Monday, May 27, 2024 (Memorial Day)
Our day started by attending a Memorial Day Commemoration Ceremony with Jenna, Carson, Milly and Leo in Eagle Mountain, Utah.
After the ceremony we said goodbye for now to Carson and the kids. Jenna drove us to the airport to drop us off. It was fun to have our daughter drop us off at the airport - kind of a switch from the normal way things go. Thank you, Jenna, for being our chauffer.
We boarded our flight from SLC to CDG (Paris) only to sit on the plane for about an hour and a half delay due to some computer system issues with the navigation system. To remedy this issue, the pilots selected a previous flight path that was in the computer. The end result of the delay was that our flight from CDG to Milan (Linate) was already boarding when we landed. After checking with the airline, we were rebooked on a flight later that evening but to Milan (Malpensa) and had about 10 hours to wait for that flight.
Our flight path from SLC to CDG went north over Canada, Greenland and Iceland. This time of year, at 37,000 feet, the sun didn't go down. It seems that we had a day, a night and a day as if it were one day - literally.
Tuesday 5/28/24
Fortunately for us, we were traveling with the Gardanier's who were also headed to the Italy Milan Mission. We decided to take advantage of the layover and took a taxi from the airport to the Eiffel Tower. After seeing the Eiffel Tower, having lunch and walking around a bit we took a taxi back to the airport, retrieved our carryon bags from a luggage storage business, found our way through airport security and then waited for our flight to Milan (Malpensa) which left about 10pm.
We arrived at Milan at about 11:45pm only to find that our luggage hadn't been transferred to our flight and would be arriving the next day around 1pm. The Mission had arranged for hotel rooms for us but hadn't noticed the change in airports. We therefore took a taxi from Linate to Malpensa. Because it was about 1am by the time we left the taxi driver was driving 90+mph (I'll add a screen shot from an app on my phone showing 92.4 but that wasn't his top speed). Nonetheless, it was a fast wild ride.
Wednesday, May 29, 2024
Upon arrival at our hotel, we found that they also had had some computer software issues and only had one room left at the hotel. In order to keep us together they rebooked us at another hotel about 30 minutes away. By the time we loaded everything back into a taxi and went to the new hotel, we climbed in bed at 3am. We were pretty much exhausted at this point.
The Assistants (Moore and Tanner) to the Mission President picked us up at 9am and took us to the post office so we could register ourselves with the government to live in Italy. We then went to the Mission Office where the office Elders (Alcorn & Youngberg) helped us with phones and a car. The Office Sr. Couple, the Nielson's, gave us a brief orientation, took us to lunch at Rossopomodoro (a favorite local pizza spot) and then sent us on our way.
It turns out that not having our luggage arrive was a blessing. The Gardanier’s had 4 large bags and two small bags. Adding our two carryon small bags and a couple of backpacks the taxis were completely stuffed. So, if we would have had our 4 large suitcases as well, we would have had to book 2 taxi drivers. Once we retrieved our luggage the following day, we were again thankful that we only had 4 large bags, 2 small carry-on suitcases and a couple of small carry-on bags. We completely filled our Toyota Camary hybrid mission car.
Sidenote: packing your life into suitcases for a mission is difficult. It was suggested that senior couples only bring 2 suitcases and a carryon. We were considering just paying the hefty fee of having 5 large bags between us when we left home. Getting each bag under the 50 pound weight limit was a whole other concern. In the morning of our last few days in Utah, Jodie felt strong promptings to get our luggage under compliance with the mission recommendations. After seeing the space in the taxi's and in our mission car, we were so thankful that we listened to the promptings.
It goes without saying that we were exhausted, but yet excited to finally arrive in our apartment around 6:30pm! We love the apartment and have some beautiful views.
Alzano Lombardo, BG (Bergamo), ITALY
4th floor (Italian) = 5th floor (US)
Italians have a zero floor
