The Voyage

The day before I was to leave was filled with a rushed panic of trying to get everything completed before the big trip rolled around – like finishing up the three projects that I was working on since I’d gotten home and final packing and such. Very hard day – I finished up one plan set for a client who needed a garage/apartment up the night before (which we had to have built 27 days from then) so had it down to the addition project that, as we learned from the last post, was basically my project. The race against time was on. I finished it up on time, however – about 9:00 that night. To be fair, I had several things in my way, such as going to get the suburban from the body shop, going to get a scale from my loving grandmother because ours was 20 lbs off and weighing suitcases/repacking. That’s was one crazy day. I feel bad because the last time that I saw my grandma before I left I felt really rushed (and I don’t do so well when I feel rushed). Not exactly the best way to say bye, but I can top it – the day that I left, my little sister was sleeping when I left around 10 (because she tends to not want to get up in the mornings EVER) and I didn’t tell her bye because I didn’t want to wake her up. I’m pretty sure I’ll NEVER live that one down, but if you’re reading this - bye bye sleepy head J.

My dad drove me up to Charlotte and saw me off. Quite nice of him, actually. Mom had to work that day because it was the day that all of the freshman come into Furman and flood her office with ID requests. At the airport, we checked our bags, stormed through security and, like true architecture students, went to get coffee before the plane left at 4:30. My favorite part of a plane ride is taking off. Just the feeling of your stomach dropping when the wheels have just come off the ground and the plane dips before it takes to the skies. After that, the plane ride was pretty boring. It was cool to see the land to give way to the ocean. Flying over the ocean at night, however, was pretty strange. Every time the plane dropped, I felt like we were getting closer and closer to the water. Then the sun came up, a cool sight in itself, and the land came back. We landed in Paris, after playing American and glaring out the window at the Eiffel Tower, and ended up on the wrong end of the sprawling airport, apparently. We landed at Terminal 1, and after some deliberation, decided that we were supposed to be at Terminal 2. So we take a bus. At Terminal 2, we try to go through security, but don’t have our boarding pass, so we have to go find that one. We retrieve out passes and have to go through, around, above, and over through the “blue hallway” to get to the other side of Terminal 2 (which is divided by a major highway). At Terminal 2, take two, we find another bus awaiting our arrival, which takes us to Terminal 2G (which wasn’t attached to Terminal 2). Basically, Charles de Galle Airport is one giant CF.

Another hour and a half to Genova, Italy, heck yes! Of course our first few glimpses were absolutely beautiful. We landed and the first thing that you notice is that Italy really is 15-20 years behind the US (which I had heard from a previous traveler). First off, no wifi to be found. Plus, the terminal is obviously in need of some major TLC, which doesn’t help the case. Our taxi driver got it done though – there is a thin line between maniac and professional driver, and he was just this side of maniac. Off to Hotel Bologna!