May 25-26, 2010
Always one to cut things close, I decided that it would be no problem at all to roll three projects into one the last two weeks of May. That’s not including a huge tasting of 115 Ribera del Duero wines earlier in the month and multiple other business such as the launch of the SF Chefs 2010 website and ticket sales and a few wine buff commitments. Overall I knew I was making the month insane for myself but I can’t very often say no and surely I was not going to say no to a trip to Italy to visit Luce, Frescobaldi and Arnaldo Caprai.
So May 18 is really when my crazy journey began. I packed two suitcases (more like lots of planning and then tossing everything into two bags and hoping for the best) one which traveled with me and the other that my husband was going to exchange with me later in the week (Southwest doesn’t charge for two bags! I flew Virgin America to LAX). I flew into LAX where I picked up a rental car for my journey to the Inland Empire to judge the Los Angeles International Wine Competition (May 18-21), stay the weekend and run the Los Angeles International Spirits Competition (May 23-25). Both were a blast and filled with lots of partying and great people, and luckily my husband helps me with spirits so I was able to see him again (and exchange bags) before heading off, same day as the end of the competition, to LAX for my flight to Munich/Florence. I arrived at the airport at 4:30 for a 9 pm flight (way too early in my opinion) and was greeted by the fact that there is very little to do at LAX Int’l terminal. Had a wedge salad and a beer at the Daily Grill, it was acceptable only because of the double power outlet next to me and a friendly waitress, but otherwise uneventful. At least LAX has free wireless out there. In true Chapa fashion more beers were had at the airport bar to allow for plane sleep.
I flew Lufthansa, suspiciously comfortable and easy despite the lack of seat pockets for my stuff. I watched the Princess and the Frog (made me cry when the firefly died) with my meal, enjoyed some Nero d’Avola/Syrah and dozed off watching Up in the Air. I found myself rudely awakened by a jerky guy who decided he wanted to wake up the plane by opening his window shade, but luckily another 45 minutes later they were serving breakfast (finished watching the movie, all movies are available at your leisure and can be stopped or fast forwarded which was cool) and we were almost there. Despite my aisle seat and no neck pillow I awoke all chipper and happy, so of course there would need to be some type of crazy twist right?
Got to Munich, relatively easy deplaning and rechecking and then I walked into their gorgeous terminal complete with luxury cars on display and boutiques, Kiehls, Jo Malone and MAC right when you enter, got some free lotion to revive my dried out body and then went to the pharmacy where they had my favorite shower gel, Korres Basil Lemon, which I have been missing since I forgot to pack it a week ago. Things were great, I grabbed a Weissbier (ya gotta when you are only in Germany for an hour.) So things were clearly too good to be true.
My flight was completely cancelled due to equipment failure so they are routing me through Bologna and then taking me on a ground transfer to Florence. Only adds another three or four hours to the trip, but at this point does that really matter?
I am trying not to let it get me and instead I am taking the opportunity to explore the airport. Nothing like the smell of the duty free store to refresh you after a long trip, wish I had my perfume books on hand so I could do some investigating. The good thing about this airport is they may not have wireless but they do have the Allianz Arena, a news lounge open to all passengers where you can visit news sites. Although I couldn’t get onto my Earthlink webmail, but apparently they think that Facebook and Twitter qualify as “News”. I was able to connect to my friends/family although at first it tried to bump me off. The keyboard wasn’t so easy to type on with the y and z interchanged and so while they had Word Press too I opted to write this on my laptop instead. The also bump you off after about 20 minutes, but there seem to be plenty of terminals.
Another great feature of this airport is multiple free coffee and tea stations! Although I had vowed to wait until Italy for a coffee, I have to say that automatic machine makes a mean espresso macchiato, so despite the 14 hours of travel I am still relatively awake and hopeful that this is an adventure not a debaucle through Bologna. See you in Firenze.
May 27, 2010 1:33 AM
Well I finally made it to Florence after more than 25 hours of travel. I arrived in Bologna around 10:30 and had to wait about an hour for a bus to take us to Florence which took at least an hour. Of course there was no one waiting so I had to grab a cab and get cash before I made it to my hotel, Grand Hotel Villa Medici, but luckily the hotel was still open (at about 1am) and very friendly and I came up to my room to find a delicious fruit bowl and a bottle of Frescobaldi Bubbles. I quickly jumped into my bathing suit and ran down to the piscine (pool) and hopped into some pretty cold but invigorating water. That along with the bubbles is washing all the worries of my travel away, but I have an early day tomorrow so I must crash ASAP. Grand Hotel Villa Medici was a palace in the 1700s and now as part of SINA Fine Italian Hotels it meshes historical ambiance with contemporary comfort.
RebeccaChapa.com 