It's funny how you feel like you have so much time to get ready and then you end up running around like a crazy person in the half hour before walking out the door.  Those little things really add up - like throwing out the old food in the fridge, making sure all the lights are out and windows are closed, printing google maps and checking (and re-checking) that all the important documents are safe and secure.  This is our first time taking KLM overseas and leaving mid-afternoon is very different than leaving late at night as we have done in the past.  It took longer than expected to check-in today (for a reason that we still don't understand) and instead of the nice long lunch we intended on having we had to chow down some quick food court grub before running through security.

We were very pleased to have extra seats around us so the four of us ended up sharing 6 seats - total heaven on an 8.5 hour flight!  Excellent movie choices, soft blankets and pillows, and cute mini cans of Heineken made for a very comfortable flight.  Out of the 4 of us Julia was the only one to get any sleep on the plane, and that was only for the last 45 minutes of the flight. 

We arrived into Amsterdam at midnight Calgary time and we were so thankful for our reservation at the Yotel in the airport.  We had close to a 5 hour stopover which would've been beyond painful if we had to spend it walking around in a heavily sleep-deprived state!  The Yotel was perfect - you pay by the hour (4 hr. minimum) and our basic room contained a bathroom, a double bed, and a set of bunk beds.  Free wi-fi too, but we were so exhausted that we didn't really use it.  The only snafu was that the family before us didn't leave the room on time - I think they actually had to pull them out! - and so we had to wait for almost half an hour to get into it.  We did our best to keep zen about the whole thing and by the time we laid on the super soft sheets we'd forgotten all about the impatient sleepy half hour standing outside the door.  After the initial excitement wore off and we acclimatized to the sound of the A/C and the slightly porta-potty smell in the room, we settled down and got about 1.5 hours of sleep - totally worth it.  A quick brush of the teeth and off we went to catch our connection to Rome.

The Rome flight was with Alitalia and I was shocked to see how empty the plane was.  This time we again had 6 seats for 4 people but probably could've had a whole row each to ourselves if we really wanted to.  Sign of a bad economy?  Who knows, but I enjoyed sitting sideways on two seats and catching another precious half hour of sleep.   One thing I can say about Alitalia - they really know how to make coffee!  A tiny paper cup filled with hot, thick brew… exactly what this jet-lagged girl needed.  Julia was also very pleased by the orange juice - expecting a glass of typical juice she was shocked to get a cup of dark pink blood orange juice.  Yum.  We now have high hopes for even more delightful gustatory pleasures in the upcoming weeks!

We booked a driver to pick us up at the Rome airport and deliver us to our apartment - in cases of extreme jet lag we find this to be a very good usage of money.  Friendly Rentals, the company we booked our apartment through, arranged it for us and so we were met at the arrivals gate by a very friendly man holding up a sign with our name on it.  After a 20 minute ride he deposited us at the front door and even waited an extra 5 minutes to insure that our rental contact showed up.  A very delightful lady checked us in, showed us the amenities and how to work the wifi and off we went in search of gelato.  In keeping with the trend an amazingly friendly man served us up huge cones with 3 flavors each (!!) for 2 euros a piece.  Standing on the street corner a few moments later we licked the rapidly melting cones, smelled the permeating smell of urine, and really felt like we'd arrived in Rome!

We walked around for a few hours and completely exhausted ourselves so we're currently having a little rest before heading out to dinner.  I'm not going to pretend that it wasn't a long and tiring day, but everything went very smoothly.  It always amazes me how the journey to get here feels so long as it's happening, yet as soon as you hit the streets you completely forget it all!   Off to dinner… I feel like having Italian tonight. 

PS - We did manage carry-on only - and quite easily I'm happy to say!  We even had a little room to spare… yay us!