|
Travel To Rome:
Remembering the great breakfast burritos we'd had at Burrito Beach on our trip to CT/NYC/Nashville last summer, I went and got Lillie a veggie breakfast burrito and a sausage/egg burrito for Juanita. I think I ate something brought from home, as I was (a) anticipating a lot of eating in Italy, and (b) was feeling rather slovenly after wedding-week indulgence. I could not, however, resist a bit of Lillie's burrito. Unfortunately, I tried to balance it on my lap while doing something else, and it flipped over onto the nasty airport carpet - so Lillie went and got another one. I don't know why wasted food upsets me so much, but it does. Over the course of a half-hour or so, we saw probably a half-dozen Asians with surgical masks, which led me to wonder whether (a) they were wearing masks to protect us from their germs, or (b) if someone had told them that Americans all had cooties? If memory serves, the swine flu outbreak was well under control by then, so there didn't seem to be a need for it. I was actually feeling a little offended by the possibility of this slight, truth to be known. We flew into LaGuardia, and took a shuttle to JFK: LaGuardia brought back memories of our NYC/Nashville trip - especially as we passed by a fair number of Hassidim. The shuttle bus driver had a very thick accent, but clearly had a friendly version of the NYC attitude going. People from all over the world end up in NYC, and though they share the American experience, they also retain so much of the heritage from wherever they came. The midwest and many other parts of the US tend to flatten out these differences and assimilate people of different backgrounds to a much greater extent. JFK is really upscale. I suppose it stands to reason that people who have money for trans-Atlantic travel (not us, we were using frequent flyer miles given to us by Juanita's boss - thanks, Mrs. Zenz!) have money for high-end goods. We had time to kill after airport security and passport check, so we wandered around until we found our most appealing option for a last meal in the US before Italy. I had a southwestern chicken salad. Lillie had buffalo chicken tenders, and I probably ate half of those, too. Our departure gate had a cell-phone charging station, which I thought was a really nice courtesy. Flying coach for ten hours can probably give you a pretty good idea of the meaning of the term "stress position" as applied to the torture at Guantanamo Bay. I think there's a reason why first-class/luxury seats are put at the front of the plane - so that people flying coach can get a good look at them when getting on/off from their flight and seriously think about making the expensive upgrade, next time. That said, a free trans-Atlantic flight is a HELL of a gift horse and I'm no equestrian dentist, so no more looking into its mouth...
|
|
|
|