Friends, Ernie is so silly. We returned from our Japan trip not two weeks ago and he was already like "dad where are we going next??" Alright buddy get your suitcase.
Zoe said farewell to the man in a twinning situation.
He's been experiencing quite the glow-up.
Ernie's outfit for our upcoming Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser adventure arrived in the mail.
A sad thing about the airport is sometimes we have to pack the carseat and then just put him in the normal stroller like a big boy but then I can't see him but everyone else can and that doesn't seem fair.
I got excited to show Ernesto his ancestral homeland while reading the guidebook. "Uncensored la dolce vita" maybe should be the new title of this blog.
We go the first seat in our section up against the bulkhead and so didn't have any seats in front of us under which to store our crap. The extremely helpful flight attendant informed me that none of our stuff could be on the ground for takeoff. Ok.
Ernie learned that plastic bags are, in fact, toys.
Turkish Airlines is pretty decent when it comes to international economy class. I think it's classy of them to give you a little menu.
They gave us a bassinet that attached to the wall. Truth be told my giant son was probably already over the weight limit for this thing.
It was a cruel situation because Ernie had just been on that first class flight out of Japan and now he was back with the poor folk watching ads for better seats on repeat.
When I went in to the bathroom a nice flight attendant was talking to me and another guy about a new flight to Australia and how fast the plane is. I felt a little naive because I had always just assumed all passenger jets went at the same speed. I never considered it too much.
When I got out of the bathroom the conversation had turned apocalyptic. The same nice guy was now talking about an impending Istanbul earthquake and how destructive it would be. He cautioned us to only stay at name brand hotels in the city I assume because they’d be more structurally sound. Terrifying, thank you.
Once it was sleepy time I had to ask an attendant to turn off the amazingly bright tv right next to his face.
The flight to Istanbul was a little bit rough because it was difficult to get Ernie to go to sleep. Traveling with him is definitely hard mode but we’re already pretty good at it so I think we’re up to the task.
I have some doubts about this trip just because the Italy portion seems rather short, and we aren’t really spending any time in any major cities. I feel a little bit guilty convincing my parents to come but maybe everyone will have a good time regardless.
I got a good omen that this was going to be a great trip at the Naples airport. These two both were wearing shirts that they bought at The Empire Strips Back: A Burlesque Parody. Did I engage strangers about a sci-fi themed strip performance we'd both attended while they were trapped waiting for their luggage? Yes, yes I did.
We had booked the rental car such that Mom and Tom could collect it as they were landing several hours ahead of us. This decision may have been a pivotal one. They were able to secure a larger vehicle as we had booked but they got a stick shift. That caused us some grief. Ernie was excited to see them regardless of the conveyance.
We could see a menacing Mt. Vesuvius from the highway. It's sort of like visiting an elderly serial killer in prison. He's not currently dangerous perhaps but you know of all the deaths he's responsible for. We visited Pompeii on the other side of the mountain just a couple years ago.
As pizza is a Neapolitan invention I felt compelled to order a few for the family at Pizzeria Donna Rita which was nearby the airbnb.
I ordered three pies:
Margherita
Tomato, fiordilatte di agerola (which is a fresh pulled-curd mozarella), grain, basil, and extra virgin olive oil
Bufalina
Tomato, buffalo mozarella, grain, basil, and extra virgin olive oil
Siciliana
Tomato, provola di agerola (which may be a smoked cheese), basil, eggplant, grain, and extra virgin olive oil
The average price of the three was 6.16 Euro which I was very happy with.
I think Mom thought this was the only food we were going to have the whole trip.
The airbnb was unfortunate in that it was very hot and the only air conditioners were in the hall and in the living room. So in order to get any cool air we had to leave our bedroom doors open. This extra sucked because we had Ernie and didn't want any noises to wake him up or his noises to bother our fellow travelers. Not ideal but we did our best.
