First of a couple of posts on our trip to Italy last month, starting with travel thoughts.
Travel to Rome, first leg, MSY-ATL
Italy – Travel Thoughts
We did Italy for eight days in October, visiting Rome, Florence, and Venice. Neither my wife nor I had been to Italy before. Now that she’s been to London and Paris, Rome was high up on her travel list. While I don’t mind Summer trips to Europe, she insisted on a cooler-temperature visit. For a number of reasons, that meant October. We like to keep trips to ten days or less; she doesn’t like leaving the cats for longer. I get that. The trip was a lot of fun, a lot of stuff packed into those eight days. I’ll be blogging about various aspects of the trip, food on NOLA Foodie Guy, tours and specific sights on NOLA History Guy, and political thoughts on YatPundit.
Itinerary
The plan:
- Day 1 – Travel to Rome
- Day 2 – Arrive in Rome, casual exploration of the city
- Day 3 – Colosseum and Roman Forum Tour
- Day 4 – Vatican City Tour
- Day 5 – Train to Florence, Galleria dell’Accademia (David)
- Day 6 – Train to Venice, sightseeing
- Day 7 – Gondola ride/tour, St. Mark’s, walking around
- Day 8 – Travel home
Let’s talk about days one and eight. Train travel in a separate post.
Outbound Flights
We traveled MSY-ATL-FCO on Day 1 on Delta. Flights were, by airport standards, uneventful. We certainly didn’t anticipate the continued government shutdown when booking this over the summer. While other cities experienced grief related to the shutdown and the air traffic control system, we were spared at home and Atlanta. Our original itinerary was to take a (relatively) late flight from ATL to FCO (Rome Da Vinci) that would put us in around 11am. Delta changed that flight twice, and we ended up with an itinerary that put us into FCO at 7am.
Now, at face value, that might not sound so bad, but when you spend the night in a plane, the first thing one really wants upon arrival is a shower and a nap. Problem is, hotel check-in times are usually 3pm-4pm. When you arrive early in the morning, that shower and nap aren’t in the cards. It was impossible to fix this–Delta cancelled the later flights.
The flights themselves were OK. MSY-ATL was the usual hour-or-so hop, with fortunately no bumps. We arrived on “D” with the long flight going out on “E.” So, we could easily walk to the next gate. (Even though we both only brought a roll-aboard, we checked them through to FCO).
Delta Comfort
The itinerary had about 80 minutes between flights. As ATL layovers go, that’s tight. In fact, the Arby’s on ATL “E” was so slow, we had to skip grabbing food. I picked up a big bag of Cheez-Its on the way to the gate.
We boarded the A330 in “Sky Priority.” Delta implements facial recognition on international flights out of ATL. This speeds up the process a good bit. The A330 seats 2-4-2. We sat in A-B. I grab the window, so wife can get out to the bathroom without bothering me. Seats and legroom were OK, but the meals were disappointing. Delta enshitified food service. While the meat-or-pasta choice remains, the meals themselves shrunk from my regular travel days of a decade ago. For example, I pretty much saw the memo in my mind from someone at Delta HQ, detailing how cutting the little piece of cheese and pack of crackers saves a certain amount of money. We chose one each of the meat and pasta. That way, if one was worse than the other, I’d give the better of the two to the wife. She took the non-meat meal. Smart choice. The meatballs were disappointing, even for airplane food. At least the wine was OK.
Entertainment and snack
Sleep evaded me on this flight. I watched movies, maybe dozed off for an hour or so. I thought I might get some writing done, but, even BuJo evaded me. The “breakfast” managed to disappoint even my low expectations. We landed early. Italian (EU) immigration operates smoothly. With passports stamped, we hailed a taxi and were off to the Sina Bernini Bristol Hotel.
Return flights
I insisted we return through any other US airport than ATL. We booked VCE-AMS-JFK-MSY. Flying to JFK cuts the long flight short by three hours. While some folks accept the longer flight, I prefer getting out of the cigar tube.
Airlines use the spoke-and-hub model in Europe as in the US. So, we traveled from Venice (VCE) to Amsterdam Schiphol (AMS), then JFK. The spoke-to-hub flights depart very early. I regularly traveled these 0630 flights to get home when I taught in Scandinavian cities. Our flight to AMS meant we left the hotel at 0400 *yawn*. The upside of this is sleep comes easier on the plane. Marco Polo Airport offers a nice KLM club. KLM operated that first flight. They remain a class act. Transfer from EU gates to the international side of AMS went smoothly. Delta flew us in another A330, this time we were on the opposite two outside seats. The charming flight attendants offered us equally mediocre choices. We both ate the pasta. Delta presented us with a well and truly enshitified version of a meatless hot pocket as the snack. Travel to JFK was mercifully short, with an early arrival. CBP cleared us with no issues. We grabbed a couple of sandwiches in Terminal 4, then snacked on Biscoff cookies heading home.
Summing it up
Overall, the travel experience was mixed. Delta’s manipulation of the itinerary demonstrated a lack of consideration for the customer. The food sucked. At least the crews and the wine remained solid. Would I do it differently next time? Not if it means flying United.
