Euro 1 - Prep stuff and overnight flight

Inspired by the beauty of the trip and spurred by Anne and her Where the Hell blogging about travel and ultimate, I'm starting a new series of posts. This time about my recent adventure across Europe. Hopefully I'll have enough content and enthusiasm to keep me going until this summer, when I have a trip to the Middle East scheduled.

Europe Adventure 1

Becca is like a sister, a best friend whose family is as close to mine as cousins or neighbors would be. When I told her that I'd been invited to play at a beach tournament in Italy, she said immediately that she'd been wanting to see Italy for a while now. I added that I wanted to go through the UK, like I did last summer, for an ultimate skills clinic. And that sounded good to her, too. And what a great travel pair we'd make!

Over a few weeks of deliberation and vacillation, we decided to make it real. We bought our multi-city plane tickets for the cost of a regular round-trip (and would bank skymiles because it was on Delta) - and set off into the wonderful world of vacation planning, starting with a furious tear through Rome, then trekking in Cinque Terre, with some Florence and Rimini thrown in for good measure. We wanted to end up in London, the closest major city to an ultimate clinic I'd be coaching at, and home of the royal wedding during our stay.

Living in our hometown, Becca and I were invited to have a send-off party the day of our departure and then get a ride to the airport by our parents. My folks picked me up and we joined Becca and her mom and dad at their place. Guacamole was the culinary centerpiece -- our travels and planned phone calls home was the main topic of conversation. Quick family picture (my dad's not in the one below) and then we set off to Hartsfield-Jackson, my parents allowing Becca and I to go with her folks to the airport.

Delta's customer service at the airport was lacking. I couldn't find anyone to print out my boarding pass and we grew a little nervous after three tries and fifteen or so minutes at different desks. I reasoned that my best bet was to get a seat request card and figure it out at the gate; in fact, if the airline overbooked the flight and had to bump me, I was in for a pretty hefty voucher for future travel. But one woman made our day, getting me a seat directly next to Becca in a row with extra leg room. Double score! Irving and Jan saw us all the way to the security line and a few minutes later, Becca and I boarded our overnight flight from ATL to FCO.

I realized it was corny as I suggested it, but Becca and I watched the same movie on our individual screens at the same time. Plus we played the trivia game that everyone on the plane can plug into. I caught the few minutes of Eat, Pray, Love that take place in Italy (another corny moment). I couldn't fall asleep in my seat, so I tried curling up on the floor in front of our seats -- and got yelled at five minutes later when one of the flight staff nearly fell fast first after catching my foot in the aisle. Overall, a good start to two weeks of travel. And finally we landed on Italian soil.