Rumors of my demise. . .something, something

 I'm back, back again . . .

tl;dr Almost came home early because BA made me miss my connecting flight, my bags were lost twice, the Italian bureaucracy puts the awfulness of American bureaucracy to shame, and today I really thought I wouldn't get my missing bag in time for Saturday's first day of hiking which would lead me to coming home early....but....I got my bags and got a new lease on the trip.

(I'm not proof reading this...it's 1:34 and need to get some sleep, but I'm sorry if any of it (or most of it) makes no sense. I have a weird writing voice that is hard to punctuate and I typically overly complicate my prose....good luck.)

I really, very seriously almost gave up and come home 48 hours into a five week trip.

After missing my  flight because British Airways likes to BA; BA initially losing my bag (big ups to AirTags for coming in clutch x2), only to mostly redeem themselves by getting me to Florence via Rome at a much better 6:47 pm vs original flight they booked me on that would get me there at 11:30; and finally, for Ita Airline  (#itaairwaysucks) to also forget my bag in Rome (despite me verifying at the gate they had it) putting me in a situation where I literally had only my clothes on my person, a bag of stuff including my meds, and "tech" stuff to live off for who knows how long, I was (to use a phrase I hate), very disappointed to say the least (eww).

That was yesterday....? Time is weird when you are going forwards in it via big metal tube and the material that binds your trip starts to unravel. I really have no idea how long I was up from the day I departed SeaTac to finally arriving at my accommodation in Florence. I do know that every minute from Heathrow to Florence was awful and stressful. 

If you talk to Libby you'll know my attitude throughout this whole ordeal was excellent--especially for me. Today though I almost gave up. In between trying to figure out:

1. Who I should try to get to help me (airport or airline).
2. How to convince them my AirTag can help them find it (as it did with BA).
3. How much time I can spend before I have to throw in the towel and come home because my accommodation time would run out in Florence)

And ALSO trying to do something rather than wallow in pity I tried to do something new and visit Palazzo Vecchio (Florence's original city hall). I'll be honest I didn't enjoy it. I'm still learning resilience, and it was breaking down. 

I was having some major problems pushing my current situation out of my head while I was there; every interaction was a chore and made me feel like I just annoyed the person because of what I didn't understand (I was really tired). I picked up my Firenze card, got a pass for the tower and the museum, and climbed up the stairs to the top to take in the views of the Uffizi gallery, Duomo di Firenze (fancy for Florence Cathedral), Santa Croce church (the location of the beginning of my hike) but I really didn't have my heart in it. I couldn't help my go over my situation. I was still very tired (without knowing how tired) and kept trying to figure out a way of my situation.

None presented itself. 

After some confusion over whether or not I really had a ticket for the museum I got in. I can't say I have much to reflect on here other than I saw some GINORMOUS paintings and tapestries commissioned by Lorenzo di Medici, and a map room that even I could not get into because of how tired and distraught I was. At that point I still thought my bag was drifting around Flumincino Airport near Rome, and I realized I wasn't enjoying myself, I really needed to consider going home because of how much time I had left in Florence, and I really needed to know when I could get home so that I didn't have to get more accommodations I hadn't already planned. 

So I went back to my place, ate the junk food I had bought at SeaTac like the undisciplined troll I am, a went to sleep. I was tired. 

I got up two and a half hours later, and like the aforementioned type of troll I am I immediately checked the "Find my" app (where I had been self-tracking the bag). Lo and behold IT WAS IN FLORENCE. I texted Libby the joyous news, got dressed and took the tram back to Florence's airport. 

I went to the normie side of the Lost and Found window only to find a girl in front of me. After ten minutes, and noticing there was a piece of paper in the window saying when they were open (two groups of time for an hour or two out of the day) I decided to type that I wondered if no one was there in my in Italian translation app and got her attention. Turns out she's from North American and spoke English. She pointed out that on the paper that us unfortunates that reported lost luggage got it said they were open from 6-8pm...it was after 6. 

She rang the door a few more times, and I'd say about 20mintes after being there (along with an added German couple to the mix) and what do you know--SOMEONE SHOWED UP!

Yureka! Hallelujah! Someone in that room that actually came to the window. 

The gal in front of me, myself, and the German couple all got slips of paper and were told to go outside and to the left (insert The Office vague gesture). The gal and I had no idea where this was so we went to the customer service agent who pulled out a clear envelope with a bunch of pictures of the door we were to go. 

So to recap: 

They have enough people whose luggage gets lost that they have this convoluted system in place for when folks show up to retrieve said bags and have no idea where "outside and to the left" is exactly, that their customer service folks (in a different area) are supplied with crappy printed pictures of the door you were told to go to and have multiple copies to hand out to folks who go outside and return because they don't know how far "door 8" is outside and to the left.

We made it to the door. We waited for like...20 minutes...with an ever increasing in size group. Finally after spamming the door buzzer someone over the intercom spoke. The dude who did the buzzer pressing spoke Italian (was Italian probably) and said they'd be there soon. When they showed up they took a lucky five (I was not such one) to go in because I guess "cinque" is the amount of riled up folks they could subdue if need be I guess. After waiting another ten minutes or so I suggested to another person I was waiting with that they might have left a different direction. I pushed the buzzer and someone came over the intercom again in Italian. They spoke with the other gal I was standing with and said they'd be there. 

Finally they came, I went in, went through  a metal detector, put on a high-viz vest, went on the tarmac, found my bag, went back into he baggage claim place on to the lost and found, the lady did something that caused me to wait more, and then released me with my bag. 

Tram > home > shower #2 (forgot to mention #1> FRESH FREAKING CLOTHES > real food (I hadn't eaten anything of note since Heathrow hours and hours earlier), wine, then a fun cocktail and rice beer, then this.

And here we are. 

Not sure what I'm doing tomorrow exactly except I have a cathedral....*clears throat*...duomo tour tomorrow. 

I might try to get into the Accademia (where Michaelangelo's David is) before since the tour is at 11. I don't think it will take that long to see everything there if memory serves me. We'll see.

That's it. That's my Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. I'm not coming home yet though. This trip has legs yet.

P.S. No pictures yet. Too late. Too tired. maybe tomorrow.

P.P.S That nap was waaaay too long. Now my sleep schedule is broken.