13-14 April, Wednesday / Thursday
I left San Francisco on 13 April to begin my adventure living in Florence for 2½ months – and sorry about starting out on a negative, but what a day of travel it was. The flight plan was San Francisco to Newark, Newark to Brussels and Brussels to Florence with an 11am arrival in Florence. The SF – Newark leg was delayed owing to the flight crew not having a long enough mandatory break. To get to the Newark – Brussels flight I had to jog through the Newark airport. It turns out they were still boarding people after me, so I just sat in my seat and tried to stop sweating.
Then there was a medical emergency onboard, which delayed us for another 2½ hours, and I was only able to sleep for about an hour on that fight. That delay meant I would miss the flight to Florence by over 45 minutes, so I was rebooked on a flight from Brussels to Zurich that left soon after landing, with the gates right next to each other. Got on board, and then that flight was delayed by almost 45 minutes so I my hoped my luggage would make the transfer. Once in Zurich I had around 4 hours before the flight to Florence, and the airline club I had access to was quite nicely designed, had showers and nap rooms, so I managed to take an hour nap. It ended up that the Florence flight was delayed by about an hour and I got in at 7pm – and my bags were there! My total flight time was 25½ hours – whew.
Photos of Switzerland: https://photos.app.goo.gl/tiyAE8M5EF8k9XaL9
I left San Francisco on 13 April to begin my adventure living in Florence for 2½ months – and sorry about starting out on a negative, but what a day of travel it was. The flight plan was San Francisco to Newark, Newark to Brussels and Brussels to Florence with an 11am arrival in Florence. The SF – Newark leg was delayed owing to the flight crew not having a long enough mandatory break. To get to the Newark – Brussels flight I had to jog through the Newark airport. It turns out they were still boarding people after me, so I just sat in my seat and tried to stop sweating.
Then there was a medical emergency onboard, which delayed us for another 2½ hours, and I was only able to sleep for about an hour on that fight. That delay meant I would miss the flight to Florence by over 45 minutes, so I was rebooked on a flight from Brussels to Zurich that left soon after landing, with the gates right next to each other. Got on board, and then that flight was delayed by almost 45 minutes so I my hoped my luggage would make the transfer. Once in Zurich I had around 4 hours before the flight to Florence, and the airline club I had access to was quite nicely designed, had showers and nap rooms, so I managed to take an hour nap. It ended up that the Florence flight was delayed by about an hour and I got in at 7pm – and my bags were there! My total flight time was 25½ hours – whew.
Photos of Switzerland: https://photos.app.goo.gl/tiyAE8M5EF8k9XaL9