Michael sends us to Europe. Bad news for him. We came back.

It took Ellen all day to pack the day before we departed, but we finally got off around 4:30 PM. Michael dropped us at BART and timing was perfect - the SFO Airport train arrived within about 2 minutes and when we got to SFO, the shuttle to the hotel arrived just as we got to the island.

We got up at 3 am so we could catch the 4 am shuttle to SFO where we waited until 4:30 for the US Airways counter to open. Breakfast at Max's in the airport was expensive.

We flew to Philadelphia for a short layover and then on to Marco Polo airport in Italy. Following Rick Steve's guidelines, we packed lightly so we could carry on our luggage, but as I approached the aircraft, we were being told there was no more space in the overhead bins. So I had to check my bag at the jetway. (Ellen had boarded a bit sooner than me, so took her bag on.) However, I noticed there was plenty of room as I sulked down the aisle to take my seat next to Ellen.

Normally, baggage checked at the jetway is then picked up on the jetway at the destination. But in my (several other folks) instance, the attendant at SFO used the wrong tag and so we had to hustle to luggage claim, collect my bag and then make a long trek to the international terminal. An annoying little misadventure.

Once aboard we made an on-time shove-off from the gate, only to sit on the tarmac for 1-1/2 hours due to some problem with the radar at Philadelphia. But we got off at last!