April 20, 2015 – Pleasanton to Castrocielo, Italy

This morning we get up at 3 AM and 27 hours later we arrive at our hotel in Castrocielo. Each of us has had less than one hour’s worth of sleep.

Our first leg of the trip is from SFO to JFK. I would say it all went very smoothly but the flight is really bumpy and most of the time the “fasten seatbelts” sign is on. But we are still pretty chipper after the first 5+ hours of flying.

Sarah having a beer at the Admiral's Club at JFK
Sarah having a beer at the Admiral’s Club at JFK

We are flying Air Berlin from JFK to Dusseldorf. When one is using frequent flyer miles the routings are less than stellar. We have business class seats. The seats are only 20 inches wide. The full lie down position is less than 6 feet. Really not so good for John to try to get some sleep. The worst part for me, though, is that the entry into a pod of two adjoining seats is like trying to squeeze in and out of your car when another car is parked too close. We are trapped in our “honeymoon” seats for 7 hours.

Then we have a four hour layover in Dusseldorf. We are tired. There is no lounge. There are not enough bathroom stalls for the ladies. It is unpleasant. (Sorry for whinging.) Finally we are off to Rome. John looks tired. But there are great views of the Alps.

Tired John on the leg from Dusseldorf to Rome
Snowy Alps

Now we need only to pick up the rental car and drive the hour and a half to our hotel for the night. John is a champ. Sarah is asleep. I keep nodding off. We stop for some espresso.

Our hotel is the Hotel Liota in Castrocielo. It is obviously meant for the short stay visitor. Easy on. Easy off. It appears to cater to tour groups. Our room is fine. We have an enclosed shower! Yay! (Sarah does not have an enclosed shower. Boo.)

Hotel Liota with tour bus out front
Hotel Liota with tour bus out front
We are staying in the gold room. Actually I think all the rooms are gold.
We are staying in the gold room. Actually I think all the rooms are gold.
Enclosed shower!
Enclosed shower!

We shower and fall into a stuporous sleep until dinner.

Our dinner is in the hotel restaurant. It is quite crowded. A busload of Japanese tourists are here. The dining room is divided into a section where the tour group sits and an area where there are all Italians. Where to put us? We are seated right in between the Italians and the Japanese. Luckily we do not have to act as moderators between the two groups. The food is pretty good. Here’s what we had…

Finally the only thing left to do is write my blog and fall asleep. Mt. Vesuvius tomorrow!!

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