Flying Back to NJ

Early in the morning we headed out to Fumicino Airport in Rome. We passed the security gate, checked our luggage and headed to the gate. The world seems so dark, so strange and silent at 4 AM. The closer we got to our gate the less Italians we saw and more Germans and Americans. I felt sad. I felt annoyed. I looked at the coffee shop and saw that they opened at 6 AM so sat outside patiently waiting to order my last cappuccino and brioche. 5 AM passed by and I sat. Finally at 5:55 AM I thought another coffee shop opened so I gave up my seat and went to find out. It was closed. Then a rush of hungry passengers ran passed me thunking around their carry on luggage and on their way to eat my brioche and my cappuccino. I would have none of it so I ran like them and passed them then elbowed my way in the semi line. All of the Germans were looking at each other shocked. For them a line is a line and should be respected as a line. In Italy a line is....depends. If you are in the pharmacy your line is a line. If you are in a coffee shop a line works like this: shout for what you want to eat. So I hooted out my order: due cornetti e due cappuccini! Ah...customer service at it's best. I sadly ate my chocolate brioche (cornetto, whatever), drank my cappuccino drop by drop then sighed. My airplane was almost done boarding and I didn't care at all.

We made our way in the plane. Sat and stared at each other blankly. Why...why? Who knows.


We flew to Munich. I refused to eat one bite of food. The last food in my mouth was Italian and good.

We boarded a 757 and I was really annoyed to see all American's. Not because they were American but because I knew this meant we were going back to NJ. In a plane you can really feel you are almost at your destination by the people sitting there. There was a little boy who distracted me and actually made me angry. He was 7 and traveling alone. ALONE. His aunt gave him a kiss goodbye and a flight attendant took him to his seat. His eyes were huge and scared. He sat in front of me and a giant fat man sat next to him. I felt so bad for the little guy. I wanted to make sure he ate his food, put a blanket on him to take a nap and tell him it was ok. I wanted have a stern talk with his mom.What kind of mom would send her little one on a plane alone across the ocean?! A bad one! I played the lecture I would give her in my head and it made me feel better. I'm sure his mom was not Italian. Being annoyed that I was going back and that this kid was traveling alone made the flight go fast. The plane shook, jumped and skipped all across the ocean forcing the passengers to stay seated with their seat belts securely fastened. I am usually terrified of turbulence but this time I didn't care. Bring it on wind. I didn't care at all.

We landed in ugly Newark. I saw the Statue of Liberty and it made me feel some light of hope. She was put there as a gift. The US is an accepting, loving and hard-working nation. NJ, parts of it, might be dirty and corrupt but others are beautiful. It is not and will never be as beautiful, historic and have character like Italy. But I am sure there is a silver lining in NJ and I am determined to find it. Great people built this nation, fought for this nation and I am proud to be American. Just a little sad to be in NJ and not Italy. But that is life.

Silver lining of NJ

1. They don't have riposo
2. I can find chicken tikka masala, burritos and good mozzerella on the same street.
3. I can drive American style
4. There are good jobs
5. There are great hiking trails
6. George Washington fought here for my liberty and that should mean something too, right?


With that said, I am going to go snuggle and talk to my fat cats and let them know that they are back in the US and not to expect lasagna flavored cat treats anymore.

Trip to the vet before traveling. We had 2 sherpa bags but Bentley destroyed the zipper of one. 

 I should probably write a blog on how to travel internationally with two giant cats.

all puckerd out

They are amazing travelers but needed a bit of training.

Fatty: live animal