The $300 catnap

I left Berkeley on September 8th with the good wishes and happy memories of my SF crew still lingering in my head. I had a flight scheduled from SF direct to Heathrow and then Heathrow straight to Rome, Italy. I would be there dinner time on the 9th.

The flight went off without a hitch. My normal flying anxiety didnt even get to me, with a little help from the 2X2 recommendation I received from a good friend. I slept most of the way to London and felt somewhat relaxed when I got to the airport.

I had three hours to kill and no money to spare, so I did the responsible thing and stayed out of the bar. I read my Lonely Planet and listened to Italian Podcasts on my Ipod. About 50 minutes before my scheduled flight, they announced the gate and I immediately moved that way to claim a seat. Being that I was already there, I chose to put my head down for a few minutes, just to relax. The next thing I know 45 minutes has gone by and I look up at the clock to see that my flight took off without me 7 minutes ago!!! I can hear you all right now....leave it to me to do something that ridiculous! And I even bought a travel alarm clock just before I left. I have learned my lesson and am carrying it with me from now on!

To my detriment...this little error cost me $255 to change the flight, plus about $30 for the bus from Heathrow to Gatwick, where my new flight would take off from, plus $15 in phone cards to call Spain about my reservation. Of course, my luck being as it is, my flight was delayed and I had to sit there for hours waiting getting in to Rome well after the hostel closed and the subway shut down. I knew I would have to get used to sleeping ing airports, so I stuck myself there for the night and got a couple winks while waiting for the 6:30 train into the city to wake my hostel up.

So all in all, my 17 hour trip to Roma ended up being somewhere in the vicinity of 33. I am now a day behind schedule, but could care less as the city is beautiful and I have nothing in the world but time.