Originally posted on July 8, 2011 by Canicus

This was sort of a long day. Or was it two short days. It is hard to tell traveling east any distance. Anyway I’ll call it “Day Zero.” It started in at my apartment around 1400 CDT on Wednesday. A Supershuttle took me to DFW in 100F heat. There a long flight to Heathrow on a Boeing 747-400. For no discernible reason the plane was about a half hour leaving DFW.

Flying 38,000 feet above the earth at 500+ mph at night is always a strange sensation for me. When there is no turbulence and the only sound is maybe the air-conditioning, it is almost like being in suspended animation.

Then there is that strange time when it is tomorrow. Or is it yesterday? I’m in the Twilight Zone. Of course when I land in London it is today. And a madhouse. Of course you don’t land in the same terminal at Heathrow from DFW as you take off from for Rome. Then, when I got to the right terminal, they had no idea from what gate my flight was going to leave. Turned out it was about as far from the main waiting area as possible. Any the finally decided which gate and the plane left about a half hour late.

So, of course, I was arriving in Rome about a half hour late. Everything went smoothly at the airport no baggage hassle, no immigration hassle, no customs hassle. Caught the express rail to Termini. It was jam packed. With idiots storing their luggage in the aisle so I had trouble getting to the spot where the luggage is supposed to be put and then to a seat. (Yes, there was space in the luggage area.)

The plan was it was going to be very simple getting from Termini to my hotel. “Go to Dock 1, exit to Via Marsalla turn right. Via Milazo is 50 meters on your left. Hotel Mirage is number 4. Well, I think that the express train unloads at Dock 25 of 24. There were numerous signs pointing to Docks 1-24 but no sign of an actual Dock 1.

Eventually the signs led me out of the terminal, but on the wrong side. It is now getting to be around 1800 hours Rome time It has been a long day. I’m hot. I’m tired. I’m lugging a suitcase (thanks to the inventor of wheels on suitcases) and a backpack.

Eventually I do find the hotel. At first they seemed to think I didn’t have reservations, but that got straightened out. It is a bargain hotel maybe. I’m used to small hotel rooms in London and Paris, but this one takes the cake. It comes equipped with a twin bed, a night stand, a chair and one of those 4 foot columns suitable for a small bust of Caesar Augustus. But no bust. There’s also a wardrobe with three hangers. I brought 4 hangers but the idea was for those to be used to dry clothes I rinsed out. No shelves. There’s a shower in the bathroom barely big enough for me. No shelves in the bathroom, either. So there is no place to put much of anything. I’m sitting on my bed with the laptop on the chair to write this.

I also couldn’t get the air conditioner to work. And I’m not able to connect to the internet. Ack. But I am secure. There are bars on the windows. I can’t get into the hotel from the lobby. I have to ask the person at the desk to unlock the entrance to the elevator/stairs. Then when I get to my floor (it’s the first floor, with the ground level being floor 0) I have to press a button and ask them to unlock the door to the hallway to the room which has a lock. Time to hit the sack.