Per piacere e grazie – June 10-11

I am now resting and relaxing in Milan. Or maybe not resting or relaxing, but I am in Milan.

I was a complete moron when planning this trip. I listened to people I shouldn’t have and planned my trip based on their recommendations and advice when I could have saved myself a lot of time and aggravation if I’d just done my research and planned my own trip. I’m so lazy that way. I let other people tell me how I should get somewhere all the time rather than put in a little effort and save myself some trouble later. Anyway, I made it to Milan just fine, and – ginormous surprise – so did my luggage.

The first leg of my trip took me from DFW to O’Hare. That wasn’t too bad. It’s only a four-hour flight. This was the first time I’d ever been to O’Hare airport. I’ve been to Chicago many times – I used to have family that lives there. I got off the plane and started to make my way to the next gate for my connecting flight to London. Turns out there’s a problem with the plane and the flight has been delayed for about 40 minutes. That’s not too bad, at least it means that I won’t have as long of a layover in Heathrow.

So, thinking I had all the time in the world I made my way toward the gate and stopped to get some McDonald’s and a Cinnabon. I love Cinnabons. They’re wonderful. You’ve got doughy bread, sweet sugar, and, the most important part, cinnamon. I had my lunch and wandered over to the gate. After sitting there for a while wishing I could find an outlet near a chair so that I could whip out my computer, I put on my iPod and began to listen to an audiobook. I pulled out a headphone every once in a while when I thought I heard the check-in people say something interesting. They said the plane would be delayed even longer, like until 7:00 or so, so I put the headphones on and stopped paying attention. That was almost a big mistake. After a while I looked up and noticed a bunch of people lining up in front of MY gate. I went over and discovered that they had been boarding for the last couple of minutes. First and Business were already on board, as well as most of the groups. Well, I joined right in and got up to the head of the line. Unfortunately, it seemed that my ticket was no good and I had to go to the desk and get my new ticket.

I got bumped from Business class… Bumped UP! I made the trip from Chicago to London in style! The seat was spacious. First class holds a maximum of 16 people. The seats lay down flat so that you’re laying down rather than reclining. Very nice. I wonder why I got moved to First instead of someone else. I’m sure there was someone else on the plane that would have been ahead of me in points. Never look a gift-horse in the mouth, the saying goes. I just sat back and enjoyed it all the way across the ocean.

Once in London I swiftly made my way to the Admiral’s Club, or the BA equivalent that is, cursing my phone and T-Mobile all the way. I went out of my way to purchase a phone that would work internationally and gone ahead and paid the extra $20 per month so that I would still be able to send and receive email while I’m in a foreign country, and the damn phone wouldn’t work! No matter how many times I turned it on and off, it still wouldn’t connect to any service, and I know that UK has T-mobile. I almost bought an extra phone from one of the stores there last time I was there just so I would have something that worked.

After relaxing in the club for two hours or so, I finally got to get on with the last leg of my journey. A quick four hours later in what basically amounted to the first-class cabin of a SWA jet and I was in Milan, dirty and dead tired. I fell asleep several times on the way to the hotel, and I don’t think the driver appreciated it too much. Every time I started to nod off he would pick up his cell and call someone, or there was suddenly something he had to listen to louder on the radio, or he would hit the brakes a little harder. He just did something to wake me up.

I got into my room at the hotel and immediately hated it. I had no decent ‘net connection, and that’s vital to me. The room was dark and smelly. I had a lovely view of the roof of the lobby area. It was just a bad room. I stuck with it for about half an hour before I called the front desk and asked them to change me to a different room. And what a difference that makes. It’s no bigger, but it feels lighter. I have a better view, although there’s really not a whole lot to see on this side of town. I guess the connection strength of the ‘net (it’s all wireless, which they tell me I can use anywhere in the hotel) connection gets better the higher you go. I’m just generally happier with it. So, I’m in, I’ve showered (and that’s something everyone around