Vacations and dreams

   You may have noted the new name at the top of the journal. Tutt'a posto is an Italian term that translates literally as, "everything in its place," but is commonly used to mean, "everything is OK." I thought it would be fun to use it as the title of my journal for the next little while, as I recount my travels in Italy.
   Here goes.


September 12, 2005
5:30 PM Toronto time

   we are cruising at an altitude of 10,100m at approximately 900 km/h, one hour out of Pearson International Airport. Takeoff was relatively uneventful...except for that overhead compartment that repeatedly popped open as we taxied out from the terminal. One after another we (myself and the passengers around me) undid our safety belts and stood up to push it closed. It would remain that way for  a few moments, until a bump caused it to pop open again.
   At one point a flight attendant came out and closed it firmly, then spent about a minute and a half jostling it, trying to make it come open. Unable to do so, and apparently satisfied, she went back to her seat. Within thirty seconds it had popped open again. Finally, we just left it, and spent the takeoff warily eyeing the gradually shifting baggage within.

~~Dinner Interlude~~

6:55 PM Toronto time

   It is remarkable how quickly the sun sets when you are flying away from it at 900 km/h. According to the cool overhead display, we are crossing Newfoundland with a  beneficial tail-wind of over 40 km/h, and it is -46°C(!) outside the plane. We have traveled approximately 1780 km of the 7095 km distance from Toronto to Rome.

~~earlier today~~

   Waking up at 5:00 AM is only slightly less insane than doing so one hour earlier, but we felt it was important to get an early start to the day. We arrive in Rome at about 1:00 AM our time tomorrow, but that will be 7:00 in the morning local time. Sleeping on the plane is a concept we felt was important to embrace.

7:02 PM Toronto time

   Oh look! As we approach Gander, Newfoundland, the view on the overhead screen has changed to include the entire Atlantic ocean, and our destination: The Boot.
   Gander, Newfoundland was most recently famous for playing host to thousands of international travelers bound for American destinations when U.S. airspace was closed on September 11, 2001. Prior to that, Gander was famous for being flight control for every single commercial aircraft crossing the Atlantic north of the equator. Before that, Gander was famous for being named after a male goose.

~~earlier today~~

   The new Terminal One at Toronto's Pearson International Airport is a grand sight, incorporating art and functionality in a pleasing synthesis of towering glass and stainless steel. At the Alitalia check-in desk we divested ourselves of our luggage, and received in return boarding passes. And instructions. It seemed, according to the soft spoken lady with the almost incomprehensible Italian accent, that we were to walk down the concourse to the very end, turn left, go through airport security (where my wife, by the way, held up the entire line at the metal detector because she had forgotten to remove the coins from her concealed money belt, and had to practically strip to get them out-but that's another story), down the escalators two levels, and onto the bus. The bus? We were sure we had heard incorrectly...until we got to the bus.
   A short jaunt across the tarmac took us to the 'Infield Terminal,' a temporary facility being used until the new Terminal One is fully completed (<~~not a Tragically Hip reference).
   After boarding was complete, we were informed by the flight crew, in a long and rambling message in Italian, and then in English, that we were ready to go, but that the airport wasn't ready to let us go. It seems the tractor that pushes the plane out of the embarcation dock was missing the special bar which it needed to hitch itself to the nose of the plane. We sat, unmoving, for about ten minutes as I imagined overall clad baggage handlers, and drivers in bright orange headphones running around the garage shouting at each other.
   The rest of the takeoff was uneventful. I mean to say that no one received an errant bag on the top of their head from the malfunctioning overhead compartment. And once we were airborne, the door behaved itself for the rest of the flight.