After 26 hours of exhausting travel, my feet finally touched the ground in Italy. I had no money, I do not speak the language, I do not have a phone, and my Internet wasn't working. To say I was shitting my pants is an understatement.
A friend of a friend was picking me up, but as we had never seen each other and I had no means of communication, this proved to be a slight problem. I resorted to walking up to anyone who looked like they might be looking for me and asked 'Elvi?' To no avail. Finally (2 hours later...) I had my wits about me and used my credit card to call him from a pay phone. Dialed. I have never been so happy to see someone in my life.
We made it back to his place where I was able to get settled, change my clothes, and dump my 43 pound albatross. Elvi made me some tortellini on the fly. Call me crazy, but Italian food tastes better in Italy. With food in my belly, and my jammies on, I found my way to sleep so beginning my first night in Italy.
