Yay! We're in Italy!

We're so excited to be here and are very grateful that all our "alternative" plans went smoothly. As I noted briefly, our original flight got canceled, but there is so much more to the story. We were in the air when the pilot announced there was a problem with the landing gear and that we were returning to San Francisco. Upon arrival, he then proclaimed our flight to be canceled. This was a huge 747 airplane, and United now had all those passengers who needed to be rebooked. They set up a few special agents to help with rebookings, but essentially we were on our own to find a new way to Naples. Our first attempt was fruitless. After spending 3 hours on the phone with Punjeep in India, we found out we'd been booked on standby for an Air Canada flight leaving that evening -- and, we didn't make it onto that plane. So, we were back to square one. The line for booking agents was still long, but by some miracle, we encountered an agent named Suzanne, who wasn't even on duty at the rebooking counter. She ended up being our angel and seems like the only United Airlines employee who actually knows what she's doing. She was able to book us through to Chicago, to Munich, to Naples, with us arriving a little more than a day late.

By the time we got rebooked, it was after midnight, and we received a voucher for a nearby hotel. When we got there, however, there were no rooms available, so our shuttle driver took us back to the airport. Thankfully, another United employee was on the ball. He let us wait on the shuttle so we didn't have to schlep our luggage yet again, and made arrangements for a hotel in San Jose, almost an hour from the airport. We got there around 2:30 AM and were able to get a few hours sleep. After that, our luck changed, and everything went off without a hitch. We found that our standards for satisfaction changed drastically. No longer did we care about middle seats or room in the overhead bins. Just getting to our next destination became paramount. Oh, and I had my first encounter with an Italian male and boy was that disappointing. He was quite handsome, I must say, but also surly and a seat hog. But, again, it didn't faze me. I was just happy to be headed in the right direction.

We were met at the Naples airport by a respresentative from our tour company, and he drove us directly to our hotel on the Amalfi Coast, giving us a nice guided tour along the way. We arrived just in time to meet up with our tour group for dinner at the hotel. Our hotel is a knockout. It's right on the cliffside with all rooms overlooking the coastline.

Dinner was superb, with fried mozzerella and scorpion fish pasta to start and a savory roasted chicken with sausage and a potato/eggplant medly -- simple but delicious fare. We had a local red wine that reminded me a bit of a California cab/syrah blend -- dry and fruity with just a bit of tannin. The wine was Montesole Campania Aglianico -- not something I've ever seen at Trader Joe's, but something I might look for at Total Wines.

Our tour guide is very nice. She was waiting to greet us with a special welcome and a bottle of Limoncello. Tomorrow is Pompeii, and all is well with Tricia and Catherine.