My alarm went off, and the clock said 7:00 am. I had been laying awake in bed for what seemed like an eternity. I still couldn’t believe the day was here. I would be leaving for Rome in a few hours, and I was filled with disbelief, excitement and nerves all at once. I got out of bed, took a shower and checked my bag for the 5th time since I had arrived home the previous night. I went to the kitchen fixed myself some breakfast and waited for my cousin to pick us up. My roommate Vicky and I where going on this pilgrimage together.

We waited for a few minutes and our ride arrived. We got in the car and headed towards the airport. I was so nervous and anxious to arrive that it seemed like time was passing by extra slow. We arrived at the airport and it was time to check in to our flight. We went through security and found our gate. After that it was only a few short minutes until we where called to board our plane. We where off to LAX and one step closer to Rome.

Once at LAX we had a 3 hour lay over and figured we should get something to eat since we would be on a very long flight.  After we ate we headed to our gate to charge our phones and wait a few more minutes. I had gone to the restroom when I heard my name being called on the PA system and panicked. I rushed over to Vicky and it turned out we where to simply check in so we could board. We went to the counter, Vicky checked in quickly and then it was my turn. As I was checking in a couple interrupted the attendant and started complaining to the her about a ticket he had purchased. I stood to the side waiting for the attendee to ask Him to wait until she was finished assisting me. However, she only got upset by his rude behavior, but continued to to check me in. After a while, she handed me my boarding pass and continued to hear his complaint.

With my ticket in my hand, I walked over to the line and waited as we where about to board. At that point I was now nervous about flying international and hoping our row would be empty so we could spread out during the very long flight. To my surprise as soon as we boarded a woman was already in our seat. We where a bit hesitant to ask her to move since she had already made herself comfortable by taking off her shoes and seemed to be sleeping. I leaned forward anyway and tapped her on the shoulder as to wake her. After a few attempts she rose her head and looked at me confused as to why I had woken her. I proceeded to let her know she was in our seat to which she quickly snapped said no. I then asked her what her ticket said in which she replied 23J. I proceeded to point to the picture on the carry on compartment which she then said, are you sure this is yours?

To be completely honest all I wanted to do at that moment was say (in a very loud, angry voice) “YES! and if you would pay attention to the picture you’d know.” I was already nervous about our flight since I don’t do well flying (I get motion sickness) and all I wanted to do was sit down and fall asleep as soon as possible. Clearly, that wasn’t going to happen, and I had to remember to tell myself to be patient, and kind. I knew from that moment the flight was going to be anything but peaceful and pleasant.

As expected the next 12 hours where brutal. She would make us jump over her seat in order  to go to the rest room and she kept pushing me. I felt awful since I was in the middle seat and had already made Vicky put up the arm rest so we could fit better. Eventually I was able to get a few hours of sleep, but having to move constantly and attempt to be somewhat comfortable. I just couldn’t help put feel frustrated and upset. How hard was it for all of us to work together and make the flight pleasant? I wasn’t happy about or seating arrangement either but I was trying to make the best of it. After what seemed like an eternity we where arriving in Rome and I could not wait to get up, stretch and get to our hotel.

We finally got off the plane and made our way to customs where we waited for about 45 minutes because there where so many people. I kept thinking, is this really what our entire trip will be like? I had been so excited about this trip but couldn’t help but get frustrated at the amount of rude people around us, shoving us out of the way, cutting in line, and just being plainly disrespectful. I had to constantly remind myself to take a deep breath and say a prayer so I could calm down. We finally made our way through customs and found our luggage and made our way outside the airport where we had to figure out how we where going to get to our hotel.

We followed the crowed towards the termini station, tome’s train station signs. I was terrified that we where going to get mugged and that we where not going to know how to get to our hotel. I kept saying the Hail Mary in my head, over and over, I was freaking out but I didn’t want to let Vicky know I was terrified and very overwhelmed that we had finally arrived. God sent us a guardian angel and he let us know that we could get a group shuttle to our hotel for the same cost as the train and they would drop us off at our hotel door. We agreed and paid the 15 euros. After waiting a few minutes for the shuttle to fill up, we made our way to the parking lot and were finally out or way to our hotel. All I really knew was that we were finally in Rome and that this was going to be quite the adventure.