Friday, December 16, 2011

9/15/11 Departure: Transition Complete

It was yet another horrible night of sleep for all the same reasons as before as well as the anxiety of going home and leaving family and friends behind until next time.  It’s the double edged sword of the family vacation.
On the way out of Locri and into the neighbouring town of Siderno I finally passed my Italian driving test by running a red light in the most blatant fashion.  Unfortunately, my success here certainly means that my good driving habits back home have been compromised.  I’ll probably lose my license when I get home.
With my imaginary Italian driver’s license (“patente”) in hand, mom had no reason to complain about my driving during our final high speed highway excursion.  Nobody made a sound as I edged north of 165 km/h, probably because I was still being passed by people who were really in a hurry.
What greeted us at the departures gate in of the Lamezia airport was chaos, pure and simple.  There were no lines, lots of shouting, plenty of pushing and not a lot of space.  I took a look around; were they filming an episode of The Sopranos here?
Unbelievably, there was no bar in the departures lounge.  I had to ask: what kind of second rate operation are they running here?  For obvious reasons I had to forego my usual pre-flight drinking routine.  Instead, I stayed awake and caught up on this journal stopping every now and then to give my gnarled fingers a rest.  Two hours left until we touch down.  I can’t wait to sleep in my own bed.

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