Friday October 30, 1992 – McKinleyville, California
Somehow, with a bit of luck, I was selected for a one-month detail to work on a global tropical Forest Resources Inventory project with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, Italy . When I first saw the job being advertised, I didn’t really think I had a chance but decided to apply anyways. Turned out my supervisor also applied for the job! Needless to say, it was a bit of a shock when I got offered the detail. I didn’t have a lot of time to prepare so I had to really expedite getting a Government Passport, making plane and hotel reservations, etc. Having never been outside the U.S., except for Canada and Tijuana, I was feeling just a wee bit out of my comfort zone but very excited at having an opportunity to travel and work on a project like this. It all felt very surreal though.
On the day I was scheduled to leave, we had a surprise visit by our good friend Bill. Turned out Bill was on one of his whirlwind road trips starting from Seattle WA, through Billings MT, Winnemucca, NV, McKinleyville, CA (our house) and back to Seattle WA where he planned to fly back to Denmark where he was living with his wife Lotte and daughter Marie. I was glad I got to see him before leaving but was sad having to say goodbye. Thankfully, because the Arcata-Eureka airport is small and only about 5 minutes from my house in McKinleyville , I was able to delay leaving until the last minute. As it was though, I barely had enough time to check my baggage and board the plane. The first leg of the flight to SFO lasted about 1 hour with barely enough time for stewardess to serve drinks and a bag of peanuts. I was a little concerned about missing my connecting flight since there was only about half an hour between flights. As it turned out, I was just able to get on the plane and store my carry-on. The plane was a huge Boeing 747 . My seat was on the side in a row with only two seats which was unusual. Most rows had ten seats with three on the sides and four in the middle. My seat was also near one of the kitchens where the stewardesses would congregate and load their trays with food to serve passengers. It was also in a bad location for seeing the in-flight movie and other entertainment. Luckily the movie wasn’t great, so I didn’t mind missing it. The movie was titled Sister Act starring Whoopie Goldberg as a singer/prostitute who pretended to be a nun.
The stewardess came by and asked if I needed a headset. When I said yes, she said it would cost 4 bucks! I said never mind and I think she felt a little sorry for me and gave one to me for free 😊. The passenger next to me didn’t speak a word of English and when I tried to talk with him, he just looked at me with a blank stare. I felt a little sorry for him because I could tell he felt uncomfortable not being able to communicate. At one point, he pulled out a cigarette and started puffing away. That immediately brought the stewardess over who literally read him the riot act. I don’t think he understood one word, but he did at least get the message, NO SMOKING!
I spent most of my time reading and listening to music. I also occasionally listened to the movie, even though I couldn’t really see the screen. I was able to read a bunch of stuff sent to me for the project I was going to work on in Rome, so it was time well spent.
I couldn’t believe how many meals were served. It seemed like they would barely finish serving a meal and picking up your tray and then come back with another meal! The food wasn’t too bad. The first meal was a crepe stuffed with chicken with rice, salad, coffee, and carrot cake for dessert. Meal two was a chicken and cheese sandwich, drink, etc. The scenery was a little disappointing since it was cloudy the whole way. Luckily, I got some nice glimpses of fall color coming into the Washington Dulles airport which made me want to stay and look around. It was slightly raining and about 45 deg. F. in Washington, D.C. I had about two hours between flights which was just enough time to take the tram to my next flight boarding gate and buy some Italian Lire. I bought $102 which came to about 120,000 Lire. The flight from Dulles to Milan, Italy lasted about 7 hours with arrival in Milan at 8:30 AM (11:30 PM Pacific Time). During the flight, I met a guy flying to Rome for a 1-week vacation. His name was Claig and he said he was using a ticket he got from “Mileage Plus” and was planning on going to Siena to meet some friends he met last time he was in Rome. He raved about Siena and said if I had a chance, I should be sure to go there.
No comments:
Post a Comment