Stranded in Rome (Complete story!)

I decided to blog this FIRST before I start to forget all the details. Afterwards I will blog about the Coloseum day and our last "vacation" day in Rome!

Friday after a nice day we were running a little late because of some VERY crowded subways. We had to rush back to our hotels (the Barreto's were a block away) and grab luggage and then rush back onto the even more crowded subway. It was standing room only and I managed to get wedged against the door between 3 nasty italian men and one woman. It was ridiculous how close we were- inches between our faces!! We were so late getting to the main train station that we didn't want to risk taking the airport train so we decided to spend another 50euros on a taxi ride. Lots of traffic as well (we're guessing because it was Friday) so we were STILL rushing. We had 10 minutes before boarding time! We go to the kiosk to check in and it says our flght was cancelled...what?? We had no idea why so we went to the baggage counter and the lady said we had to get in the mile long line at the actual ticket counter. That's all we were told. After waiting in line for an hour and a half we FINALLY got to the counter and he told us all flights were cancelled. We explained that Matt was army and would be put in jail (didn't think he'd know what AWOL meant) if he wasn't home by midnight. He said there was nothing to do and made some reference to an explosion but we thought he was speaking metamorphically. The man said he'd put us in a hotel for the night and we would be on the 1pm flight for Saturday. Before we left we asked why all the flights were cancelled and he said "You mean you don't KNOW?!" like we were insane. I laughed and said no we don't speak Italian and therefor could not watch the news! He then informed us that a volcano had exploded in Iceland and the ash in the air was halting all airplanes in Europe and over 5 million people were stranded. We were in shock. First off we couldn't believe the number and second we couldn't wrap our minds around why a volcano in freaking ICELAND was affecting us in ITALY?! We went outside and waited for the hotel shuttle. A bunch of chinese people from China Air jumped in front of us but thankfully an employee saw I was pregnant and had the bus driver reserve the first two seats for us. Our hotel was VERY nice and it felt so good to soak in a bathtub!!! Matt looked up information online while I soaked and then we watched CNN. At least then we understood what was going on. I was picturing a massive ash cloud like in the movies but it was microscopic dust keeping us grounded? Even more annoying. But we enjoyed the hotel room and they gave us free dinner buffet style in the ballroom. Little did we know what we were in for...

Saturday: we woke up at 7am to check at the front desk if they knew about our flight. They hadn't heard anything so we got online. At first the website didn't work but finally it said our flight was cancelled. We assumed that the airlines would just keep us at that hotel (according to CNN the European Commissioners Act states that airlines must provide lodging and food until they get your on another flight) but the front desk said we had to go back to the airport to get another voucher- and pay for the taxi this time there was no shuttle. They said we could leave our luggage there but if the airlines put us in another hotel (or refuse to pay for a hotel) we would have to taxi BACK to this hotel and get our luggage. So that meant packing up and dragging the luggage around, more money on a taxi, and another long wait in the airport lines again. At this point I just broke down. I was physically exhausted from the trip and now I was emotionally drained from the stress and worry. Matt held me while I cried and finally I calmed down and we got ready to leave. As we were about to walk out the door I sneezed and ended up peeing on myself!!! Oh that was just a marvelous lesson from God: when you think it's bad it can get worse so just laugh about it. That's all we could do. We laughed and joked about our future vacation story "So one time we went to Rome and then a volcano exploded and we couldn't get back home. No, not Mt. Vesuvius- a volcano in ICELAND! Oh and then a bunch of Chinese people stormed us on a bus. And then Keeley peed herself!!" Ah well.

Back at the airport 40euros later. The line is twice as long this time. Niiiiiice. I left Matt to go get some McDonalds to eat in the line. As I get on the escalator it broke. No lie. I just laughed again. It was that or cry but I don't like to cry in front of strangers. I walked up and got the food and came back and Matt was in the same exact place. He had made some friends though that also lived in Schweinfurt- small world! We waited around for a couple of hours and only moved about 10 feet. Matt went and found a wheelchair for me to sit in this time so it was much easier on me. Poor Matt on the other hand... then an airport lady tried to come and steal my chair! She tapped on me and said "Ma'am do you really need this chair" and I told her "well unless you want me to give birth on your floor then yes I do." I know not nice but oh well. Blame the hormones. She then walked away and came back with a cushioned rolly chair and said she would try and get me up to the front of the line- score!! I told you the Italians love preggos. That or she really was scared I'd have the baby in that never ending line! We tried to get our new friends up there with us by saying we were travelling together but it didn't work. This time the counter man said that they would not pay for our hotel anymore. I said I knew this was against the law and he said that the governments had passed an emergency policy that airlines only had to pay for one night in the hotel. I don't understand the point of the law if they can just change it when they want!! He booked us on a flight for Wednesday but said there was a high chance that it would be cancelled as well. I asked if he could at least help us book a hotel then and he said no that we could go downstairs to hotel accomodations. Guess what- another mile long line that wasn't moving!! At this point I kept trying to call back our previous hotels but the payphones were not coooperating for anyone so no luck there. Then I found an internet booth that you could use for a charge of course. While waiting for this I met another american family who was trying to get back to Germany. They were taking a train up to Vicenza, Italy where there is an american post. He had friends there they could stay with but that made me think that at least that hotel would be cheaper! The family was going to just puzzle peice trains together to work their way up north. This sounded great to me! Anything was better than sitting around the airport or throwing away double the price of hotels (lots of price gouging- it's ridiculous). A couple of hours later and more running back and forth across the airport we finally got on the airport train that takes you to the main train station. Again MORE rushing because the airport train left late. We run across the huge train station and then couldn't find our train ANYwhere. An information lady told us that we had the wrong ticket and that there wasn't a train for our ticket. Apparently the ticket I bought (using the machine) was an "open" ticket and you can use it whenever- which it does NOT say when you buy it. Instead it gave me a timeline on the machine. She said your best bet is to go talk to the train conductor of the Eurostar train (the nice train) and to hurry because that train left in 5 minutes. Apparently if we waited for the train we bought it would get us to Verona after midnight in which case there would be no more trains to Vicenza. >:-( I started to panic and we ran to that train. The conductor said no it was full absolutely not. I broke down. I mean I've never cried so hard and especially not in public. As we're walking away completely clueless on what to do I was bawling hysterically. The conductor was shouting sorry to us but I couldn't even turn around. I didn't want to hear about him being sorry. The he shouted "no no I'm sorry come back come back" EEERRRRRK (*brakes squealing*) still crying and hyperventilating we turned around and walked back and he said go onto coach 3. This was the cafe cart. There were no open seats in the cars on either side of it so we stacked up our suitcases and I sat on those. We had to pay another 50euros (on top of the 121euros we already paid) just to be able to ride on the floor of this train. Poor Matt tried to sit on the ground and the cafe man asked him to get up. He literally expected him to stand the 3hrs it would take to get to Verona! Eventually we were in the way where we were so I scouted out a place for us between cars 4 and 5that were next to the bathrooms and emergency exits. We each took a suitcase to sit on. Two of the conductors came and argued and pointed at us and then walked away and finally one conductor came back and said a man had given up his seat for me. I said I wouldn't go without Matt so he moved our luggage to the wheelchair area for Matt to sit on so I could still see him from my seat. After one stop we moved to empty seats but it turned out that one was occupied so back to our other seats. Then after the next stop there was lots of empty seats so we were able to sit together for the last 45 minutes of the ride. We got to Verona and had to wait for an hour for the next train. It had gotten a lot colder and it was sprinkling but we were so close we could taste it! We finally got on our train to Vicenza and dragged our suitcases down a dozen carts before finally coming to empty seats. Phew! We got to the train station at midnight and caught a taxi to post. Taxi driver freaked us out because he said there were two posts- one in town and one out. We had NO idea where we had to go so we took a chance and did the in town one. Taxi's here aren't allowed on post so he dropped us off at a gate and we asked the very unhelpful guards if the hotel was on this post. You'd think they didn't speak English they barely could help us! Finally another guard came up and said the hotel was 700 meters down the road on post. This point it was raining and cold and both of our suitcases each had a broken wheel. And the guard lied. LIAR! It was not 700meters away (according to Matt). The hotel was clear across on the opposite side of post (and we only found it by stopping at a barracks and asking the guy on duty). We finally got to the hotel just before 1am and the man at first acted like he wouldn't have room but then he must have saw the desperation and put us in nice room complete with a kitchenette (it was probably reserved for people PCSing). After another hot shower we fell into bed and slept hard. End of Day 2 of being stranded...

Sunday: well we woke up early to eat breakfast and walk over to the car rental place. Well that was a waste since they were closed on Sundays so we decided to walk around the PX before going up to the train station. I found a Vera Bradley diaper bag that I was satisfied if not thrilled with- another lady snatched one that I really wanted right as I walked up! We also enjoyed a nice lunch of Taco Bell and finally got a break from Italian food. While in line checking out we asked about the car rental place and a couple behind us overheard and said they were currently renting a car and it was about 60euros a day. Well you can't beat that! I decided that if it was really that cheap there was no point paying for another taxi ride up to the station that day. I wanted to talk to the car place first then if that didnt work we could just go to the station afterwards. At this point I was praying for a car. I was in a lot of pain and did NOT want to have to drag my suitcase around some more and sit in straight back train chairs for 10-12 hours!!! After this news we walked back to the hotel where we curled up in bed with a movie. I stayed in that bed pretty much the rest of the day/night except getting up to check the computer and use the bathroom. My amazing husband did our laundry in the hotel and even walked back across post to Burger King to get us dinner. After the past two days it felt good to just relax in a nice large hotel room with american tv, movies, and food! However that night I was having severe pain all in my lower abs, "down there," and my lower back. There was also LOTS of pressure pushing down everytime I was on my feet. I was feeling like I was about to start my period- so much so that I kept going to the bathroom just to make sure I hadn't. I was also having lots of contractions- some hurt while others I didn't notice except my stomach was super hard. In the middle of the night at about 3am I woke up because of a bad dream but then I felt my stomach and it was harder than a rock. I used the bathroom and my stomach kept tightening up. At this point I was very worried so of course I couldn't fall back asleep. I kept an eye on everything for about an hour then finally drifted back to sleep once I went about 30mins without a contraction. Somehow Matt managed to sleep through all this: my crying, the lights on, tv on, etc. Men!

Monday: the alarm went off early again so we could get to the car rental place right as they opened. After my rough night I was NOT happy about this. Matt also woke up with a stomach bug so that set us back a little bit. We walked back down to the car rental place with our hopes high that'd we'd be leaving there in a car and not walking back. Our hopes were dashed when the man said we can't drive the car out of Italy- it has to be returned to Italy. I nearly started crying again as we left there. We went back to the hotel to check out and drag our suitcases across post again to meet a taxi. The hotel lady said there were always a bunch waiting at the gate (which is how it is here in Schweinfurt) so we didn't bother calling one (the charge extra for that). Sadly she was mistaken and there were no taxis out there. We waited about 10 mins for one to drive by and no luck. I was hot, still sore, exhausted, frustrated, and now crying again. Matt went and found someone to borrow a cell phone and call a taxi. Back at a train station- a different station from the night we arrived- we got in line for a ticket. I didn't want to risk buying a ticket from the machine and having a repeat of what happened in Rome! We had looked at the schedule online before coming (both Tren Italia and Deutsche Bahn) and there were lots of trains throughout the day that could get us to Frankfurt, Munich, Bamberg, Schweinfurt, or Wurzburg. Not the case at the station. The man at the counter couldn't speak English (or wouldn't- he seemed to have no problems understanding us) and he refused to talk closer to the window so I couldn't even hear his italian mutterings. He showed us the computer screen that said 23:30 Munich so we guessed that was the only train to Germany (we kept asking this and he kept nodding). So then we walked over to the departure board which also said the same thing. So did the ticket machine. We were both confused and frustrated I'm surprised we didn't go beserk. I was going into the corner and crying so people wouldn't stare at me but they still did. I found another car rental company (Alamo) and they also wouldn't allow cars to leave Italy plus they didn't have any anyways. Then I found an information office where again the lady didn't speak English but she printed off the train schedule to Munich then another train to Frankfurt and told me to take it back to the ticket window and buy the ticket there. We were about to do this but I didn't want to sit around the train station for 12 hours so we got in line to buy the tickets and planned to go back to post in the mean time. Now the same man got us again and for some reason (we still don't clearly know why) he couldn't sell us a ticket. We don't know if it was all booked, cancelled, only 1 seat available- who knows! All we knew is that now we have NO train ticket as well as no car. So still crying we take our luggage back out to a taxi and head back to post. This taxi driver "Misunderstood" us and took us to a bank instead of post but finally we got back. Another long, hot walk back across post- this time to the USO. There we met a nice man who explained that the Italian news said all trains were booked to Germany so that's why we couldn't buy a ticket. He also said there were no rental cars available anywhere. We explained the problem we had been running in to and he said he might know a place off post called Buch Binder that might let us drive out of country. He said he'd drive us over to them after his assistant returned and in the meantime told us to come in and cool off and get some snacks and drinks. While we were waiting on him to take us Matt left to go get us some more Burger King for lunch. During that time a family came in asking to use the phone and they were trying to do the same thing. The man offered to take matt and the mom in that family out to this place to talk to them about renting a car. Then he called the company and was talking to them about it on the phone (I guess he decided he didn't want to waste a drive if it was pointless). Turns out he spoke perfect Italian and was able to find out that the company had a car big enough for Matt and I for 220euros for three days (they didn't do one day) and one for the other family of 3 for 330euros. THe catch was that while they had a company in Frankfurt for us to drop off the car they still charged to have the car returned to Italy- same price (aka we'd be paying double- 440euros). We said we'd be ok with this (anything to get home at this point) when the mom from the other family suggested we share the larger car (a "7" seater) and split the cost. This didn't help us out as much as them but it did save us some plus splitting the cost of tolls (which are very high in Europe) and gas. We had to wait around for about 2 hours because the car wouldn't be ready until 2:30pm then Matt and the mom went with the USO man to pick it up. It was a standard and apparently the mom couldn't drive it and the dad never said anything. We got the feeling it might have been partially blind but not sure. Either way at about 4:30pm we were finally pulling out of Vicenza!! The "7" seater "van" was actually a regular station wagon (the extra 2 seats could fold up in the cargo area). The family of three (mom, dad, and a boy who was probably 13) sat in the back, I was in the front, and Matt drove the whole way. The trip wasn't too bad- very pretty scenery actually. It was very awkward though because we were strangers and we made the usual small talk about jobs, living in Europe, etc but other than that it was silent. We had on the radio (not entertaining- Europeans love their 80s music) but still very quiet. 20 euros in tolls later we were in Austria and it was getting dark (about 8pm) so we pulled into a McDonalds to eat and get gas. After that we were back on the road and the whole family passed out but it was still awkward because then you didn't want to talk and wake them up (or have them listen in) and we didn't want to turn up the radio for the same reason. Finally at about 11pm though Matt and I were both dead tired and I said screw it- if we can't sleep neither can they! So I found a rock station and we turned it up just to stay awake. We got to Frankfurt at about 1pm and had to go pick up our car at the airport (79euros in parking yikes) and then attempt to find an open gas station to fill up the rental car before we could take the family to a hotel. In Germany it's pretty much impossible to find anything open after 8pm and gas stations are no exception. I did just about every gas station on my GPS and FINALLY (30 mins and many kilometers later) we found a pay at the pump gas station! I have never seen this in Europe and it's not the same as in the states. Thankfully the boy read German so he was able to help us eventually figure out how to use the stupid pumps. Now we had to find a hotel...thank goodness for the GPS! We got them dropped off at a hotel and then had to find the car place to drop off the rental. At 2am in downtown Frankfurt we were walking all around this stinkin rental place looking for a key drop off with no luck. We finally gave up and were gonna leave the keys in the glove box and the car unlocked (thank goodness Germany is so safe) but then when we went to throw away some trash I inspected the mailboxes of the company closer and one had the Buch Binder logo on it! It was large enough to slip in keys so that's what we did. at about 2:30am we were finally on the road back to Schweinfurt. I really had to tinkle and I was starving and exhausted so I wanted coffee but it's such a pain finding rest stops in the day that I didn't want to attempt it so I just sucked it up. Matt tried to sleep while I drove (although my singing to stay awake probably didnt help that) and we got to the base a little after 4am for Matt to sign in. We got home at 5am and after unloading the car we were both pretty delirious and being very silly. I tried to get online to update facebook that we were home but the laptop had died (we had to use it to charge the GPS while driving) and I was just too tired to dig out the cord. We crawled in bed and after giggling and being just plain silly we passed out. I don't even remember passing out. One minute we were giggling and I was kicking him and the next I was waking up to him kissing me goodbye when he left for work!

Tuesday: Matt had to get up at about 7am in order to shave off his long beard, shower, and dress for work. He had to leave by 8:30 to get there at 9am. I could not BELIEVE they made him come in. He was supposed to let his motorpool sgt know when he got back so instead of calling and waking him up (which now I wish he had) he decided to be nice and text him when we got home. He asked again if he could please come in at lunch time since it was so late but the sgt never responded. I slept til 1pm (well..I got up at 8:30, 10, and 11 to use the bathroom) and when I got up I called Matt. That's when I found out that his sgt had ripped him a new one that morning for "not trying everything to get home quicker" and calling Matt stupid for this. OH NO HE DIDN'T!!!!!!! I was screaming some not so lady like things on the phone and Matt just quietly listened. After calming down I said I'd be coming up there to get him to go to housing together. We thought this wouldn't be a problem since another guy was currently doing the same thing. Then while I was pulling onto post Matt called and said this same sgt wouldn't let him go to housing- even though he let another man!! I pulled into that motorpool and got out of my car, slamming the door, and was marching in there to give this sgt. a peice of my mind. Unfortunately Matt stopped me at the door where I continued to scream (so if he was in there he heard me!) and said if he didn't let me talk to him there I'd do it at FRG that night. Matt said FRG would be better and I would only make things worse for him. Of course logically I knew this but my hormones said well at least yelling at him would make ME feel better. I ended up going to housing alone but oh well. That cheered me up because we got the house we were wanting!! I did end up talking to the First Sgt. about what happened in Italy and what was said to Matt and she was just as upset. She was also mad that her message hadn't been relayed to us. Apparently Matt could have signed in to the post on Vicenza so that way he wasn't wasting his leave dates. We were never told this..hmmm... And like I told the First. Sgt- seemed to me that anyone who thought we were too "stupid" to figure out how to get home quicker must be prety ignorant themselves. All anyone had to do was open a newspaper or watch the news to see that all the trains and cars and planes were booked or not running. However these people probably didn't watch the news- too many big words for them to understand. She liked that ;0)

So that's our story. I still don't feel like you can truly understand the emotions that we went through and while some parts are funny to me now (i.e. peeing myself) other parts still make me want to cry (remembering the pain I was in Sunday/Monday draggin those suitcases back and forth across Vicenza). Something you just had to be there to understand. Overall a very eventful Spring Break. We won't be traveling for a loooong time now. And before we do we're buying some super badass luggage that basically wheels itself!! ;-)