On Monday, November 10, we  and the other trip participants arrived at St. Luke Church  in Westport, Connecticut, at noon. The final member of the group to arrive was Fr. Kumar, who was working until the last minute.  One group member, Donna, had made arrangements for two vans to pick us up and take us to JFK Airport, Terminal 4, Delta Airlines.

Nick and I were familiar with the heavy traffic in Queens caused by a massive multi-year construction project, a work that has been  in progress for several years. However, many of the other trip participants  were struck by the challenges this project was causing to us and so many others who were on their way to JFK. A construction worker was holding up a sign that said “SLOW.” As if  there were any other choice!

Eventually we reached Terminal 4. Instead of pulling over, though, our driver passed the terminal  and continued driving away from it. We were  approaching  Exit signs  and others  that were directing us back to Connecticut! Fr. Kumar, who was in the other van,  called Donna to find out what had happened to our van. His group  was already entering the airport. Then our driver realized his error and had us back on the road to Terminal 4.

When Nick and  I were at the  airport in New Orleans, a pilot saw me trying to manage my luggage and said, “Let me help you.” That does not happen in New York! Soon we were inside the terminal and were catching up with the group that had been in the other van.

I prefer an aisle seat in airplanes so that I don’t have to climb over anyone when I want to  get up. This time we were not able to choose our own seats and had taken the ones that were assigned to us. Nick had the window seat, I was in the middle, and a young fellow joined us in our row in the aisle seat. He was Yogi, our tour escort. During the flight we  exchanged many thoughts about flying including our favorite destinations. I learned that Yogi was the son of Angela and Peter, the managers  of Nuovo Tours.

For dinner, we had the option  of meat balls or pasta. We were on our way to Italy, where we expected to find lots of delicious pasta, so we chose meat balls. Day 1 ended while we were up in the air, looking forward to our upcoming adventures in Italy.

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