and so we reach 107...

I woke up turned off the alarm and laid back down. I woke up next at 8:07.. 2 hours after my alarm went off. Shit.

I jump up, panicked. I throw all the things that are laying around in my suitcase, throw on my shoes, and run out the door. My thoughts: Maybe If I can get a taxi right away then I'll be able to make it to the airport before my flight takes off. I close my apartment door and turn to carry my backpack, 2 suitcases and a video camera down 2 flights of stairs. As I turn, my red suitcase's zipper decided it'd be a perfect time to unzip itself backwards. I spent 10 minutes wrestling it to get the zipper back to normal. I went downstairs, scanned the area, and saw no taxis. I ran into the restaurant next door to ask if they could call me a taxi. They said no. I walked to Piazza Independenza where taxis normally sit. Nothing. It was at this point that I figured it'd be easier to just call the travel agency and hope that they would help me. I walked to SACI to use the phone. Closed. I asked a small cafe if I could keep my bags there long enough for me to run to Heather's without having to lug it around. They said no. Flustered, I took bags and walked towards the train station. I asked a taxi if he could take me to the airport. He said yes but didn't accept credit cards (I had no euro currency left). I walked further on, stopping at an ATM and had to pull out a minimum of 50 euro. I tried to find the bus that takes you from the train station to the Florence Airport for only 5 euro, but I couldn't. Finally I convinced a taxi driver to take me to the airport for 20 euro (It would have been almost 30 otherwise) and he did. I arrived to the airport 20 minutes after my flight was scheduled to leave. Of course there were no delays so I was stuck. The lady at the desk told me that my only option was to fly out tomorrow. I had to pay 150 euro rescheduling fee. (better than 2,000 USD one way flight, I must add). Once the rescheduled flight was situated, I was finally able to breathe. There were just so many things that went wrong it was as though I wasn't supposed to be on that flight.

While still in the airport, I weighed my bags to see if I was overweight on either. One was below and the other was quite above. I took the 5 euro bus back to the train station and took my bags to SACI which was now open. I called Heather to let her know what happened and to see if it'd be possible to sleep at her place because I had locked my keys in my apartment because it was supposed to be my last day there. I finally took everything to her place, reorganized my bags so that each were under weight and relaxed for a bit. We went to the central market so Heather and Lucio could get gifts for friends and family. I ended up getting an Italian belt and a sweater. For dinner we had a combination of various things that they had left over in the fridge. It was quite delicious.

I went to bed at 10, and set two alarms to ensure that I would be up by 5 am. I slept.