As I type this from my bucolic spot in New Jersey, I feel immense gratitude for this trip. I am grateful that nobody got seriously sick except a few soar throats for the three of us; no trip interruptions occurred; no one was in danger at any moment; and we benefitted from the Italian infrastructure and its amazingly helpful people. I hope that we also added some light to people’s lives as we progressed with the journey, even just briefly.

I started with day 1, so this “Italian series” would not be complete without day 15 thus taking us full circle.

Day 15: We could not sleep last night which is understandable since we had a long flight ahead of us. After taking melatonin, we finally fell asleep at around eleven. I remember thinking as I drifted off: “I can’t hear planes anymore, that means they close the airport so the surrounding areas can actually get some rest.” The jets started back up at around 7am.

We went down to breakfast which was quite generous. No eggs or bacon but cornettos, jams, sliced ham and cheese, and cereals. Two cappuccinos 😳😉 for me and some milk for the kids.

After breakfast, we packed up and took a taxi to the airport. The airport is quite small compared to others and we had plentiful time to go through all the mazes. There are only FOUR daily flights to the US from Naples, and there is a designated area specifically for these flights.

The kids did relatively well at the airport. We had plentiful snacks and toys, but yes there was some whining as to when are we getting on the plaaaaaaaaaane from Ms. L, plus struggles with their suit cases, but nothing major.

In the picture above, you can see all of our luggage – pink carryon for L, small green tractor for R, a backpack and a black carryon for me.

The plane was an hour late taking off but, on the grand scheme of things, not a big deal. L sat all by herself next to a kind stranger that later became her acquaintance, and R and I sat right behind her. We played musical chairs during the whole flight and that person was very kind since he had an aisle seat next to L.

It was a bloody long 10 hour flight. The kids rotated between playing, coloring, iPads, plane TV, snacks and walking up and down the aisle upon my request. R is four years old and actually gets tired of his iPad quickly. L, on the other hand, has more attention span at six, and, I think, if she had the chance, she would watch until her eyeballs fell out. So I have to interrupt and tell her to take a screen break, especially on such a long flight.

Half way through they took a nap – oh happy day!

My husband planted a car at Newark airport since he had a flight out of there on Monday. We found his Subaru, loaded the bags, and drove home. It felt weird being behind the wheel after two weeks of not driving at all. But also, it was 1am local time when we landed so I was tired.

About forty minutes later we were home! What a sweet feeling to open your own front door, turn off the alarm, inhale a familiar scent. The house smelled like cat food because – cat – but I opened all the windows, turned on the fan on Nest, lighted a candle… Both floors aired out quickly.

I unpacked the perishables – yoghurts I bought in Italy and some cookies, and made couscous for us, a quick meal, since no one was that hungry after the flight. A nice scrub down in the shower because planes can be gross, and bed!

I must note how excited the kids were to be on their own turf again. R kept saying how much he missed the house, our kitty, his room, and his toys. We are home ❤️