Journey Home

We interrupt the series on Rome to bring you the late breaking details of our trip back to the States for Christmas.

Traveling with our dog back to the States added a lot of extra complication to our plans. Airlines typically will not accept pets when the outside temperatures are less than 45 degrees at either the point of departure or arrival. Apparently, they turn off the heat in the bowels of the plane while its on the tarmac to conserve energy. If the flight were to be delayed on the runway, the animals could be subject to the cold. Coincidentally, we were subject to the opposite problem on the way here. It was nearly too hot in Chicago.

Chicago would definitely be too cold to fly into. Only a few major US airports could guarantee the necessary temperature for the way home. We faced the same problems in France. As a result, our final flight itinerary was from Madrid, Spain to Miami. Of course, this would add two major drives. First a ten hour journey from Chusclan to Madrid. Secondly, the nearly 24 drive from Miami to Chicago.

The Miami destination wasn’t totally out-of-the-way, however, because Mary Ann’s family typically spends the holidays near West Palm Beach. Luckily, we found a one week condo rental on Singer Island.

Still, two weeks of traveling would be epic - like the intercontinental journeys that people used to have to make.