter in ATL. All settled into our comfortable seats, soon after take off our first meal was served. Mandy had the Ravioli entree and Jeff had the Roasted Chicken entree both were good.

This flight lasted around 9 hrs and was uneventful like a flight should be. Always good to land safely back in the USA.

We breezed through the Border Control Customs area. This was the first time using our Global Entry. Wow it saved us some valuable time. We possibly couldn't have made our connecting flight if we would have had to wait in the line going through customs. As with any international flight arriving into the USA we had to collect are checked luggage at the baggage claim area then recheck it into Delta to continue on its journey to Columbus, MS. Time was speeding by as we waited for the luggage to arrive on the conveyor belt. After the luggage was claimed and rechecked in we headed for the TSA security line. This was a very slow moving line plus we happen to choosen the slowest line of all the lines… (Lol it doesn't help when the flight is leaving earlier than expected, it’s the last flight of the day, and Delta Airlines had already determined we wouldn't make our connection and emailed us saying they were looking into rebooking us on another flight.) Amazing not even a special TSA Precheck line in this security check point. TSA Precheck is really quick and helpful in most domestic security lines. It is also an added bonus of having Global Entry. We eventually made it through the check point. One humorous thing was the wooden rolling pin we had in the bottom of the our carry on luggage. It didn’t raise any alarm until this security line. Guess it looked just too suspicious until the agent dug in and pulled it out. “Oh a rolling pin" he said. Finally free to go we had about 15 mins to get from terminal F to D44 which happens to be at the very end of concourse D. We caught the plane train to terminal D and then we ran to Gate 44! We beat the odds… all is well that ends well. Now for the short 45 min flight from ATL to GTR to complete our long journey back to Mississippi.

We landed around 9:00 pm Mississippi time which is an eight hour time change difference from Italy Time. We have found out jet lag seems to be much worst when traveling west back to the USA then traveling east. I wonder if it’s the opposite when traveling from USA to example Japan…does someone know? We had left VCE airport at 12:15 arriving at GTR airport around 16 hours later.

Arriving back at our home, we unpacked to see if our checked luggage goodies made it safely home. Yay all good!

*The goodies made it home safe and sound*

Memories made, what a holiday, what a journey, now what? Well sleep seems to be the first on the agenda…then we are thinking of going down memory lane abit and posting about our 2019 journey to western Europe, including the itinerary, sites we seen and foods we ate. Our trip started in England, spend a few days in France, Switzerland, and the Netherlands during the spring tulip season. Maybe we will post some tips and tricks about travel that we have learnt through trial and error. Who knows what the future holds, one thing is for sure the call to a new adventure will begin to stir again inside and we'll begin reseaching, savings the pennies and dimes for a anticipated destination. You are welcome to check in from time to time..!

Arrivederci Italia…

Travel Day to Southern France

Venezia