Our trip started out with a 3 hour bus ride from our flat to the Stanstead airport at 1 in the morning, so naturally we decided to all stay up and wait until 12:50 to walk to the bus stop and just sleep on the bus when we get there. I passed out the second I sat down, but the other two people that I was with, Emily and Clarissa, could not sleep for the life of them. When we finally got to the airport we had to stand in line to get our passports and tickets checked. While we were standing in line, I realized that I didn't have my iPhone! I thought I must have left it on the bus! So I sprint back down the long hallway, through the sliding doors, down a flight of stairs, and down another long hallway to see that the bus had already left. I wasn't about to give up so I kept running outside up to the other National Express buses and banged on one of the doors until a nice man opened it. I asked him, "Do you know where I can find the bus that just came from Oxford about 20 minutes ago?" Unfortunately his response was, "I think it just left to go back.... but you can check at the office to see if they found whatever it was that you left on the bus." So I thank him and sprint over to the office which is right outside the entrance to the airport. I ask the lady if anyone had dropped something off that was left on the bus from Oxford, and she asked what color my phone was, and when I told her it was blue she held it up. I do not think that I have ever been more happy to see it in my life.
After I run back into the line to meet up with Emily and Clarissa, it's time to go through security and find out where our gate is. Ryanair is funny in that way that you have no idea what gate you are at or where you are even sitting until you get into the terminal and on the plane. Standing in line for security, we are all so anxious to get on the plane and just get to Florence. So, as usual for security, we have to take off our shoes, jackets, sweatshirts, make sure that our lotions and liquids are in containers etc. So I think I do it all and walk through the security detector and it goes off. Immediately a woman comes over and has to rub me down to make sure that I don't have anything on me, which by the way I feel is a little more intense than it is in the United States, but regardless, I find out that it was just my bracelets that I had forgotten to take off that set the detector off. So I turn around and see that my bag has been taken because they found something in it.... I walk over with one of the officers and he asks me if I have any liquids or sharp objects in there, I say no and he digs through my bag to find my make up bag, he opens it up and takes out my lip glosses, zips back up my bag and runs it through the detector again. He brings it over and says that there is even more in it. So this time, he tears apart the entire thing so legitimately everything is out of my bag. He finds my toothpaste.... takes it out and puts it in a plastic bag, runs a little blue tool over it and then scans it for drugs or something? I'm not really sure. Once he is finished with that the man goes, "okay you can put it all back now" as if i had done something wrong! It completely baffled me. So I pack back up my bag and head over to the terminal. I understand that security is necessary because there are so many hidden criminals out there, but sometimes I feel as though it is taken to such an extreme level that it becomes unnecessary. I actually wrote an essay on how I believe security should be changed, not necessarily weakened, but in a way that it does not consume so much time and make people feel uncomfortable.
About after an hour of waiting to see where our gate is, we hop on the plane and find three seats next to each other. I pass out on the plane and next thing you know we are in Italy! We then have to take a bus from the airport to the train station and take a train to Florence. My friend had told me that the train was only going to cost us 7 Euro so we weren't too worried about that. We get to the train station and see that the next train to Florence is in either 10 minutes or 40 minutes, so naturally we all sprint to a ticket stand and purchase the tickets. Emily goes first, everything is fine, minus the fact that the train was actually 30 euro not 7. I go next, everything is fine. Then Clarissa goes and her card doesn't work! So we had about 5 minutes to get to the train so I just spotted her 30 Euro and we sprint off to the train. When we hop on we find the first available seats and sit down, that is until we find out that we actually have assigned seats and have to spread out all over the train. Once again, I immediately pass out once I sit down. I wake up about an hour later and we are still not there yet (it was only supposed to take about 45 minutes). I find out that our train was delayed 45 minutes! So we finally get there and hop off to meet up with Emily's boyfriend and he shows us where everyone else is supposed to be. But keep in mind, he is studying in Barcelona so he probably knows where he is going just as much as we do! So we're wandering around Florence, running on a few hours of sleep and trying to get ahold of our friends that are already there. We are all starving so we stop and get some famous Italian pizza and sit on the side of the road to eat it while we wait for them to call us. We FINALLY get ahold of them and get to put all of our stuff away in my friend's apartment and get to really start our italian vacation.
This trip was definitely one of the most fun trips. We rented vespas and went on a wine tour, went shopping downtown, explored Boboli Gardens, experienced a bunch of italian 2 and 3 course meals, and got a taste of what it was like to go to an Italian bar and club, which by the way, is much much different than anything in England or the states.
Coming back was a little more relaxed than getting there, everything went pretty smoothly and we are now finally back safe and sound in Fblock of Clive Booth Hall. :)
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