Our Vacation Part 1
Yes our vacation was so intense that I am going to do it in parts; because that is all I can handle at re-living the experience! Even though looking back now; I just have to somewhat laugh as I still don't comprehend how any of it could have really actually happened!
It felt like intense scenes from a movie...but nope just pure, honest, LIFE.
Sunday morning we all woke up excited and ready to go. We made a nice big breakfast, I bathed Vito so he would be all fresh for the long flight. Our flight was due to leave at 4:40pm from Montreal; which is about an hour and a half drive from our home. My parents were kind enough to drive us up for our flight (Thanks Mom and Dad!)
We left the house about 11AM, stopped to pick up my cousin who was also coming with us for the trip and were soon headed on our way! We ended up getting to the Airport about 1ish; quickly un-loaded the car and were off to get our boarding passes.
My cousin was able to print her's off fine, but for some reason our's were not working after several attempts. We finally went to the counter and spent a good half hour there because for whatever reason Vito was not on their Itinerary. He showed up on mine but whatever; we finally figured it out!
I had requested a baby bassinet for the flight and had just called a few days prior to verify this; the man at the counter said sorry he couldn't help. Of course hubs didn't take no for an answer and he somehow worked it out that I would get a seat with the bassinet; and he would be sitting a few rows back.
We started boarding the plan about 4;00pm, as children get to board first. We found our seats and got settled in; about 4:30 the person that was sitting next too me was kind enough to switch seats with Carlo so that we could be together. I don't know your name but THANK YOU!
4:40pm came and went and nothing was happening. We weren't moving and Vito had drank all his milk that I brought for him to drink on take off. I was freaking out because this was new and I had no idea what to except! It was now well after 5;00 and we finally started moving towards the runway. We didn't get far when the Pilot came over the speaker saying there was some issues on the plane and they needed to try to get them fixed before taking off. OK, better safe than sorry I thought and at least they were figuring this out now; not mid flight!
6:00 came and went and everyone was getting very, very restless including Vito! I just kept thinking to myself 'everything happens for a reason! its going to be fine we will be taking off in no time!" Well it was now almost 7:00 and the Airline continued to tell us they were 'working on the problem'. About 7;45pm (almost 4 hours on a non-moving plane!) the Pilot told us we would not be taking off and we would have to go get our luggage, go back through customs and re-arrange our flights. I never felt so annoyed, angry and wanting to cry a lot in my life. I just spent 4 hours on a plane, going no where with a one year old and they were now telling me we had too re-book??!!!
The plan almost turned into an uproar (But again, everything happens for a reason right?! And I had to keep reminding myself of this, at least we were not in the middle of the ocean!).
We had to wait about 45minutes to one hour before our luggage FINALLY came out, then proceeded to go back through customs. We than, on top of all the other people probably about 200 or so were told we had to stand in line to figure out our flight connections and new flights. We literally stood in line for probably another hour before we finally got to the counter. Some man tried to cut us off and I've never seen my husband become some angry in my life...I also have never experienced so many angry people in one place before either. People were swearing, shoving and pushing and yelling, it was just not pretty! So upon getting to the counter the man handed us a paper stating, "call this number to re-arrange your flight, you will get a hotel room for the night, go get on the bus outside in terminal D and they will take you there."
AT this point I really wanted to lose it! You just made me stand in line for an hour...to get a damn phone number??!!! I was not even thinking straight, Vito was so over tired and not quite sure what to do with himself and we wanted to just go back home and not even take our trip. It was about 9:30/10 at this point, I was exhausted from what I'm not even sure and just wanted to sleep. We made our way to 'Terminal D' found the bus, loaded our luggage and AGAIN had to wait for the bus to fill, with the people that were waiting in line to be told the same exact thing we had just been told...like are you kidding me?!!! Why don't they make a loud announcement! Why were we all waiting in lines!
Anyhow luckily the hotel was only about 7 minutes away from the Airport...the bus driver went to the wrong entrance and had to back out,..we ended up going over this huge curb because he couldn't make the corner with the huge bus....icing on the cake!
I told you; I had to block all these memories the next day so that the second flight wouldn't seem so bad..but its not over yet..
Upon arriving at the hotel I looked in the lobby which was packed with everyone in line trying to get a room....the hotel had one of those swivel doors, but it was mini...for those of you who don't know I have a fear of getting stuck in those things...so here I come huge pregnant belly, carrying a baby, with a backpack pulling a stroller, and what do you know the lobby is legit so damn crowded that I hardly had enough room to get out of the door and I got stuck...the door was closing on my backpack and I honestly wanted to cry. AT this point it was now 10:30 at night and poor Vito was beyond tired not even knowing what the heck to do with himself. Some people finally moved out of the way for me and I unstuck myself, stumbling into the lobby looking like a total train wreck.
As I was steadying myself this man walked up to me who was in line way ahead of me, he looks at me and goes " I think maybe you should be first in line, seeing as you know...as he nods to my belly and the baby..." I told him oh gosh, thank you so much but that its OK. He proceeds to get the attention of the hotel staff...(which by the way why would there only be ONE person checking in 200 people?!!) speaking french too her, she then calls me up to the counter to go next. I honestly didn't even know what to say. I was beyond speechless and the only thing that I could squeak out was 'thank you so much sir'.
I did not get this mans name, but if you ever come across this, know that I am beyond grateful for what you said and did for me and my family that evening. I honestly feel that he was an angel put there in that moment to remind me that everything was going to be OK. I am so thankful for that man!
Anyhow, at this point it was going on 11:00PM, we hadn't eaten all afternoon, they gave us a dinner voucher for the hotel restaurant but said it closed in about 15 minutes so we had better go now. I was starving but Vito was tired and I had to get him too bed; not knowing how that was even going to go! Carlo and my cousin went to get food and I finally got Vito to sleep about 15 minutes later....Carlo came back about 11:30/40 and told me they wouldn't let him get a take out meal (also absolutely ridiculous!) so he saved me half his sandwich and fries and I legit shoved it into my face while sitting on the toilet in the bathroom so I wouldn't wake the baby.
And our night was not over yet! We still had to get through to the Airline to rebook! Of course everyone else was doing this also so the line was busy for a while; about 12;15 Carlo got a hold of someone and they told us we wouldn't be able to leave until 10:30 the next night...Not having much energy to handle much else we all attempted to get some decent sleep for the night; which obviously didn't happen at all. I slept maybe two hours?!
Vito woke up early and disorientated so we stumbled outta bed to take him down the hall to get milk,coffee and some breakfast. We called the airline back who of course didn't open until 8AM. We finally were able to get a flight at 6:30 instead. Still it was going to be a long day not to mention we had a 14 hour flight too look forward too that night. We tried napping before and after lunch that day, but it just wasn't working. By the time we went back to the Airport about 2:30 or so V fell asleep in his stroller...poor kid! We tried finding an even earlier flight out but to no avail. I don't even know what we did at the airport for so long; other than me watching V sleep wishing I could do the same...This flight went without trouble, we took off on time and made it too Italy the following day in the afternoon.
We had rented a car prior so that we could just pick it up and not worry about it..well due to our flight being a day late by the time we got there we were told they had no car for us and were not nice about it either. This was basically our breaking point! Carlo went to the police people in the Airport speaking Italian so dang fast,telling them this wasn't right, that we already paid for the car etc, etc. Vito was just so over being in his stroller and everything else; he was wet, and started hitting my face; which made me start to cry because I didn't even know how this was possible. How could all of these events unfold all at once! I was exhausted, and legit had no ankles because my feet were so swollen from standing the entire day along with the flight. It took us another TWO HOURS at the airport in Italy to get a car...but we got one and driving to my in-laws never felt more fantastic in my life.....to be continued...
It felt like intense scenes from a movie...but nope just pure, honest, LIFE.
Sunday morning we all woke up excited and ready to go. We made a nice big breakfast, I bathed Vito so he would be all fresh for the long flight. Our flight was due to leave at 4:40pm from Montreal; which is about an hour and a half drive from our home. My parents were kind enough to drive us up for our flight (Thanks Mom and Dad!)
We left the house about 11AM, stopped to pick up my cousin who was also coming with us for the trip and were soon headed on our way! We ended up getting to the Airport about 1ish; quickly un-loaded the car and were off to get our boarding passes.
My cousin was able to print her's off fine, but for some reason our's were not working after several attempts. We finally went to the counter and spent a good half hour there because for whatever reason Vito was not on their Itinerary. He showed up on mine but whatever; we finally figured it out!
I had requested a baby bassinet for the flight and had just called a few days prior to verify this; the man at the counter said sorry he couldn't help. Of course hubs didn't take no for an answer and he somehow worked it out that I would get a seat with the bassinet; and he would be sitting a few rows back.
We started boarding the plan about 4;00pm, as children get to board first. We found our seats and got settled in; about 4:30 the person that was sitting next too me was kind enough to switch seats with Carlo so that we could be together. I don't know your name but THANK YOU!
4:40pm came and went and nothing was happening. We weren't moving and Vito had drank all his milk that I brought for him to drink on take off. I was freaking out because this was new and I had no idea what to except! It was now well after 5;00 and we finally started moving towards the runway. We didn't get far when the Pilot came over the speaker saying there was some issues on the plane and they needed to try to get them fixed before taking off. OK, better safe than sorry I thought and at least they were figuring this out now; not mid flight!
6:00 came and went and everyone was getting very, very restless including Vito! I just kept thinking to myself 'everything happens for a reason! its going to be fine we will be taking off in no time!" Well it was now almost 7:00 and the Airline continued to tell us they were 'working on the problem'. About 7;45pm (almost 4 hours on a non-moving plane!) the Pilot told us we would not be taking off and we would have to go get our luggage, go back through customs and re-arrange our flights. I never felt so annoyed, angry and wanting to cry a lot in my life. I just spent 4 hours on a plane, going no where with a one year old and they were now telling me we had too re-book??!!!
The plan almost turned into an uproar (But again, everything happens for a reason right?! And I had to keep reminding myself of this, at least we were not in the middle of the ocean!).
 |
| we had NO idea the events that were about to unfold! |
We had to wait about 45minutes to one hour before our luggage FINALLY came out, then proceeded to go back through customs. We than, on top of all the other people probably about 200 or so were told we had to stand in line to figure out our flight connections and new flights. We literally stood in line for probably another hour before we finally got to the counter. Some man tried to cut us off and I've never seen my husband become some angry in my life...I also have never experienced so many angry people in one place before either. People were swearing, shoving and pushing and yelling, it was just not pretty! So upon getting to the counter the man handed us a paper stating, "call this number to re-arrange your flight, you will get a hotel room for the night, go get on the bus outside in terminal D and they will take you there."
AT this point I really wanted to lose it! You just made me stand in line for an hour...to get a damn phone number??!!! I was not even thinking straight, Vito was so over tired and not quite sure what to do with himself and we wanted to just go back home and not even take our trip. It was about 9:30/10 at this point, I was exhausted from what I'm not even sure and just wanted to sleep. We made our way to 'Terminal D' found the bus, loaded our luggage and AGAIN had to wait for the bus to fill, with the people that were waiting in line to be told the same exact thing we had just been told...like are you kidding me?!!! Why don't they make a loud announcement! Why were we all waiting in lines!
Anyhow luckily the hotel was only about 7 minutes away from the Airport...the bus driver went to the wrong entrance and had to back out,..we ended up going over this huge curb because he couldn't make the corner with the huge bus....icing on the cake!
I told you; I had to block all these memories the next day so that the second flight wouldn't seem so bad..but its not over yet..
Upon arriving at the hotel I looked in the lobby which was packed with everyone in line trying to get a room....the hotel had one of those swivel doors, but it was mini...for those of you who don't know I have a fear of getting stuck in those things...so here I come huge pregnant belly, carrying a baby, with a backpack pulling a stroller, and what do you know the lobby is legit so damn crowded that I hardly had enough room to get out of the door and I got stuck...the door was closing on my backpack and I honestly wanted to cry. AT this point it was now 10:30 at night and poor Vito was beyond tired not even knowing what the heck to do with himself. Some people finally moved out of the way for me and I unstuck myself, stumbling into the lobby looking like a total train wreck.
As I was steadying myself this man walked up to me who was in line way ahead of me, he looks at me and goes " I think maybe you should be first in line, seeing as you know...as he nods to my belly and the baby..." I told him oh gosh, thank you so much but that its OK. He proceeds to get the attention of the hotel staff...(which by the way why would there only be ONE person checking in 200 people?!!) speaking french too her, she then calls me up to the counter to go next. I honestly didn't even know what to say. I was beyond speechless and the only thing that I could squeak out was 'thank you so much sir'.
I did not get this mans name, but if you ever come across this, know that I am beyond grateful for what you said and did for me and my family that evening. I honestly feel that he was an angel put there in that moment to remind me that everything was going to be OK. I am so thankful for that man!
Anyhow, at this point it was going on 11:00PM, we hadn't eaten all afternoon, they gave us a dinner voucher for the hotel restaurant but said it closed in about 15 minutes so we had better go now. I was starving but Vito was tired and I had to get him too bed; not knowing how that was even going to go! Carlo and my cousin went to get food and I finally got Vito to sleep about 15 minutes later....Carlo came back about 11:30/40 and told me they wouldn't let him get a take out meal (also absolutely ridiculous!) so he saved me half his sandwich and fries and I legit shoved it into my face while sitting on the toilet in the bathroom so I wouldn't wake the baby.
And our night was not over yet! We still had to get through to the Airline to rebook! Of course everyone else was doing this also so the line was busy for a while; about 12;15 Carlo got a hold of someone and they told us we wouldn't be able to leave until 10:30 the next night...Not having much energy to handle much else we all attempted to get some decent sleep for the night; which obviously didn't happen at all. I slept maybe two hours?!
Vito woke up early and disorientated so we stumbled outta bed to take him down the hall to get milk,coffee and some breakfast. We called the airline back who of course didn't open until 8AM. We finally were able to get a flight at 6:30 instead. Still it was going to be a long day not to mention we had a 14 hour flight too look forward too that night. We tried napping before and after lunch that day, but it just wasn't working. By the time we went back to the Airport about 2:30 or so V fell asleep in his stroller...poor kid! We tried finding an even earlier flight out but to no avail. I don't even know what we did at the airport for so long; other than me watching V sleep wishing I could do the same...This flight went without trouble, we took off on time and made it too Italy the following day in the afternoon.
We had rented a car prior so that we could just pick it up and not worry about it..well due to our flight being a day late by the time we got there we were told they had no car for us and were not nice about it either. This was basically our breaking point! Carlo went to the police people in the Airport speaking Italian so dang fast,telling them this wasn't right, that we already paid for the car etc, etc. Vito was just so over being in his stroller and everything else; he was wet, and started hitting my face; which made me start to cry because I didn't even know how this was possible. How could all of these events unfold all at once! I was exhausted, and legit had no ankles because my feet were so swollen from standing the entire day along with the flight. It took us another TWO HOURS at the airport in Italy to get a car...but we got one and driving to my in-laws never felt more fantastic in my life.....to be continued...
Holy Cow. I think after that you can handle anything!
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