Tour d'Italia, Day One

Alex and I did a small tour of Italy this past week to see the sites and do some reviews for OutAdvisor.com. We traveled separately, and I left Thursday evening from DC. I was using airline miles and nearly didn't make my flight, despite being two hours early (this is why I am overly cautious in arriving super early when I travel! :) ). As it turned out, USAirways messed up the ticketing process on the flight with their partner, United, for the non-stop flight to Rome. I had tried to check in online the night before (always a good idea), but couldn't. I just figured this was a quirk of theirs for international travel, since they generally want someone to see a passport before you board the plane. When I got to the United counter after about a 20 min. wait, they said they could see the reservation, but that it had not been ticketed, and sent me to USAirways (which, of course, was at the opposite corner of the airport). I was only mildly worried at this point with an hour and a half to go. The USAirways ticket agent was less than helpful. She said there was nothing that she could do, and that I'd have to call the USAirways miles number. I was slightly panicked at this point, since I only had about an hour to go. Luckily, I had my iPhone and could look up the number. I told the woman on the other end what the agents had told me, and that I was completely panicked at this point, and I was on the phone with her for about 15 mins. trying to get it straightened out. At this point, I was getting close to the 45 minute limit on checking into the flight at all, so I dashed over to United once again in the hopes I'd be able to check in while still on the phone. Sure enough, once I got there, there was another line for the agents, so I tried a kiosk, and it worked. The USAirways woman on the phone wasn't sure it would still let me check it, but bless it's heart, it did. I wasn't checking luggage so I quickly make my way to the security area, which also had a decent line. I made it through smoothly and got on the plane with about 10 minutes to spare. Phew! I really thought my entire first day in Italy was going to be flushed down the drain. So, bad USAirways for messing up the ticketing process, but bless the USAirways woman who helped me out in a tight spot and was super sympathetic.

I sat next to a Sicilian woman who turned out to be one of the most interesting air travel companions I've ever had. She had lived in Ohio the past 20 years and worked as a caterer and food designer, and was on the trip to research medieval Sicilian cuisine for a forthcoming book. We had some really fascinating conversations about her and her family's lives and I told her my story as well.

In addition to doing the trip to review gay Italy for OutAdvisor, we were doing a side trip to my ancestral hometown in central Italy, not far from where the earthquake recently struck. I had been planning the trip for a few years to research my great-grandparents' stories. It had originally been planned as a big family trip, but my uncle ended up having heart surgery recently, and everyone else bailed out since he couldn't make the trip but Alex and me (we had already booked flights and hotels that were non-refundable; traveling alone also gave us more time to check out and review venues of interest to GLBT travelers; and my uncle is doing fine, thanks :) ).

I ended up getting a little bit of sleep and was excited to spend my first whole day in Rome, which I had never before visited. Alex would be arriving a day later, spending his first day in Florence. I checked into B&B InandOut http://outadvisor.com/content/view/3608/74/ in the morning after making my way to the Termini train station via the airport express train. Loved the B&B (see my full review here: http://outadvisor.com/content/view/3608/74/#user_reviews). Small room, and a bit noisy outside, but well-run and a can't-beat location by the Campo dei Fiori with non-stop day- and night-life. Its proximity to many of the major sites was also key, plus it is owned by a lesbian couple, and we always do our best when traveling to patronize not just gay-friendly, but gay owned and run businesses. After checking in and relaxing for a bit, I went out to discover some of Rome for myself.

I found my way around the outside of the famed Forum (nothing especially funny happened on the way). It was a pretty incredible site to see ruins that aren't just hundreds but thousands of years old. Past the Forum, I made my way to the Colosseum, which was even more impressive than I had always imagined it would be. I held off actually entering any of them, since I wanted to wait till Alex arrived, but that didn't stop me from taking plenty of pictures.

Afterwards, I got a gelato (how couldn't you? it was a spring day in Rome, plus you couldn't throw a little crunchy thingy without hitting a gelato stand, pretty much anywhere in Rome) and made my way back to the hotel. It was already early evening by now, and I had intended to nap and then go out for dinner, though I ended up pretty much sleeping straight through till the next morning, when it was time to meet up with Alex at the train station.

All in all, a great first day, but I was looking forward to more fun and adventure once Alex arrived. And I wouldn't be disappointed!

—Scott