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If you subscribe to my daily travel tip newsletter, then you know that I just returned from an epic trip to Europe and I have a lot of trip reports to write. So let’s start from the beginning … Los Angeles to Ischia, Italy. I booked our trip around a Princess cruise that we were supposed to take last summer. Unfortunately, we had to cancel the day before we were scheduled to leave because my kids got hand, foot and mouth at school and it made its way through the whole family. Fortunately, I had travel insurance because the cruise line wouldn’t refund our trip or let us postpone, even though my doctor said I had a communicable disease.
The night before our trip, my wife Natalie was going over our packing list again (she’d started packing a week before our departure). She is very diligent and was checking all of our Apple AirTags to make sure we had one in each bag and backpack and that her phone had them registered. That’s when she realized that the batteries were low on some or dead … and I really did not feel like going out to the store.
Natalie was adamant that we could not leave on this trip without functioning AirTags, so I logged onto Amazon, found a 10-pack for only $7.99 and it was just $2.99 more to have it shipped the following day between 4am and 8am. That was perfect because we were leaving for the airport at 9:30am. The batteries were delivered at 5:30am by our garage door and not our front door like packages normally are. So, my neighbors got a good peep show when I opened the garage at 6am in my underwear.
I spent five minutes replacing the batteries in all six of our AirTags. And most of that time was spent just trying to get the batteries out of the plastic packaging. So, my tip is this: Make sure that you not only have Apple AirTags ($75 for four or $23 for one) or Android compatible trackers if you’re on an Android phone, in each bag, but that the batteries are working. If not, don’t scramble at the last minute; have extra batteries on-hand. Here’s how to easily and quickly change the batteries in an AirTag.
The first thing I did when I woke up on the morning of our departure was check our flight. It was on time, but according to FlightAware.com, American Airlines and Naples Airport (NAP) were both leading the world in delays and cancellations. See screenshot above. Gulp. Fortunately, neither affected us.
To get to the airport, I ordered a Lyft, which was much cheaper than Uber XL so always check both.
LAX was busy as usual, so I asked the driver to drop us off at Arrivals since Departures was a slow crawl. That saved us 20 minutes.
T4 and T5 are going through a huge transformation for the Olympics. Priority check-in was very quiet but all the agents working there were very happy that I mentioned how I do not like the new check-in system. There are now six separate lanes but if one agent has a passenger with a problem, then the person in that line has to wait and wait, while someone may roll up in one of the other five lines and get helped immediately. So some lanes clear quickly, while others don’t. However, I was assured by another worker that this is only temporary until the terminal is completely redone.
We made our way to Clear, which didn’t have a line, and were escorted to TSA, which has the new security machines. There are only three slots for bags, so it’s a little bit slower than the old ones. The good thing is that the bins automatically get recycled, so you don’t have to lift them.
Once through security, we headed to the lounge and as a Platinum Pro member and a Citi Exec cardholder flying internationally, I could have gone to the Flagship Lounge with one guest or the regular Admirals Club with my whole family. Of course, I chose the latter.
While in the lounge, I saw our plane pulling into the gate and noticed that it was the American Airlines StandUp2Cancer plane. I told my son that the original one had my mom’s name on it since I had made a donation and whoever did so, had their loved one’s name written on the aircraft.
My son immediately jumped into my arms and gave me a long, consoling hug. So sweet.
By the time we got to the gate, which was right near the Admirals Club, they were already boarding Zone Three, and we were Group One. So don’t wait for the announcement in the lounge or the push notification if you want the first boarding group. Brian, the gate agent, is arguably one of the best in the biz. He’s a real pro and a nice guy. He gave the kids wings and arranged for the captain to meet them. He also made an announcement for us to have fun in Naples, which was a hoot; the kids loved it!
Our flight to Chicago was 15 minutes late and flight time was a quick three hours and 39 minutes.
In Chicago, we went straight to the Flagship Lounge for some food and great plane spotting.
On the way to our Naples flight, my son was stopped in his tracks when he came across a Lego vending machine. “Keep walking, we’re not buying anything,” I said.
I’m sorry we hadn’t shown up to the gate earlier because there was a party for our pilot who was retiring. They had a large cake and the gate and plane were decorated with balloons.
The best part was that they did a water cannon salute for him, so while we were taxiing, fire trucks doused the plane with water and everyone clapped.
The eight-hour-and-46-minute flight went by quickly, as we were in the bulkhead of the 787-800 plane. Flight attendants served a meal right after takeoff but we’d already eaten in the lounge so we all kindly passed on the chicken or pasta meal. The configuration was 3x3x3. I was in the middle with the kids and Natalie was in the aisle next to a nice gay couple from Chicago.
An hour and 16 minutes prior to landing, the flight attendants turned the lights on and handed out breakfast trays, which had a Chobani yogurt, cashew granola and a fig bar. It’s not really worth waking up for, but it’s way better than Fiji Airways, where we were woken up three hours prior to landing.
There are no ramps at Naples Airport, so everyone has to go downstairs and sometimes board a bus, depending on how far the plane is parked from the terminal.
Since we were in the first row of economy, we boarded the bus with first class, who get to deplane first. When we rolled up to immigration, a long queue was already starting to form, but one of the agents saw that we had two kids and told us to go to the EU line, which had no one in it. Gotta love traveling with little ones in Europe.
We cleared within three minutes (there’s no immigration form to fill out), and our bags were already starting to come out. Ours came toward the end, but it was still really quick.
From there, we walked to the taxi line, which wasn’t too long, maybe a five-minute wait. Our driver didn’t speak English and I can only speak a few words of Italian, so when he said it was going to be double the fare, he brought over the taxi dispatcher, who was fluent in both languages and explained to me that if I wanted to go to the Pozzuoli Port, it would be double the fare since it’s out of the zone.
I switched our original plan, which had a shorter ferry ride, and decided to go to the Naples port since it’s closer. We went to Calata Porta di Massa for the slow ferry instead of Molo Beverello, which has the high-speed hydrofoils. We prefer the slow ferry to Ischia; here’s why.
The taxi driver wasn’t happy since I asked to pay with a credit card before the ride and possibly because I made the kids put their backpacks on their laps (they charge per bag for items in the trunk). He drove way too fast and didn’t say a word. It cost €22 plus four bags, so it was €30 ($35).
Stay tuned for details about our trip to Ischia.
KEEP READING
–Hotel Review: The Regina Isabella Resort in Ischia, Italy
–48 Hours in Rome and Our Stay at the Rose Garden Palace Hotel
–Fast or Slow Ferry to Ischia, Italy? You Might Be Surprised
–10 Things You Never Knew About Italy
–What It’s Like To Take the Fast Train From Rome to Naples, Italy
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