Den and Wen in Italy - Fly Home

Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026 - Well, we know this is going to be a LONG DAY, so let's get to it!

I'm a pretty easy-going, optimistic person. Things generally work out well (THANK YOU GOD) - actually, it ALMOST ALWAYS is WONDERFUL! So I'm having a difficult time figuring out how to write this blog - spoiler-alert: We are all FINE!

But it took going through a lot of *******/stuff to get here.

Last night when we were at The Airport, Wendy suggested a GREAT IDEA: since we are here right now, let's "check-in" and get our Boarding Passes (it is within 24 hours of our flight). Unfortunately, the SwissAir/Lufthansa attendant said she could not do that now, and we had to do it tomorrow morning. Oh well - ok, we'll do it tomorrow morning.

Back at the hotel, I figured I could "help the process along" by maybe getting a pdf of our boarding passes. I logged-on to SwissAir and put in my Booking Code and Last Name, but I got some sort of error message:

I didn't give it much thought because it was just another broken-system, and we're out-of-here tomorrow. We'll figure it out at The Airport.

Morning at breakfast-time was beautiful:

We took the shuttle-bus to The Airport, stood in line, and spoke to the (other) SwissAir/Lufthansa attendant at 8 AM (for our 10:20 flight). I showed her my printed page:

She informed us that OUR RESERVATIONS HAD BEEN CANCELLED!!!!

Remember the unbelieveable confusion at the Lufthansa flight(s) in Frankfurt, Germany on Thursday, Sept.24? When Wendy and I got Boarding Passes for other people for the noon flight to Venice? Because we did not give the Boarding Passes we were holding for the 9 PM flight to Venice, we "did not show up" for the 9 PM flight. Lufthansa took that to mean that we were cancelling our trip. OUR WHOLE TRIP - INCLUDING (especially) THE RETURN FLIGHTS ON SATURDAY OCT. 3!!! Wendy and I told her what had happened, step by step. We had done nothing wrong - in fact, we were doing EXCATLY what the Lufthansa employees told us to do. She spent the next 40 MINUTES on the phone, calling the exact people she knew to solve the situation, and saying the exact words and phrases. And it still took 40 minutes. At the end of it, we were on a 10:20 flight to MUNICH, and then a 3:20 flight to Boston. It was cool going through the Venice Marco Polo Airport - NICE FLOOR:

WE GOT ON BOARD! (not together, but that's ok for an hour)

SO COOL flying over Venice and The Lagoon:

10 minutes later we were over THE ALPS!!!

Munich Airport was, well, an airport:

We were together, in Row 94 (of 94 rows in the airplane). It was an 8-hour flight to Boston. 6-hours was ok, but the final 2 were a bit much:

Very Interesting - when we got off the plane, we got to "Passport Control". Although there was probably 1,000 people, it moved pretty quickly. Then we proceded through the bowels of Terminal E ("follow the blue line"), and going through doors. And all of a sudden, we were outside on the sidewalk. NO CUSTOMS!!!! (which is where they inspect your bags) We met Edward Cushing at 5:30/6, and he took us Home. I can still say "Thank you God for a Safe Flying Day!" (and a GREAT ADVENTURE with my Beautiful Bride!)

Lessons Learned:

- NEVER fly somewhere if you have to make a "connecting flight" - not in the US, not in Canada, not anywhere Internationally. NEVER.

- Don't fly Internationally. (ok, maybe that lesson might get broken, but we'll see.)

Shameless Plug: if you enjoy this blog, you may like my other one about Hiking the 4,000 footers in New Hampshire/Vermont/Maine/New York:
hyperlink: dixonheadingnorth
http://dixonheadingnorth.blogspot.com/