Wednesday was an extremely frustrating day! Getting home was quite a chore. We arrived at the Venice airport 2 1/2 hours early for our 7:15 am flight. There was already quite a line when we got there. Let's just say, there wasn't an organized line. Remember the people from the cruise ships we talked about on the last few blogs of Venice? It seems they were all at the airport trying to get to Frankfurt with us. And as all the new folks arrived, they simply made their own line (those cruisers have been pampered for more than a week and must have thought they shouldn't have to stand in line at the airport). It felt like we were at the end of the line for all 2 1/2 hours. At any rate, we figured the plane wouldn't leave without us, right?
Well, I'm not sure what time the airline staff was scheduled to report to work, but it definitely wasn't 2 1/2 before our flight. Somewhere around 5:35ish the line began to move...slowly. By the time we made it up to the desk to check in (which was well past our scheduled boarding time), Tino & Collette got tickets, but Tom & Theresa did not. Since Tino & Collette were already issued tickets, they had to run to get to the plane. Tom & Theresa still have ticket issues to work out. We didn't even have time to find out what was going on with the Jarmer's tickets.
As soon as the plane touched down in Portland, Tino was able to reach Theresa by phone. Turns out, the Jarmers were routed through Philidelphia and were just going through customs. They were expected to reach Portland later in the day. Here's where the Italian journey ends, or so I thought.
As I sit here catching up on the blog on Thursday, I learned that the Jarmers did not make it home on Wednesday. (Guess they just needed one more day of vacation.) Turns out, after clearing customs they sat on the plane in Philidelphia for four hours waiting to take off. When they were just two planes away, the crew discovered a problem with the plane. They were sent back inside the terminal (along with 200 other passengers). Between the storms in Philly and now plane issues, their flight was rescheduled. Unfortunately, the flight isn't scheduled until Thursday. They ended up sleeping at the airport (not a single hotel room in town!) and finally made their way to Portland today around 1 pm this afternoon, via San Francisco. Their luggage is expected here on Friday. Will the fun ever end?
Thanks to all for following our journey. It was an amazing trip and we'd love to get together to share photos and more stories.
Ciao' for now!
Tom, Theresa, Tino & Collette
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