Rome Italy Travel Home Day

Monday, January 23, 2023 – Travel Day

Woke up bright and early, packed up and went to breakfast. We were greeted by a beautiful rainbow while eating. Ryan and Jenni still had some packing to do, so we had a couple extra minutes to just sit and enjoy our last breakfast together. Our driver picked us up at 9:25am to take us back to the airport. On our way we received emails saying that both flights from Rome to Atlanta and Atlanta to Salt Lake had been delayed 2 hours. That meant we’d be getting home two hours later than we hoped. It is what it is. We had a longer layover in the Rome airport because of it and wandered around and spent the last of our Euros and got Gelato. Ha-ha! The Rome airport is really nice. One of the nicest airports we went through. We boarded our plane for our 11-hour flight to Atlanta. I think we each got about an hour of sleep on that flight. It was kinda funny though, on our flight over they gave us cheese ravioli and it was really good, on this flight when they gave us our lunch it was Alfredo pasta and it was not good. We laughed and wondered if it really was nasty or if we had just become pasta snobs from eating the best all week. Haha!! We arrived in Atlanta at 7:45 pm Atlanta time, 5:45 pm Utah time and 3:45am Rome time. We were exhausted. We had a 2-hour layer in Atlanta which was good because by the time we got through customs and security we only had about 40 minutes before boarding. Once we got on the plane for Atlanta, we zonked and we zonked hard. We slept the entire three-hour flight. It wasn’t until we landed that we realized, they didn’t even wake us up for snacks. Haha! We got off in Salt Lake at 11:45pm Utah time. We drove home that night, stopping once to eat and then talking the rest of the way to keep Ryan awake. We pulled into our driveway at 4:50am, Tuesday morning, January 24^th. We rinsed off and climbed in bed. Adam slept for an hour and then went to work. I slept for 2 hours and then went to work. It took us the rest of the week to finally get back on schedule. There were a lot of early bedtimes...like 6:00pm haha! But is was soooo worth it. We had so much fun and before getting out of the car they asked, “Where to next?

Rainbow at Breakfast!

Haha! The Rome airport had a replica of the "Mouth of Truth" in one of the gift shops, so we ended up sticking our hand in it anyway...with no line!

Rome Airport. Ready to Fly!

Leaving Italy!

Happy and Exhausted! What a fantastic week. One we will remember for years to come. So grateful for the amazing opportunity. Where to next?

The girls did so awesome while we were away. They kept the house tidy, took out the garbage cans to the street, kept up on dishes, checked the mail, and fed the fish. They had lots of people checking in on them. On Thursday night, grandma and grandpa Losee took them all to dinner and on Sunday we got the cutest picture from the girls and Levi with all of them around the table for Sunday dinner. They are the BEST! It was so good to see them, I cried. I missed them. It was so fun, but always so good to be home.

Surprising things I learned about Italians. They love their: 80’s American music, perfume and lovely smells, our hotel smelled soooo good, their small cars, driving fast and using their horns, their tall and colorful doors, their huge buildings, their fountains, cobblestone streets, vaping, steps/stairs, stop signs are suggestions, sirens blare a dozen times a day (probably because of accidents due to their driving) They do not have public bathrooms anywhere but restaurants, which they prefer you buy something to use their bathroom, so it was difficult to find restrooms while out and about.

 

Souvenirs: 

Adam – Hard Rock Hat, Gladiator T-Shirt and Keychain, Sticker, Sistine Chapel puzzle, Oil & Vinegar

Robyn – Eiffel Tower & Colosseum statues, Hard Rock T shirt, Roma sweatshirt

Girls and Levi – Notebooks, Chocolate, Candy Tin, plus Roma socks for Levi, Italia soccer ball for Calli, Rome Tote bag for Gentry and Snow globe for Sadie.

Mom – Nativity and magnets from Rome and Vatican City

Post Card Pics