We woke up at 4 and were at the airport by 5:10 for a 7am flight. Unfortunately there was no one at the ticket counter at that hour, but there were plenty of people in line ahead of us. 

The crowd for this flight was mainly American tourists. How could I tell? Americans stick out like a sore thumb in Italy, or for that matter probably anywhere. We wear shirts and T-shirts when it’s hot outside. Italians don’t – they wear lots of dark long sleeved cloths. They generally look like they just came from a fashion show. Italians also don’t seem to sweat. It never ceased to amaze me how well they dressed and how good they looked.

The security checkpoint in Rome for the Frankfurt flight was like it was in the US, pre 9/11. We had a little extra time, so I bought a bottle of Limoncello. (Unfortunately I later decided I couldn’t stand it – it is very strong, like Rumpleminze. Perhaps it can be mixed with something.) On the brief flight we could see the Mediterranean and the Alps. Security in Frankfurt was just as strict as in the US, only much better organized – all US gates were in one area, and the ticket counters for all gates were just past security.

I don’t recall getting any sleep on the flight across the pond. The clouds broke up by the time we got to Greenland. Greenland was incredible from 30,000 feet. We flew through Phoenix. Standing in line for customs in Phoenix was unreal – we were well into sleep deprivation mode, brains barely functional. Fortunately we’d received a letter from United right before we left telling us our flight back to San Francisco was one hour earlier, making our layover in Phoenix one hour shorter. We all slept on the flight from Phoenix to San Francisco. Fortunately our baggage arrived with us, and a Pacifica / Half Moon Bay taxi was there almost as soon as we called it.

The southeast coast of Greenland