On the way to Rome - Friday, 2/19/1999

Our trip to Rome is finally here!  We always get to the airport early, and this was no exception.  So at the airport we had plenty of time to get a coffee and iced mocha latte at Starbucks, and we also got a couple of Cinnibons for the flight.  Our flight took off on schedule at 1pm and reached Cleveland at 2:15, which was 3:15 their time.  After an hour overlay the plane took off again, touching down at JFK Airport at 5:30.  We switched planes to Flight 840, which left at 6:45 on the last and longest leg of our journey.  We had dinner on the plane; I had Salisbury Steak and Randy got the Chicken Kiev, and they were both just OK.  The in-flight movies were Ronin and The Graduate, but we missed most of them because we tried to sleep as much as possible.  The idea was that if we didn’t nap when we got to Rome, if we just stayed up the first day (which would be the middle of the night on our time), we would adjust more easily to their time.  So we napped on the plane as well as we could until it was time for a breakfast of juice, fruit and bread.  We gained 6 hours crossing the Atlantic and arrived in Rome at 8:30 am.  It's going to be a long day!