Alitalia is maybe not the best international airline ever.  According to Travis, they’ve had financial issues and are teetering on the edge.  This might be related to their customer service (not so good), their appallingly bad coffee and tea they serve on the plane, or the quality of their airplane bathrooms.  By 2 hours into the flight, there was no toilet paper in any of the coach bathrooms.  By 5 hours in, one of the bathrooms had TP replaced, but not in the holder. There was one soggy roll in the sink, which was full of water and one roll perched on the counter. The floor was also wet and covered with trash.  So strange.  I haven’t seen this ‘trashing the bathroom’ on other long flights. 

It took almost as long to get from the Newark airport to BWI as it did from Rome to Newark.  We zipped off the plane, through passport and customs, and got our bags rechecked in record time, all completed by about 1:30 pm.  And then found out our 3:45 flight to B’more was cancelled. We got in the special ‘flight re-accomodation’ line we were directed to, which seemed to move shockingly slow, and ended up on a flight that left at 7 pm.  Only it didn’t leave at 7, but ended up leaving at 8:45.  I guess there was bad weather somewhere in the US, but not in Newark or B’more.  At this point, having been awake for ~18 hours and sick, I elected to sleep on our coat on the floor of the Newark airport.  I’m sure it was fairly pathetic looking, but surprisingly comfortable. Travis was kind enough to drink coffee and stay awake to make sure we didn’t miss our flight and that no one took our stuff.

It’s nice to be home.