Day 0 - Departure and Flight to Italy

We left for Italy on New Year's Eve. While most of the world is ringing the new year, we were in-flight (transatlantic) bound for Europe. We first arrived in Frankfurt where we stayed for several hours awaiting our connecting flight to Rome. It was our first time in, and hence our first impression, of Germany. If you have ever flown out of Germany, you know the national carrier is Lufthansa - very nice, professional, punctual - all very German. The actual airport was boring, as I had expected something more of Frankfurt considering it is a big European hub (or at least I thought it would be). Instead, it was drab, full of yellow seats (the same yellow school bus color yellow), a small cafe (and smoking section, random because in the US there is no smoking in the entire airport), and small duty free... nothing to really occupy the layover time.

(One observation I made about Germans, they wear their pants too tight... I don't know what it is. Compared to the French and Italian and most definitely the Americans, their pants are a little too snug for me. I commented that to my sister, and she said I was making too much of a big thing, but then after we were in Italy for 3 weeks and came back for our connecting flight back home, she recognized what I was saying. . . and laughed. Of course, this is not a blanket comment to say all Germans, I wouldn't want to offend any Germans out there!!! Ha ha! Another thing I noticed, their apparel seemed more "militaristic" - if you know what I mean. The Germans stick out. Even though there are some German designers I do like... I digress...)

I'd say the better airports I've been to would most definitely be Singapore, London Heathrow, and Seoul -- and even SFO!!! (I would have taken some pictures of the airport, but really nothing worthy of taking. Mi dispiace.)

Anyway, after spending what seemed like an eternity in Frankfurt and the smoke filled air, we were shuttled promptly to our flight to Rome.

Ah, Rome... but this time we weren't going to be spending any time in Rome. We'd be taking a train to Naples. It was raining in Europe - I remember it was raining in Frankfurt, in the shuttle bus; and in Rome when we arrived. Anyway, we took the Leonardo express (30-40 min), which is what you have to take to reach the Termini (central train station). From there, we purchased our tickets and boarded our train to Naples. (We had decided to purchase point-to-point tickets once we arrived in Italy, instead of buying a Italiapass or Eurailpass because in Italy it is cheaper to travel via train that way.)

Anyway, from Rome-Termini to Naples it was a good 2 hours, I think. We really didn't know what to expect of Naples. I had done research beforehand, and some people love it, and others hate it. So, we didn't know which way we would sway. Instead, we decided to book our accommodation based on our travel itinerary in Campania: Naples, Sorrento, Pompeii, Amalfi Coast, and Capri. From that we figured that somewhere near Sorrento would be the best bet, so we found an apartment in Sant'Agnello, a town 15 minute walk from Sorrento.

I just remember the chaos as we had arrived at the train station in Naples that evening. Although it was New Year's, it was crazy, full of people and life! I couldn't believe that we had finally arrived our destination!

As we had arrived on a holiday, New Year's Day (Jan. 1), the local private train, Circumvesuvania, was not running according to our apartment owner. (One thing we will consider next time when traveling in Europe!!!) So he was very kind and picked us up from the Naples train station and drove us to our apartment, which was an hour's drive, in the rain. He let us in and we were so happy to have finally arrive at our first lodging!

That evening, we took a hot shower and slept so long... and that was the beginning of our trip.