I thought I was starting my trip to Italy alone…
Turns out ‘Murphy’ came along for the ride.
My originating flight from Dallas had ‘equipment problems,’ so we had to be moved to a new plane, a new gate. As a result, we left for London 90 minutes late. Everyone on the flight with connections broke a sweat, including me.
We arrived this morning 10 minutes after my Milan transfer — as the Brits call it — had winged away.
I spent the next two hours in queues, but lucked into a noon flight to Milan on standby. They even gave me a free sandwich. I was starting to feel a bit better.
Murphy returned at the Milan Airport, where the lone ATM was out of service. I was assured by my cabbie that he could take a credit card, so I decided to worry about getting Euros later.
Later was when he pulled up to the hotel…and realized he had left his credit card machine at home. After I checked into the hotel, he and I spent some more quality time together, locating an ATM so I could pay the fare.
That was actually fun. He lived in Chicago for 13 years, so he had a lot of fun stories and spoke great English.
So now I am at my plush hotel near the conference center. It’s cool and quiet. And all I have to worry about is falling asleep — I need to adjust to my new time zone for the next week.
Addio amici!
