Back in late January, I was able to book a main basic ticket for $515.53 USD with Delta Airlines. Since I was flying solo, I had no problem letting them select a seat for me when I checked into my flight. I left the house at just before 4 am to catch a morning flight out of LAX. I arrived at the LAX Economy Parking at about 4:45 am. After finding a suitable parking spot, I caught a bus ride over to Terminal 3.
LAX Economy Parking
Thankfully, there were no delay issues with getting through TSA screening. However as I was about to head to my gate, I wasn't paying attention and tripped over this oddly shaped bench, spraining my left thumb as I braced my fall. Ouch! It had been a while since I had flown out of this terminal. I must say that this terminal had drastically improved with all of the recent renovations. Everything looked more modern and spread out so that there was much more room around each gate. Before going to my gate, I stopped at the Starbucks to get my coffee. I ordered my usual grande blonde vanilla latte.
Starbucks in terminal 3
Grande blonde vanilla latte
Gate 34A
LAX > JFK
Even with boarding in the last group, there were no issues with finding overhead space for my carry-on bag. After I got settled into my seat, I went through the available movies. I put on Zootopia 2. Unfortunately, I was tired, so I kept falling asleep. I had to rewatch parts of it. I thought it was a rather good movie for a sequel. I liked the many references to other Disney movies.
Flight info
The plane landed at JFK at just before 4:30 pm local time. The plane parked at Terminal 4. I had a few hours before my next flight out to Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci Airport, so I stopped at the Starbucks to get some coffee. I didn't want too much caffeine, so I only ordered a tall blonde vanilla latte. I also got a ham & Swiss on baguette.
Starbucks at JFK terminal 4
Tall blonde vanilla latte, ham & Swiss on baguette
Gate B41, JFK > FCO
As with my other outbound flight, I had no problems boarding in the last group. On this 8.5 hour flight, I had one of the middle seats in the middle row of 4 seats. It wasn't a problem since I'm not one of those people that needs to keep on getting up during a flight. I ended up catching 2 movies before attempting to get some sleep. In between the 2 movies, we were served a meal. Although the flight attendant was heavily pushing the pasta, I went with the chicken dinner which was curry. It was actually not bad for airplane food.
Chicken Curry
- One Battle After Another: I mainly watched this one to see why it had beaten out Sinners for best picture. Boy, that was one divisive movie to say the least. I thought it was quite delusional in how both ends of the political spectrum were portrayed. The acting from the supporting actors were much better than the main characters. A film pretty much where it was Hollywood just being Hollywood. Not worth watching. Not worth winning any awards.
- The Running Man: Action-wise, not bad. However the story was much much worse than the original movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Are they completely out of fresh new ideas? Yet another remake that really didn't need to be made.
As we were getting close to our destination, we were served a breakfast calzone and Greek yogurt. The lady next to me gave me her calzone as she wasn't going to eat it. Since I was traveling on a very tight budget, I was glad to take any handouts.
The plane landed at FCO Airport at just after 8:30 am local time and parked at Terminal 3. As per the usual, once people had gotten off of the plane, there was a rush to use the restroom and get through customs and immigration. It turned out that the kiosks were quite finnicky. A lot of the people ahead of me were having problems. While it scanned my passport without any problems, it did not accept my 3 attempts at taking a photo. So I did not receive a sticker for my passport and had to get in line to see an actual agent. That ended up not happening. I ended up getting up to a gate that required my passport to be scanned. Once I did that, I was cleared to enter the country.
From there, I followed signs for the Stazione FS Fiumicino Aeroporto. I found an open kiosk to purchase a Leonardo Express train ticket for 14,00€ for a ride over to Roma Termini station. The train had just pulled away from the station when I arrived, so I went over to the platform for the next train. The duration of the train ride was about 30 minutes.
Leonardo Express
I arrived at Roma Termini station at about 10:30 am. I had to wait until 1:30 pm to check into my hotel. That worked out for me as I could use the time to collect my race packet over at Circus Maximus. I decided to also check out the Colosseum as it was along the way. Unfortunately, on the way over, I got stuck behind a group of young high school kids. Even with my bags with me, I was forced to walk at their leisurely pace. I decided to just go with the flow as the sidewalks in Rome were quite narrow. When I reached the Colosseum, I found the place to be quite crowded with tourists. I took a few pictures and a selfie before continuing on my way.
Arrived at Roma Termini
Colosseum
Arch of Constantine
I must say that although it was appropriate to have the race expo at the Circus Maximus, it was a bit of a letdown. You could barely recognize the place as a venue that was once used for chariot races. What remained was pretty much a dirt lot that fell into disrepair. As far as the race expo, it was pretty standard and well streamlined. I first picked up my race packet before moving on to the vendor booths and official race merchandise. Near the end was the big wall with the names of all the participants. At the very end, I picked up the race shirt and a backpack that would double as a gear bag. Inside the backpack were some swag.
Circus Maximus
Bib pick-up
Race packet
Course map
Participants name wall
Found my name
Race shirt and gear backpack
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
Gear backpack
Swag
Colosseum
On my way to my hotel, I stopped in at the McDonald's across from Roma Termini station to eat lunch. On one of the kiosks, I placed my order for a Big Arch combo with large fries and a bottle of water. When my food was ready, the dining area was pretty packed. I entered up sitting at an empty seat at a large table. That table already had a couple of young high school looking girls. Eventually, more joined them. I definitely felt like the odd man out. There was a person stationed near the entrance that helped with trash and bussing the tables.
Big Arch with large fries and bottle of water
From there, I walked down to the Hotel Villa San Lorenzo Maria. I would be staying here for the next 5 nights. It was located east of the Roma Termini station and a few blocks south of the Sapienza University of Rome. There were a ton of graffiti in the surrounding areas, but it felt pretty safe during my entire stay. I checked-in and was given room #202. I settled into my room and went through the race packet. Finally, I was able to relax a bit.
Hotel Villa San Lorenzo Maria
Room key
Door lock instructions
Later that evening, I walked over to the Carrefour Market to buy water and some snacks. After going through the store to look at what was available, I ended up buying some Nutella Biscuits, Il Cornetto Cioccolato, and 2 bottles of 2L Acqua Minerale Naturale. The prices were quite affordable. Back at my room, I ate some of my snacks in lieu of a proper dinner. I was just too tired to go back out.
Snacks and water
My left thumb starting to bruise
Friday 3/20
I didn't have much planned for today. I wasn't planning on spending a whole lot on this trip and I also wanted to stay off of my feet for as much as possible so that I wasn't worn out for the marathon on Sunday. The only famous landmarks that I wanted to check out where the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, the first McDonald's in Rome, and the Pantheon. Since I wanted to beat the crowds, I got ready and left the hotel at just before 7:30 am.
- Trevi Fountain: I got here at just after 8 am and there was already a bunch of people gathered here. I took a few photos before tossing 3 coins into the fountain. The tradition was to hold the coins in your right hand and toss them over your left shoulder. 1 coin was to return to Rome, 2 was for romance, and 3 was for marriage.
Tunnel to Trevi Fountain
Trevi Fountain
Tossing coins
- Palazzo del Messaggero: The historic headquarters of Il Messaggero, one of Italy's oldest and most prominent daily newspapers.
- Spanish Steps: It wasn't too crowded when I got here at about 8:30 am. I took a few photos and a selfie before moving on to my next stop.
Spanish Steps
Fontana della Barcaccia - Column of the Immaculate Conception and Ambasciata di Spagna presso la Santa Sede: Located in Piazza Mignanelli, right at the foot of the Spanish Steps. It stands prominently in front of the Embassy of Spain to the Holy See. It was erected in 1857 to celebrate the Catholic dogma of Mary's purity.
- First McDonald's in Italy: This was a bust as they were closed for a special event. I did notice that all through the city of Rome, there were signs directing people to the nearest McDonald's.
Italy's first McDonald's - Pantheon: Honestly, the pictures do not do it justice. The building was quite impressive and majestic to look at from the outside. There was a line of people waiting to go inside. It is one of the best preserved of all ancient Roman buildings in large part because it has been in continuous use throughout its history.
Fontana del Pantheon - Portico of Octavia: An ancient structure located in the heart of the historic Jewish Ghetto. Originally built in the 2nd century BC. It was rebuilt by Emperor Augustus and dedicated to his sister, Octavia Minor.
Preview of the finish line
Fancy portapotty
For lunch, I walked over to Ramen Shifu. I mainly came here due to the proximity to save my legs. The restaurant wasn't too busy at noon. I was seated in between two parties. The 2 customers sitting to my left spoke English the entire time which made me feel more at home. As with the norm these days, the menu was available via QR code. They also took their orders online. Unfortunately, I was unable to access the page. One of the employees noticed that I was having trouble, so he came over and logged me onto their WiFi via password in order for me to access the menu and ordering page. I ordered edamame and the duck ramen. I must say that the presentation was good. However, when I had gotten down to the bottom of the bowl, I saw that there were a couple of bouillon cubes that had not fully dissolved. That was not very becoming of a ramen master to be making their broth in that manner! Overall it was an okay dining experience as the service was very nice and friendly. The decor of the restaurant was really cool if you're into anime.
Edamame
Anatra (duck) ramen and edamame
Finished
You win!
Donne (non più) anonime
After paying my bill, I went back to my room to rest. I did not leave my room again until it was time for dinner. At about 7 pm, I walked over to Il Podista to eat dinner. Ever since I had watched Spirit of the Marathon II, I wanted to come here to eat a pizza made by Mimmo. It looked to be a local hole in the wall type of restaurant. The entire restaurant was decorated with his running trophies and medals. They definitely had their local regulars. I first entered thinking that I had to wait for someone to seat me, but apparently you just had to seat yourself at an empty seat or table where it was not marked with a reserved sign. Eventually, an employee brought me a menu. I ordered the Podista pizza and caffé. The caffé was just a shot of espresso which was enough to help with the jetlag. The Podista pizza came with tomato, fior di latte cheese, sausage, vegetables au gratin, and dried beef ham. I noticed that in Italy, they ate their pizza with fork and knife. The quality and taste was quite different than the pizzas that I had eaten in the States. Of course, this was much better! The staff was very nice and friendly.
Caffé
Podista pizza
Mimmo!
Back at my room, I probably should've been trying to sleep and get over the jetlag. Instead, I stayed up and watched the Bournemouth v. Man United match via VPN. The WiFi was a bit spotty, but eventually, I found a sweet spot to put the laptop so that the stream wouldn't cut out.
English Premier League
Bournemouth v Man United halftime
Saturday 3/21
The only thing that I had planned for today was for my practice walk to the start line of the marathon. The location of the lorries were on Viale delle Terme di Caracalla. It was also part of the route of the 5k fun run. I was planning to catch all of the participants coming through. However most likely they were released in waves, so they just kept coming. I took pictures of runners in costumes and dogs. It was cool that dogs had their own race bibs. Eventually, I left at 10 am.
Headed to watch the 5k
5k leader
More pictures of the Colosseum
I decided to head back up to the first McDonald's in Italy for a do-over. Thank goodness they were open to the public today. If you had to go to only one McDonald's in Rome, you definitely need to come to this location! The design was very unique. It was very modern, but with a touch of ancient Rome. I used one of the kiosks and ordered a Crispy McWrap, Crispy Chicken Wrap, McShaker Fries, and a bottle of water. They messed up my order, but it was close enough. Instead of a Crispy Chicken Wrap, they gave me a Gran Crispy McBacon Chicken sandwich. Just as I was ready to eat, some lady came by to tell me in English that they had more of my food up at the counter. I thought that I might have grabbed the wrong order. When I went up, the employee looked confused. The two of them then started talking to each other in Italian. I just excused myself and took my tray of food back to the same table to eat my food.
A do-over visit for Italy's first McDonald's location
Crispy Chicken Wrap, Crispy McWrap combo, Bottle of water, McShaker Fries
Gran Crispy McBacon Chicken sandwich
McShaker Fries instructions
McShaker Fries
After I was done with my food, I headed over to the nearby Spanish Steps. Since I didn't walk up the steps yesterday, I decided to do that today. It was definitely way more crowded at this time of day! At the top of the steps was the Trinità dei Monti.
At the top of the Spanish Steps
View from the top of the Spanish Steps
Back at my hotel, I was pretty pooped. Since I was already out of water, I decided to check out the CONAD market that was right next door. It was a smaller store than Carrefour, but they had the snacks and water that I wanted. I bought a bag of pistachios, a bottle of juice, and a 1.5L bottle of water. I stayed in my room to catch a couple of EPL matches. I caught Brighton v. Liverpool, followed by Fulham v. Burnley.
Pistacchi, Succo Tutti Frutti, Acqua Frasassi
Originally, I was planning to just eat something cheap around where I was staying. However when my friend heard that I was going to eat at some place like McDonald's, he invited me out to eat with his family out near Vatican City. Although I'm an introvert, I've been learning lately to step out of my comfort zone more often and to accept invitations from my friends. At this point, I was feeling pretty tired. I decided to walk about a quarter of the way and take the Metro from the Manzoni station. The one way fare was 1,50€. I rode the orange line A over to Ottaviano station.
Manzoni Metro station
Metro rail map
Our meetup time for dinner was 6 pm. I arrived about an hour early because I wanted to check out Saint Peter's Basilica or more accurately just the outside St Peter's Square. On the walk over, I saw a Jollibee. I just might have to get some food there if I have some time. There were a ton of people when I reached St Peter's Square. Unfortunately, the perimeter of the square was barricaded. There was a really long queue of people with tickets just waiting to get inside. My friend told me that they had started doing that during the Jubilee year for crowd control. I took a few photos before heading out.
Jollibee near Vatican City
St Peter's Square
I still had time before dinner, so I went inside a nearby McDonald's to use their free WiFi and to order a cup of espresso for 1,20€. It was just enough to keep me awake for dinner. Apparently when this location opened back on December 30, 2016, the Vatican and purists were upset, calling it a disgrace. Here's the Reuters article. On the way out, I was planning to use their restroom. I came to find that it was pay-to-use, so I decided to hold it as I didn't need to go just yet.
McDonald's at Borgo Pio 25-33
Shot of espresso
Monumento equestre al carabiniere
I met up with my friend and his family over at The Loft. It looked like the restaurant was going through a name change. At first, I wasn't sure if I was at the correct place. Then when we were all seated, they kept promoting their brunch menu. After looking over their menu, I ended up ordering their salmone insalata which came with mixed greens, smoked salmon, avocado, fennel, oranges, and olives. My friend and his family were quite generous and ordered additional items for everyone to share. I had some tartare and puttanesca pizza. Besides the food being good, I must say that everything was very colorful! Nearing the end of our meal, my friend was chatting with the restaurant folks, asking for their recommendations for pizza and gelato. They gave us Eroi della Pizza and Angolo del Gelato respectively.
Tartare
Puttanesca pizza
Salmone insalata
Still water
Recommendations by the restaurant folks for gelato and pizza
I got back to the hotel at just before 8:30 pm. I was a bit anxious to get back as I didn't know if there was a curfew or when they would shut the gate. I put on the Leeds v. Brentford match. During the build-up, I was quite delighted to see that Everton had beaten Chelsea 3 nil. I laid out my flat runner for tomorrow's marathon while I caught some of the match. It ended up to be a snoozer, 0-0 draw. I took a shower before calling it a night.
Everton beats Chelsea 3 nil
Flat runner
Sunday 3/22
I got ready and left the hotel at about 6 am. I arrived at the baggage check area along Viale delle Terme di Caracalla at about 6:45 am. I was assigned to lorry 2 which was closer to the entrance of the starting corrals. I checked it in early at about 7 am before it got too chaotic. I still wore a long sleeve throw-away to stay warm. I liked that on the other side of the portapotties, they had many stand-up urinals for males that only needed to take a piss. More races should do this. However besides here, I had only seen this done in Tokyo, Paris, and Chicago. About 30 minutes later, I met up with my friend Deo. We didn't head into the corrals until 8 am. We both had white bibs which was the 4th wave scheduled to start at 8:45 am. After we got through bib check, we bumped into our friend JC in the last wave behind us.
Baggage check area along Viale delle Terme di Caracalla
Assigned to lorry 2
Urinals in addition to portapotties
Deo
Headed into the corrals
JC!
Once we had reached the cache of portapotties, it was quite chaotic and we were separated. It was actually a disgusting mess as people, both male and female, were just urinating everywhere. Eventually, I was able to get past the portapotty chaos and make my way up to the 4:20 pacers. It was a rather long corral as I didn't see the start line until we rounded the Colosseum.
Quite chaotic in the corral
4:20 pacers
Walking up to the start line
I can see the start line!
Here we go!
Course map
Oof. My legs felt heavy from the get go. I had definitely spent too much time on my feet in the days leading up to the marathon. I spent most of the beginning miles running around the 4:10 pace group. They were a pretty diverse group of pacers. The Italian pacer was teaching her co-pacers the word, daje, which translated to "come on!" or "let's go!" It was a pretty enjoyable first half of running through the streets of Rome as I got to traverse through a lot of history while on foot! Shortly after reaching mile 8, the course approached St Peter's Square. My pace was pretty even until about the 10th mile where I started to slow down and the 4:10 pace group started to pull ahead of me. I got through the first half in about 2:07.
1: 9:48
2: 9:23
3: 9:32
4: 9:15
5: 9:31
6: 9:28
7: 9:38
8: 9:38
9: 9:36
10: 9:49
11: 9:50
12: 9:44
13: 9:54
Mile 8.2: Approaching St Peter's Square
I took my first walk break when I reached the halfway point. I made sure to go at a slower pace when I started running again. I ran a bunch of miles near the 4:20 pace group. At about mile 19.5, I finally pulled over and just waited in line to use a portapotty to empty the bladder. The stop took about 4 minutes. My legs started to protest starting at mile 22. I started taking walk breaks to eat my Stinger waffles to try and get ahead of any leg cramps. Thankfully by mile 24, the legs felt better. That was good timing as some of the streets were narrow and tourists were crossing the course! Dodging pedestrians was not fun when you're that far into a marathon! It was actually quite nice to make that final turn onto the artificial track that they had laid down for the race. It was nice and bouncy compared to the cobblestone that we had been running on for the majority of the race!
14: 10:25
15: 10:07
16: 10:16
17: 10:20
18: 10:26
19: 10:44
20: 15:09
21: 10:48
22: 11:17
23: 12:06
24: 10:41
25: 10:48
26: 10:57
26.2: 5:36
Mile 25.5: Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II at Piazza Venezia
One last quick selfie
Finish: 4:34:46
Click here for my Garmin data.
My initial thought after crossing the finish line was that I was oversold on the cobblestones. Sure you could easily trip and fall if you weren't paying attention, but I was more worried with running into a tourist dashing across the course with a few miles to go! Thank goodness for the drizzle here and there which kept me feeling cool most of the race.
Finished!
It was quite the logjam shortly after crossing the finish line. After receiving my finisher medal, I just wanted to get out. I got my bag of post race goodies before I started heading over to the lorries to collect my gear bag.
Finisher medal
Close up of medal
Back of medal
UK 100 Marathon Club
Bag full of post race goodies
Post race goodies
I made it back to the hotel at about 2:30 pm. I had time to get cleaned up before catching the Spurs v. Forest match that started at 3:15 pm. I kind of wished that I hadn't watched it as it was another painful defeat. The Spurs played well enough to win, but in fine Spursy fashion, they ended up losing 3 nil. I was feeling pretty worn out, so I did not go back out for a proper dinner. I just stayed in my room and ate through all of the post race snacks.
Spurs v Forest
More painful than the marathon!
Oof! Spurs lose 3 nil!
Monday 3/23
I had to wake up pretty early to go volunteer at my friend's race, the Vatican Express Marathon. Originally, I was considering running it as a double for 2 new countries on the trip, but my body had not been cooperating. Mostly, it was my lower back. I left my room at about 5 am. It was early enough that someone had to open the gate for me so I could leave the hotel. At first, the guy thought I was checking out of my room. I told him that I was checking out tomorrow.
The Metro rail didn't start until 5:30 am, so I decided to just walked over to Vatican City. I took a route that took me past the Colosseum. It was pretty cool to see it lit up in the dark with zero tourists. Before crossing the River Tiber, I did a quick stop at the Il Tempio di Ercole Vincitore and Fontana dei Tritoni.
Early morning view of Colosseum
Il Tempio di Ercole Vincitore
Fontana dei Tritoni
I arrived at the turnaround point along the River Tiber promenade at just after 6 am. My friend wanted me to be at that spot by 6:30 am. It was cool to see the beautiful sunrise. It was a bit chilly, so I had to start pacing back and forth to stay warm. Eventually, the first runners started showing up at about a quarter to 7 am. It wasn't communicated to me, but some of them were asking if they could leave their bags with me. It turned out the they were supposed to leave them at the other turnaround point. Eventually, my friend came by to get me and transfer the bags over to the other spot.
River Tiber
Stairs down to the promenade
Turnaround point
Early morning sunrise
Bird
Deo with his bag
Early leader
Second place not too far behind
Deo arriving at the other turnaround point
Eventually at about 10:40 am, my friend Eddie showed up. He had also run the Rome Marathon. We seem to always see each other at international marathons. As lunch approached, he decided to join me for some Jollibee. Along the way, we stopped at a newsstand where we both purchased a copy of the newspaper for 4,50€ which had the race results. They listed the males and females separately.
Eddie
Paper with the results for 4,50€
Found my name
They had a couple of ordering kiosks near the entrance. I believe you could also place your order at the counter. I opted to use the kiosk as I do not speak Italian. I was craving their palabok fiesta, but unfortunately, it was not on the menu at this location! I went with the spaghetti with 1 pc Chickenjoy combo for 7,60€. When our food was ready, we took it upstairs to their dining area. After I was done with my food, I wanted to use the restroom. All I saw upstairs were the women's restroom. Thankfully, a young lady that understood English was in line. She overheard me ask if it was okay for men to use the women's restroom. She told me that the men's restroom was downstairs. From there we went our separate ways.
Spaghetti with 1 pc Chickenjoy combo
Back at my room, I got caught up on some sleep. My friends wanted to meet up for dinner at 7 pm. They picked another restaurant in the same vicinity. It was called, Pizzeria Napoletana Diecidodicie50. I had arrived about 30 minutes early, so I decided to get some coffee at the McDonald's that was around the corner. I used a kiosk and ordered a cappuccino for 1,30€. Apparently for Italians, it was very strange to be drinking one after 11 am. I'm sure with the touristy location, the employees were used to such odd behavior. I just needed something to help keep me awake.
Pre-dinner Cappuccino
My friend and I were seated in one of the tables outside. The restaurant felt like a total tourist trap which was to be expected being in such a touristy area. Our waiter was French. I ordered the salmone alla brace con insalata for 18,00€. While it was decently prepared, it was nothing to write home about. My friend got the pasta al cartoccio for 22,00€. It definitely looked much more appealing than mine. I would get that if I were to ever eat here again. That however would be very unlikely. A different waiter came to our table when it was time to pay the bill. He tried to get us to leave a tip on the handheld payment machine. Tipping wasn't customary in Italy. My friend was a bit offended and wasn't having any of that. He made sure to enter a big fat 0 for the tip.
Ristorante Pizzeria Dieci dodici e 50
Pasta al cartoccio
Salmone alla brace con insalata
For a nightcap, we walked over to the nearby Old Bridge Gelateria for some gelato. I ordered a small cone with caffé, tiramisu, and nocciola (hazelnut) for 3,00€. While I do love me some ice cream, I definitely can get used to eating gelato. It also had less fat and served at a warmer temperature. That worked better for me as I like my ice cream to be a bit melted. That certainly made the case for gelato being superior to ice cream.
Old Bridge Gelateria
Small cone with caffé, tiramisu, and nocciola (hazelnut)
After we were done with our gelato, my friend and I were headed in the same direction. We both walked up to the Ottaviano Metro station to catch a train heading towards Termini station. The fare gates weren't working for everyone, so we went through the emergency door that was propped open. As per the usual, I stayed on the train for a couple more stops to get off at Manzoni station.
Tuesday 3/24
I had prepacked most of my stuff before going to sleep last night. I woke up pretty early to take a shower and pack the last remaining stuff. I checked out of my room at about 8 am and dropped off the key at the front desk. I was planning to eat breakfast at the McDonald's inside the Termini station. It would seem that they did not serve breakfast at this location. The closest I got was a McToast, Tropicana juice, and a bottle of water.
Catching a train to the airport
McToast, Bottle of water, Tropicana juice
McToast
After I was done with my food, I found an available kiosk to purchase a train ticket to the airport. Before selecting my destination, the kiosk reminded me to be aware of my surroundings as there were pickpockets in the train station. For some reason the machine kept asking for a PIN when I used my credit card to pay. I don't have one and eventually gave up and used GooglePay to pay the 14,00€. I then located the fare gate, scanned my ticket, and headed to the platform for the next train. There were a lot of people heading to the airport, so it was a bit of a zoo getting on the train. Fortunately, I was able to get on and find a vacant seat.
Train ticket
Arrivederci!
I arrived at terminal 3 at just before 10 am. I had plenty of time to get through security screening before getting an early lunch. In the food court area, I used one of the ordering kiosks and placed my order for a sandwich and coffee from two different places. After I paid for the food, I just went to eat location to collect my order. I got an Italiana sandwich from All'Antico Vinaio for 14,00€ and a cappuccino from EXKI for 2,50€. The sandwich was a lot bigger than I had expected. It was really good.
Fiumicino Airport
Harry Potter!
Interesting container!
Italiana sandwich
Cappuccino
After finishing my food and returning the cup and plate at the counter, I went and found a place to sit down and wait for the gate assignment. That was one thing that was different versus flying in the States. Once my flight was assigned a gate, I started heading over. Along the way, I saw a smoking box packed with smokers. Just Europeans being Europeans... gotta have their smokes!
Waiting for a gate assignment for my flight
The smoking box
Gate A45
FCO > CDG
The first leg of my trip was a short flight from FCO Airport over to Charles de Gaulle CDG Airport. I was sitting in the window seat in the very last row and had a pretty short layover. I was among those in a mad dash to get through passport control before catching the next flight!
First time seeing a passenger being transported in this fashion
Vienna-style bread, ham and butter
I believe I could've gotten to my gate on foot, but somehow I ended up in line for a shuttle ride. In the end, it all worked out and I was able to board my flight with some time to spare. Thankfully, there was still available space in the overhead compartment for my carry-on bag. The second leg was from CDG to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County DTW Airport. The flight was about 8.5 hours long, so I was able to catch up on some movies that I had been wanting to see.
CDG > DTW
Chicken dinner
Here were the 3 movies that I ended up watching:
- F1: The Movie: Even though the story was quite predicable, it was still pretty enjoyable and thrilling to watch. Man, Brad Pitt is getting old! Is he really in his 60s already? 8/10
- Superman: Boy, the story and dialogue were terrible! What child wrote this garbage? I thought Jesse Eisenberg was a terrible Lex Luthor. Well, I had to hold someone's beer, because I thought Nicholas Hoult was even worse. I did like Mister Terrific though. Overall, I do not have high hopes for this current version of Superman. Pass. 6/10
- Sinners: Yikes. What drugs were people on to think that this was a good movie, let alone an Oscar worthy film? It wasn't even a good vampire movie! However, I thought Michael B. Jordan did a very good impersonation of Jamie Foxx. Was that his goal? Might as well hire Jamie Foxx. Was it an Oscar worthy performance? Definitely not. His acting was a bit one-dimensional. It was very similar to his role as Killmonger in Black Panther. With him, it's pretty much the same character with a different name and in a different setting. But hey, what do I know? I'm not a voting member of the Academy. 5/10
A little snack before landing
The third and final leg was from DTW to LAX. It was a pretty long line to get through customs. During that wait, I witnessed an agent getting quite angry at someone that obviously did not speak a word of English. Then we had to go through TSA screening again. That was a bit interesting as my duffel bag got flagged for extra screening. The guy was going through my bag looking for something. I asked him and he said that there was something thin and long. I told him to check the Rome Marathon backpack. It was the package of spaghetti that caught the screener's attention. I'll have to keep that in mind for future flights.
The flight was really empty. I don't think we even had 40 passengers. When I scanned my boarding pass, I was moved to another row. We were pretty much all spread out and had our own rows. They did make an announcement that they needed some people to volunteer and check their roller bags. The reason was that they needed weight distribution in the cargo hold. At first no one volunteered, so they make a second announcement that the flight would not take off until they had gotten the required number of bags. Once they took care of that, we were on our way. I was feeling pretty tired by now, but here were the movies that I had put on and sort of watched:
- The Weight of Gold: Man, that was a good, but emotionally tough watch. The best athletes in the world are still human beings with feelings! I never knew that elite athletes were treated so poorly!
- While You Were Sleeping: This is still one of my favorite movies of all time. One of the female flight attendants agreed when she saw what I was watching. I was already starting to fade at this point.
- Sleepless in Seattle: Also one of my favorite movies. I think one day, I'll eventually move up to Seattle, WA. I pretty much have the entire movie memorized, but I had it on just for white noise as I ended up taking a nap.
Snacks and drinks
Almost time to land in LAX
The plane landed at LAX at just before midnight. This trip home was a bit weird as I kept going into Wednesday, but then would go back to Tuesday every time I landed in a different time zone!
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