The day had finally come.
The Potter Family Reunion in Italy was beginning after months & months of planning & preparing. We mentioned doing a reunion in Europe a while back since we live here, but nobody seemed to be on board with it. Tylee finally sealed the deal & just decided "Rome - June 2022!" Once she set it, everybody started wanting to make it happen & we did. We made it happen!
Passports were done, money saved, luggage packed. . . we actually did it. 19 Potter family members, many of whom had never set foot off American soil, started their journeys to Italy. We were missing 2 sisters & their significant others, 1 brother-in-law, one nephew, & one niece (all whom we missed dearly), but we had everybody else which was amazing!
Tylee & I planned & planned & planned over months & months & we put together an amazing getaway for the Potter family. It was going to be a vacation to remember.
Trek & I took on the responsibilities of planning everything from tours, sight seeing, & hikes as well as planned out all the travel arrangements from taxis to trains to busses throughout our stay. It was INSANE trying to figure things out for 19 people, but we did it.
Day 1 of our journey was a travel day.
We left our house at 7am (the same time Tuhk landed in Naples) & drove an hour to Hahn Airport, parked the vans, & realized one of our suitcases was completely broken. . . our big suitcase. The wheel was completely broken & the suitcase wouldn't roll. It was going to be a LONG day of carrying that big guy in our arms since we couldn't roll him.
We had Trek & I & our 6 kids as well as Carolyn & her 3 kids all hopping on a flight from Hahn Airport here in Germany to Rome Campiano Airport. Hahn airport wasn't too bad. The security line looked long, but it moved pretty fast. Checking bags was fine & so far everything was going smoothly for us. . . until we stood at our gate an hour & a half PAST the time we were supposed to take off. I laughed every time Trek asked the gate worker "How long is our flight delayed?" & the gate worker would say "It's on time. . . no delay," even though we were an hour & a half past our take off time.
We eventually got on our flight & flew from Hahn to Rome arriving about an hour after we were supposed to which wasn't too bad. We had successfully made the first leg of our journey. Others wouldn't be so lucky.
Mom & Dad's flights got cancelled TWICE! And every time they got a new flight, it would cause them to miss their connecting flight in Paris. Poor Tylee was working the flight situation from CA & poor mom & dad sat at the San Francisco airport for over 12 hours. They eventually flew to Los Angeles & sat for several MORE hours trying to get a flight into Naples, but no luck. Eventually they were able to find a flight through Paris that put them in Naples at 11:30 PM over 12 hours after they were SUPPOSED to land. Trek called taxi after taxi after taxi trying to find someone who would be willing to pick them up at 11:30 from the Naples airport & drive them down to Pompeii to our hotel. NOBODY would do it.
Meanwhile, Tuhk had the best flight of all. . . no delays, no cancellations, no lost luggage, perfect flight from OH to Naples. He arrived in Naples at 7am (right about the time we left our house in Germany to drive to the Hahn airport.). This was his first time overseas so he decided to stay close to the train station at the airport & wait for us to come pick him up.
Talon did well with his flight as well. He flew from Salt Lake City to Rome & landed at about 9am. (We had SO MANY PEOPLE flying into different airports in different cities! How on earth did we manage to get everyone in the same place at the same time?). Talon is a pilot so he's used to airports, public transit, & exploring where he flies. He's never been to Europe, but he managed to find the train & made his way to the main train station in Rome. There he explored around the station a bit & had some yummy pasta for lunch while he waited for us to arrive there to pick him up.
When we FINALLY arrived in Rome, we were late so we were going to have to run in order to make it to our bus & then to our train that took us from the airport to the main train station in Rome. Of course our luggage was the LAST luggage to leave the plane & show up at baggage claim, but we got it.
We ran out to the bus lanes as fast as we could & found where our bus would pick us up. We made it with only about 2 minutes to spare. We rode the bus 15 minutes to the train station & then got off ready to find our train. Outside the train station we found our first Roman water fountain which was amazing. I love the free fountains all around Rome. We filled up our water bottles & started trying to find our way to our train to the main Roman train station.
We made the train & spent 20 minutes traveling to the main train station Rome Termini to meet up with Talon.
We were SO relieved to walk off that train & have Talon waiting for us there with food in his hands. The kids were starving (Ryan Air doesn't do snacks on their planes, we were delayed, & didn't eat breakfast or lunch.). We gave everyone hugs (Talon's kids were SO excited to see their dad & Carolyn was happy to have him there. It had been a week since they had seen each other.)
Then we very happily got ALL of us on another train from Rome Termini to Naples Termini. It was a 2.5 hour train ride so it was nice to sit back & take a nap or watch movies on our phones.
Trek & I were enjoying the beautiful Italian countryside & castles we passed along the way.
We were SO relieved to arrive at the Naples train station. Leg 2 of our journey was complete for day 1. Now we were off to try to find Tuhk at the Naples Train Station, then all get on another train headed to Pompeii.
I loved the bonding time these travels allowed all the cousins. It was good for them to spend time together. They were having a blast. Trek wasn't enjoying carrying our big broken suitcase in his arms. ha ha ha.
The highlight of this train station was looking out the window & seeing Mount Vesuvius directly above us. It was definitely a HUGE mountain/volcano.
After many phone calls & trying to figure out where Tuhk was, we finally found each other. HOORAY! We almost had everybody. Mom & Dad had finally landed in Paris & were boarding their flight for Naples very soon. Trek spent a good hour on the phone trying to find a taxi for them with no luck. . .
We were so happy to all be together.
At this point it was dinner time so we found a McDonalds in the Naples train station. It was a fast & cheap meal so we got everyone's bellies full & got ready for the next leg of our journey.
Look at these brothers together! I love them all so much!
At this point we had Trek & I, Carolyn & Talon, Tuhk, our 6 kids, & Talon & Carolyn's 3 kids . . . so 14 people & 8 pieces of luggage. We dragged everybody & all that luggage onto one more completely packed train where we had to stand the entire time. The ride from Naples to Pompeii was about 30 minutes & boy were we glad to be done with the trains for the day.
As we were leaving the Pompeii train station, Trek found a taxi that was willing to pick up Opa & Oma from the Naples airport at 11:30 & bring them to our hotel in Pompeii. By 12:30am, we'd finally have everybody in the same place at the same time.
We had to walk a mile from where the train dropped us off to get to our hotel. That broken piece of luggage was about to be thrown in the river. . . it was SUCH A PAIN, but we made it. Pompeii was an adorable little city & we couldn't wait to explore it on Day 2.
We had all the rooms reserved in Hotel Mec. It was an adorable hotel right next to the Pompeii archaeological site. It was the perfect location. We had a room that slept 6 so Trek & I slept in the double bed, Bladen & Craiger took the single beds, & Bridger & Canyon had the 2 trundle beds. The 3 girls shared a bed in one room, Talon & Carolyn had a room with their girls, & then Mom, Dad, & Tuhk shared a room. I loved looking out the window & seeing Mount Vesuvius right there. It was SO cool.
At 12:30, the taxi pulled up with Opa & Oma & we were finally complete! Everybody went to bed & was ready to wake up early for some amazing historical adventures the next day.
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