First step of the trip finished. I have a half full suitcase. It has several gifts in it and I wanted them to stay safe. Also some packages to mail for a friend. So I packed the entire thing in one half of the case. I’ll fill the other side with things I bought or will buy. My first step was to catch my hired car to Roma. 

Silvia picked me up in a nice, shiny, black BMW. A quick and smooth trip. Arrived at the Hilton Rome Airport hotel in less than 2.5 hours. We talked the whole way. She and her husband own the car service and have four cars. They each drive two cars and they have two employees who drive the other two. She has a ten year old daughter. They do a lot of work for the upscale hotel in our area, Reschio. Their season slows in November and they generally vacation in January or February. She dropped me right at the hotel, got my suitcase out of the trunk and gave me a double kiss goodbye. Only in Italy would your hired car driver kiss you goodbye. 😁

So now I’m happily checked into the hotel, which is HUGE by the way. I ordered room service. Stuck with a salad of melon, burrata, and prosciutto. I figured they couldn’t mess that up too much. I also got a bottle of Trebbiano d’Abruzzo. Very nice white.
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Yes, well then. Sunday started out nicely. I got up showered, put everything back in the suitcase and checked out. Found the skywalk to the airport. It had three people mover walkways, one of which was not working. Pretty long walk. Found the check in, last section at the far end of terminal 3, and then went through security. Walked to gates E. Another long walk. Finally found the Polaris Lounge. It was packed! After a while I found a seat. Got a yogurt. And water. Later I got a cappuccino and a small pastry. This is when I left the lounge. I couldn’t believe there was a line waiting to get in. I guess they must meter people in if it’s too full.

Left and went to my gate, which was another long walk and an elevator and then a train. The train went to a new terminal mid-field. Boarded fairly quickly. I had a Polaris pod in business class. I’m too old for tourist now! Nice seat. Welcoming sparkling wine. Then we took off. I moved all the blankets and pillow and propped my phone and iPad on the edge next to the wall. A little while later I noticed the phone slowing sinking down and poof! It was gone. Down into the bowels of the plane. Disastro!

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I went forward and informed the head flight attendant, her name was Alexa, that I had a problem. She said, “what is your problem?” I said, “I lost my phone”. She said, “that IS a problem”. She came to my seat and I showed her where it had disappeared and she pulled the foam stuff out and peered down the crevice. She turned to me and said, I think it’s gone. I asked, where. She said, down into the cargo hold. This kind of surprised me because I always thought the passenger compartment was separately pressurized. I guess not! 🤔 She told me I wasn’t the first and that they were working to fix this flaw. It looks safe to put stuff on but it isn’t.

She told me that the flight deck (pilots) had been informed and they had called ahead to Maintenance to be ready to try to find the phone when we landed. Alexa explained it was a security risk. She said, this plane is not going anywhere until they find it. The question was when would they come, and how long would it take to find it.

The rest of the flight proceeded normally with me worrying about what I’d do without the phone. I was counting on using GPS to find my way around. Things have changed around here. I waited after we landed and went to the back of business class. The head maintenance guy came in who Alexa had hoped would be there, he was a friend. I went into the jetway to wait. He and his peeps went into the hold. I swear, no more than five minutes later he was back with the phone! We all screamed! I was so glad. We all have a story to tell. I am glad that it is over with!

I want to commend all the flight crew. Especially Alexa. She was kind and optimistic even though, after it was over, she said she had no real idea. It was a first for her. Anyway, she was great. And another thing I noticed, as I stood in the back of business class after all of that cabin was empty, and I watched all the people from tourist leaving. They were all very cheerful and complimentary to the crew, thanking them over and over with big smiles saying how great the flight was. I will say I’ve flown tourist all my life and many times on United since Dulles is their main hub, and I had some pretty horrible experiences. I’m glad to see things are better.
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After all that I went through passport control. There was no one there! No wait. And no fuss. Then found my suitcase, went through customs and went to rent my car. I changed out my SIM card and put the hotel where I was staying into the GPS. Now I am up at 4:30AM. My brain said time to get up! So I am finishing a few things like writing this report.

I drive to Wintergreen this morning stopping a few places on my way. I’ll write later about my time in Virginia with my sis.