Okay, so I lied. no trains (this time) -- and unfortunately, no taxi's either.

Yesterday my day started off bright and early at 6.30am after 2 hours of sleep. Still a little bit buzzed from the night before, I quickly popped outta bed when the alarm rang and made my way to the kitchen for coffee. One of the girls I was staying with woke up to come hang out with me before i left. since bags were all packed and offee being drunk i decided itwas time to call a taxi. -- oh fuck moment #1 -- in order to call a taxi you need credit on your phone. and i had none. neither did anyone else in the house. Solution: Skype! My friend turned on her computerand waited to call a taxi while i finished getting ready. After awhile she came to me: 'Lori, there's a problem.' the taxi companies werent answering the phone. onefinally did and said they had no taxis. how could they have no taxis?? we began calling every company in the yellow pages. -- oh fuck moment #2 -- finally one told us the news: Taxi strike.

It was now 7.30am, plane leaves in 3 hours. K and I hauled my bags out of the apartment and down the street a few blocks to the bus stop. Even though we'd have to change buses once, it'd get us to the station. -- oh fuck moment #3 -- 3 buses passed by completely packed. One couldnt even open it's doors. Not only was it rush hour with everyone going to work, but with the taxi strike the buses were more packed than normal. There was no way that with bags we were going to get on.

7.50am and off I ran to the tabacci to buy more credit for my phone. As soon as it became credited I began calling people i knew with cars. finally stefano answered, obviously i had woken him up. In a panic i begged him to come get me saying that if I didnt get to the train station in 30 min I'd miss my flight. Now he only lived a 15 min walk away, so driving i wouldnt think it would take him more than 5-10 min even with traffic. But he got lost. I have no idea how, but he did.-- oh fuck moment #4 -- After several panicked phone calls and lots of me walking up and down the street freaking out scaring italian grandmas, and 45 min later he showed up.

8.35am in the car driving Stefano doesnt listen to us as to which way the station is, and takes off in the wrong direction. With morning traffic and lots of one way streets it took us another 15 min to get there (should have been a 5 min drive).

8.50am and im quizzing the bus driver on when we are going to leave and what time we'll get there, and does he know how early i have to be there before an international flight. What time does my flight leave, he wants to know. I tell him 10.30. He says, oh yeah, no problem. we'll be there at 10, you'll be in time. Some how i didnt believe him.

9.05am on the bus, and on the phone with Alitlaia. -- oh fuck moment #5 -- check in closes 45min before the flight leaves. there was no way i would make it in time. So I called my mom, and freaked out to her not sure what to do. I knew there was nothing i could do till i got there, and that even then all i could do was go to the ticket counter and see if i could get on another flight.

10.30am my flight is leaving, and im finally getting to talk to someone at the ticket counter. She takes my passport, looks up my info, and then proceeds to type tings on the screen and periodically dissapear for 20 min. then she casually says to me, that she has me on a flight leaving at 12.30 with a transfer in NY, but that it arrives in a different airport in DC. I was estatic, but a bit worried about how much I'd be paying for this last min ticket, so I ask her. She doesnt understand the question, I ask again, and she gives me a weird look and says "no, nothing."

12.15pm and I'm finally given a seat on the plane (I was actually over-booked on the flight before). The flight was fairly uneventful, and we arrived in NY at 3pm (eastern time). Passport control and customs was smooth as usual, and first thing when I got my bags checked I headed straight to starbucks. I was thinking of taking a photo of me with my ice carmel macchiato, but seeing as I looked like complete shit I decided against it. yes though, it was everything i had been hoping for, better than i remembered, and i actually was walking around the airport with a smile on my face while drinking it. I was shocked by the price though of over $5 for a grande! back in c-town it would have been under $4. gotta love sales tax...

5pm, plane is supposed to be leaving in 15 min but we still havent started boarding. weather outside is pretty bad, and sure enough an announcement comes on, all trafic in and out of the airport has been susspended due to lightening. 5.30 we finally get on the plane, around 6 we finally leave. It was a short flight down to DC, about 45min total. (I didnt realize how close it was!) Coming in was pretty cool as I saw the white house and all those other monuments for the first time. was a bit surreal. What was even weirder though was all the houses. looking out the window I seriously thought i was looking at a little model town. Not because they were so small from the airplane. I'm used to that. But rather just the style of the houses was so weird.

Around 7pm I finally walked through the airport and found my brother and his wife waiting for me. I was fairly disorientated from the long day, lack of sleep, and having so much english around me. my eyes were also extremely dry so I wore my sunglasses the rest of the night (including the entire time we were in the resturaunt for dinner, as well as while sleeping on the drive home). We drove through DC a bit in the beginning, I am surprised at how small it actually is. The streets were hella crazy though for the 4th, and half of them were closed.Will have to go back another time while I'm awake... we didnt watch any fireworks as we were all too hungry and it took to long to find a place open. By the time dinner was over I was zonked and passed out as soon as we got back in the car. If we did see any while driving, I have no idea.