Travels

My first day of international traveling was quite the experience...
My flight itinerary consisted of flying to Amsterdam, waiting 3 hours, then heading off on a flight to Rome, where we would be picked up by a man holding an "Auburn University" sign. Sounds simple enough. Of course, plans never go as smooth as expected.

Abby and I left our parents at the Atlanta airport security cut off. As soon as we said good-bye, we looked at each other and said What the heck are we doing? Once we get to the gate, we realize that our seats have been changed to where we are not sitting remotely close to one another.... There was no way that we were going to be separated for the seven hour flight, so we plan to ask the nice-looking lady beside me to switch seats. We ended up being rejected, but this guy on the other side gave up his seat, so now we are sitting in the very middle of the airplane.

Once we arrived in Amsterdam, we had to go through customs to get to our connecting flight. I send my belongings through security, and of course something goes wrong. They take my purse and completely empty it. Finally, they find the threatening object...pepper spray! It was at the bottom of my purse, where I didn't even realize I had it.....about that time 5 airport workers huddle around the "threatening object." I have no clue what is going on because they are all speaking in Dutch, until one man looks at me and says "This is first time I find this here. It is forbidden in Holland" with a very serious look on his face. I knew at that moment that it would be awhile before I left security. The head airport woman comes to talk to me and ask questions meanwhile my popularity is growing with the other airport workers as they huddle around me and the pepper spray. Finally the same man tells me that I now have to wait to the airport POLICE to come. All I could think about was Bridget Jones and how she is put in a foreign jail because she accidentally had drugs in her suitcase. The police finally come to inspect the pepper spray and I frantically try to explain myself. They were very nice and told me I could go since I was traveling through Holland, not staying, and they will have to throw the pepper spray away. My breathing returned to normal and I thanked God for not being mistaken for a terrorist or getting arrested in a foreign country!

We arrived safe and sound in Rome some time that afternoon, which was really about three in the morning. Once we got our luggage we headed to find the man that would take us to Ariccia. That only took about 25 minutes! He drove the five of us to Ariccia while being a tour guide pointing out interesting things until we reached our final destination!

After an estimated 18 hours of traveling, we were finally there!