Wedding Day! Part One

It’s been pretty hectic at work lately and I’m tired all of the time.  Not to mention, since my birthday is around the corner (UGH!!!) I have some doctor appointments coming up.  Running to the suburbs for that has not been easy since we are short staffed at work.  It looks like everyone is on vacation and we’ve been having a hard time finding people to play in our softball team.  Too many things happening in June!

Back to recapping my big trip in Italy.  I woke up pretty early because I heard my friend jump in the shower, followed by the makeup artist.  They had to get to work since the makeup process can take up to two hours.  Since she had her hair set the night before at the salon, the hair people would be arriving a bit later to touch up her ‘do.  I got up myself to see if there was anything I can do to help.  My friend needed some tidying up around the house before the rest of the crew arrives.  People started waking up slowly, but I advised them that they still had some time to rest up before the day begins.  I figured the more people out of the way the better. 

Let’s just say that was easier than it sounds.  The groom was staying next door with some family members, and I’m assuming people were getting up in there too.  He went for a pastry run since guests were getting hungry.  I felt bad I couldn’t help out more.  By the time I finished tidying up, the makeup was done and we had to start getting people up to get ready.  We had a two hour window. 

I jumped in the shower first and then woke up my roommate from LA.  Then it was followed by the guest from FL.  My friend’s aunt and uncle had the upstairs bathroom to themselves, so it was a bit easier for them to get ready since they were out of the way.

By the time the hair people showed up to do her hair everything became a blur.  I didn’t know what was happening most of the time.  People kept coming in and out of the apartment.  I remember her aunt and uncle coming back downstairs to sit and lounge in the kitchen.  I asked them if they mind waiting upstairs until it was time to go.  The living room was getting hot with so many people around.  Some friends of hers came by to wish her well.  The groom’s parents were waiting for the photographers.  I realized once they arrived, more bodies will be in the house along with their equipment.  It was beginning to get chaotic.  At one point the groom told me outside that a car was going to come soon to pick up the bride.  I told him she wasn’t even dressed yet.  He looked upset but I explained to him that there were too many people over and were not letting her get ready.  I HAD TO GET READY TOO!

I felt bad because it was crunch time.  The venue was 40 minutes away.  Two charter buses were transporting people there.  I told the groom it would be easier to get the guests out of the house first so she could get ready.  He jumped on it and had people car pool to the charter buses.  The photographers showed up but she was still in the process of putting on her gown.  The makeup artist wasn’t done either.  He had to touch up her shoulders after she put the gown on. 

I could see my friend look worried.  She was not happy at all.  I felt bad for her.  We did the best we could to get the guests out.  The photographers did what they could to get the shots they needed in such a short amount of time.  

We car pooled to the last charter bus waiting for us and waited patiently.  The bride was following  right behind us.  The ride was pretty smooth and we got a chance to relax before the wedding began.  We went over our speeches and made some minor changes.  I just wanted my friend to be happy.  I was praying she was ok without us.

Three flights later...

I have been back from my trip and feel I am finally adjusted to my life again.  Last week was tough one for me.  I was in a bad mood all week and it wasn’t going away.  I always get this way after a trip.  I know in my heart I will make some changes for myself in the future because I cannot keep putting myself through this over and over again.  I just don’t want to be in Chicago anymore.

Where do I want to go???  Well that’s a good question.  For the most part, most of my friends have moved out of the city, whether it’s to another city or deep in the suburbs.  I miss my friend a lot in Italy, but cannot figure out if I could live there.

Since I’m currently not involved with anyone, the thought of taking two years off and traveling the world on my own REALLY EXCITES ME!!!  I would love to do long term travel, but again, haven’t figured out the logistics to making it happen.  I know there are vagabonders out there who do this type of thing all the time, but I can’t help but question if I could live the gypsy lifestyle.  I like to think of myself as living a simple life here in Chicago but let’s face it, I would have to make some major adjustments living on the road.  I don’t know if I could handle it.

One of the things that surprises me the most is how much I enjoy my time alone when I do travel.  But the maximum time I have done this is 7 days alone.  I have always met up with my friends somewhere along the way.  To be a vagabonder, I probably would be friend-less much longer than that, and again, question myself if I could be away from the people I care about.

So that’s where I’m at!  Lol.  I have been thinking about this all week and have settled my into my life again.  NOW I am ready to recap my trip to Europe, AGAIN!

I had received a voucher from that airlines that had me stuck on Iceland for a day back in December.  My voucher is good for one year, so I decided to use it to see my friend in Italy.  But of course there was a catch.  The only flights coming into Italy from that airline was to Milan and there were blackout dates.  I couldn’t fly into Italy when I wanted to.  Me and my friend were trying to figure out how to make this work for us.  I told her that this airline had plenty of flights to Paris jokingly and that’s when the idea popped up.  My friend looked into domestic flights .  “There’s flights for $200 coming up from Paris to Rome and that’s when I booked it.

Now the hard part for me comes up.  That means I would have to fly into Iceland AGAIN, have a two hour layover before jumping on another plane to Paris.  As if that wasn’t enough, I had a three hour wait before jumping on ANOTHER flight from the ticket I purchased to head to Rome.  Everything had to line up perfectly and because of that, I was a hot mess.
My nerves were getting to me.  I couldn’t sleep prior and I had bad dreams about this plan.  I absolutely HATE flying but I knew it was coming up.  Luckily I had friends nearby who tried to keep me calm.

To my amazement, all 3 flights were on time!  WHEW!!  I was a little frustrated my 3^rd flight from Paris-> Rome had me check in my luggage because they claimed it was “too big” (although on my other 2 flights I threw it in the overhead).  Once I grabbed my luggage my friend was calling me to let me know she was outside.  I was relieved.

I had a cup of coffee right there in the airport because I had to adjust to my time in Rome.  Luckily I slept well on the 2^nd flight coming in, but it still wasn’t enough for me.  I needed a pick me up.

My friend informed me she booked a place not far from the Vatican so we could be close to all of the action.  The problem with this is trying to find parking.  Rome is a very busy metropolitan city.  Trying to find a legit parking space took us a while.  We drove around the block for over an hour.  This was getting frustrating again.
Not to mention, we still had to meet the owner so he could drop off the keys to us.  That alone took another 30 minutes.  At this point we were in the heart of rush hour and just wanted to get rid of our luggage.
I also had to break the news to my friend that I had to wash my hair.  Lol.  She usually gets ready very quickly but I’m a human turtle.  It takes me longer to get ready.  After an hour of showering up, getting dressed and doing my makeup, we wanted to hit up the town.  It was now 8pm.
We decided to call an uber to get us close to the Spanish steps.  My friend did not want to move the car and I understood.  Luckily a Mercedes came and picked us up in no time.  Off we went!

There were so many people on the streets.  As usual, Italians love to take their passeggiata after work, even in cold weather!  Temperatures were in the mid-40s that night, but that didn’t stop them.  It was Saturday night after all.

We found the Spanish steps and took a bunch of pictures and decided to look for the Trevi fountain.  I HAD NO IDEA HOW BIG IT WAS!!  Even in the movies, it never looked that big to me.  Lol

so many people!

At this point, we knew we wanted to eat.  My friend had some trouble remembering the location of a restaurant, so I had suggested grabbing a cocktail first so we could kill some time.  Unfortunately, due to the cold weather, some rooftops I looked into were still closed for the season. 

We walked around for a bit and found a boutique at a corner. People were walking in and out.  It grabbed our attention so we decided to check it out.  The party turned out to be an art showing.  We enjoyed the art work and even had some appetizers before we headed back out again.

We took a chance on another suggestion and went to a hotel bar.  Their rooftop was closed too, but we took the opportunity to look up other restaurants because we were hungry.  This hotel bar was super pricey (even for a drink).  We decided to leave right away.

Luckily, the restaurant we chose was a popular one that our new cabbie recognized.  He drove across Rome to get us there and we found it right away.  Of course, there was a wait, but the owner was very sweet and gave us a complimentary Prosecco while we waited.

Ba Ghetto was a delight!  It gave me and my friend a chance to catch up.  Once we were seated we enjoyed our night.  I miss her very much.  After dinner we decided to take a walk around to find a bar, but gave up shortly because we were just too tired.  Lol.  Oh well.  We knew we had a long day ahead of us in the morning, so we called it a night.