Dunfey Alaska Journey

Unplanned events happen on all trips… We got up the morning of our Europe trip. About 7:30 am we got a call from American Airlines that our flight had been cancelled. The good news was that they were rerouting us on United Air. We would get to NYC about a half hour late. When we got to NYC (JFK), our Son, Bill Hostetter was suppose to pick us up. When we arrived, there was no Bill. When we called him , we found out his car had broken down. He also had to get it fixed by morning for his business – dry cleaning delivery. We took a taxi to his room and made ourselves comfortable. What a way to start a trip!

Saturday afternoon, Bill and Fred went for a long swim in the surf in front of his “home”. He lives on the top floor of his business partner’s condo  (Kevin). They share the kitchen. Bill and Fred had a long talk about Bill’s GoGreen Dry Cleaning business status. It has an immediate need to more funds to get them through the winter. Sandy Storm has reduced the numbers living in Long Beach and the severe Winter Snow closed businesses for 9 days. The new Garden City Store revenue hasn’t started up as quickly as originally planned.

On Sunday, Milly and I joined with our grandchildren William and Theodore to assist their Dad’s employees in participating in Garden City Street fair in front of his new store. We were provided donuts, coffee and a closing Pizza to keep us productive!

On Sunday Sept 28th, Bill dropped us off at JFK for our flight to Madrid and onto Rome. We flew on Air Europa. We were impressed. We arrived in Rome after a 3 hour layover in Madrid.

While in Madrid, Fred tries using a ATM machine. He couldn’t get it to work. He looked up how to operate an ATM machine in spanish via googling. He went back to ATM. He surmised that the Machine was out of cash or broken. When we got to Rome airport we were able to use an ATM there to get EUROS.

We found out quickly that we have left America and our english speaking ways. First we experienced that babble of spanish in Madrid. Then, we got to Rome and we heard the italian babble. We did find everyone we talked to was very kind so far in putting up with our english only approach..

Our friends at the Beehive in Rome were very gracious on our arrival here in Rome at about 7:30 PM. We took an express train from airport to Termini Train station in downtown Rome. The Beehive in about 4 blocks from train station. Steve, the BeeHive owner gave us a suggestion for a place to eat around the corner. We had a full Italian dinner with wine for 35 euros. It was excellent. Good start. Its about 6 am on the first morning here in Rome. Now the fun begins.