Many of you know I planned to retire in January but that that didn’t happen, for reasons I am still trying to figure out. Anyway I didn’t change my Italy vacation plans. So I have 3 full weeks in Italy with Kelle, Jeff, Margaret, Clark, Faye and Bob and this is day one.

Or really this is day 2, day one was nothing but flights so I am not really counting that. However, the media had us all believing that the airports were a nightmare so we all got to the airport hours early but there were no lines so it was nothing but waiting around. We did get to wait in the admirals lounges so it wasnt actually too bad.

I started the day with Faye and Bob at the Austin airport. Two mimosas and a few hours later I headed off to DFW and they went to Philly. At DFW I met up with Kelle and Jeff in the very fancy flagship lounge. We had a bite to eat a glass of champagne and an Aperol spritz to kick off our Italian vacation.

The whole group met up in London before flying on to Florence. Sadly only Faye and Bob figured out how to use the lounge so the rest of us just mingled with the masses waiting for our flight gate number. Heathrow is an odd airport. It has some good shopping, food leaves a lot to be desired and everyone waits in one central area before heading to a gate right before boarding. I don’t know why they cram everyone into one area and leave multiple floors pretty vacant. But we eventually all met up at the gate and headed off on the last leg together.

The Florence airport is tiny. The pilot warned us that the runway was short and it would be a fast break event but I was not prepared for exactly what that meant. One minute you are in the air and the next you are at a dead stop, pulling on your seatbelt and shocked that it was over. We had to wait on stairs then to get on a bus that drove us no more than 50 yards to the airport door. The plane beside us got to walk but we had to pile into the bus then wait to only exit to get in customs line. This was basically my first line of the trip and it was long and slow. They had 4 agents and only 2 working the main line. They were testing a new system and if you guinea pigged that you got to move ahead in line. But that was slow and unreliable and eventually got as many people as the other line so we just waited in the sure bet line. We finally made it through, our luggage already waiting on us so we headed out.

The tram from the airport was super easy. Very crowded but easy. For less than 2 euros you can get into town in 15 minutes. The walk to our Airbnb not so much. No matter how well I want to pack, my suitcase is still always heavy. As I sit here in my new pajamas and robe I really shouldn’t be surprised that my luggage is heavy but I am. Anyway we had to lug our luggage through the center of Florence past the Duomo to our place. The sun was out, it was hot and we were all tired but we made it.

The place is as good as its pictures. There is plenty of room to spread out. The living spaces are huge the bedrooms are good size and all but one of the bathrooms are good. Sadly one little bathroom is tiny but then that room has a tub right by the bed so you do have options. Kelle and Jeff graciously took the tub room but will likely share the shower in my luxurious master bath.

After regrouping we headed out for dinner and a few groceries. We ended up just buying snacks and wine at the grocery store and heading back to the place for a light dinner and an early night.

We didn’t see much of Florence but our trip is off to a good start and we are ready for the adventure to begin.