Lying in the dark at 2:45 Friday morning, I was too excited to sleep any longer. I felt like a 5-year-old on Christmas morning...knowing it was too early to get up but wanting to sneak down the hall to see what Santa brought just the same. I brewed my coffee, hit the shower and fed the cats while the whole house slept. After dressing quietly, whispering goodbyes in the dark to my family, I put my bags on the front porch and sat waited for the car. I'm going to Italy....just in case anyone forgot.

The limo and Leah arrived promptly at 4:00 am and off we went. We made it to the airport in wonderful time, breezed through check-in (thank you TSA pre check!!) and to our gate with 2 HOURS to spare....only they were fixing the airplane....for a very
l-o-n-g time.....while my first inclination would be to stress about missing my flight, I reminded myself that this was MY vacation and if I missed my connection, I'd make the next one and I just let it go. We struck up a conversation with a lovely woman in our line who was on her way to DC to surprise her father for Father's Day. Anyone who really knows me knows I'll talk to just about anyone and we had a wonderful conversation. I didn't get her name but she has traveled all over the world and her stories got me excited to visit Croatia! (Why yes, it IS where Game of Thrones is filmed) So add another trip to the bucket list! Arrived at the gate at 5:30 am...the plane took off at 9:30 am....but enjoyed making a new acquaintance and learning about another interesting place...and that wouldn't have happened had we not been delayed....everything for a reason and a purpose!!

We arrived in Dulles a full hour an a half late...we only had a two hour layover! So with a combination of wonderful souls onboard our plane (who graciously allowed us those of us with connecting flights to deplane first) and the next gate not HORRIBLY far away, we ran as fast as we could with all our luggage and just barely made it to our flight to Rome. BUT we made it!! My plan to eat dinner before boarding obviously fell apart and I was starving!!! Thankfully dinner was served onboard and I have never been so grateful for turkey meatloaf in my life!! A glass (or possibly two) of wine, a full tummy and mental/physical exhaustion allowed me to rest a bit.

We arrived in Rome at 8:00 am local time ~ I'm in Italy!