Made It On the Plane!

Well, we made it on the plane.  As much as I enjoy flying, it can be stressful.  We took the airport express train from Cadorna as I mentioned in my last post.  Once Michela and I got to the airport, she went down to help the rest of her family as they sorted out their luggage (two suitcases times five people plus carryons, adding in the things bought in Italy and putting back what they'd taken into Milan to wear while in Milan, etc., means an awful lot of luggage) while I went ahead to check in my suitcases (yay, I have two again!) to get them out of the way.  The guy at the check-in counter worried me by wondering aloud if they'd let me into Tanzania on a tourist visa as I have a one-way ticket (thanks for giving me THAT to worry about for the next sixteen hours.  Spoiler alert: they did let me in.), but he was also great because he wasn't too fussed about whether my luggage was exactly within the weight limits.  They were close at least.

Michela and I got to the airport a good three hours before our flight, and the Shorts even earlier; still by the time we got all of their luggage checked in we had an hour and forty-five minutes.  Security, customs...slow.  But, we had plenty of time by the time we were done still, so we stopped for food (gigantic pieces of pizza) and last cups of Italian coffee for those that means something to (not a coffee person myself).  Then we started for the gate...the sign said seven minutes' walking time to that gate, but it lied.  We heard the announcement that our flight was boarding, and so we started running ( I HATE RUNNING).  We were some of the last people to board, but it was fine.  Honestly, we weren't actually late, it was just that boarding went more quickly than usual because there were so few people on the flight.  We got settled and then still had a good twenty minutes before the time scheduled for take-off.

My seat was right over the wing while the Shorts were almost all the way in the back; after I was settled I went back to take some pictures.  We took a few as selfies that I was in as well, but I think they were on Tammy's phone and I haven't gotten them from her yet.

The reason why there were so few people on board is that the plane was stopping in Rome on the way to Addis Ababa to pick up more people.  So, for the first hour, I had three seats myself (and no one was in the center four, either).  It would have been nice to stay like that all night, but of course we did pick up quite a crowd in Rome.  Still, it was just two people to every three seats so it could have been much worse.  The only further annoyance was that a large number of the people boarding in Rome seemed to be a large tour group of elderly Italians.  Now, I love Italians, but that was a bit much in one place.  Nobody could just sit down and mind their own business; everyone had to stand up and inquire as to where so-and-so was and complain a bit and make sure everyone else was well settled first.

The rest of the overnight flight was fairly uneventful; I got a bit of sleep and woke up in Africa.