March 21: Where in Italy is Air Force Volleyball?
Today began somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean...I'm not really sure where. We entered Europe by flying over Dublin, London, Paris and Geneva. At least that was what the in-flight progress report on the television screens said - I was asleep.
Soon, the plane was headed into Venice and over the waterways that make the city so famous. Once we landed at the Venice/Marco Polo airport gate at about 8:40 a.m., the three of us headed to customs and received a stamp in our passport. From there, we got our luggage and headed out to the passenger pick-up area where we met Maj Tim Filzen, the team's officer representative.
Together, we walked out to our... well, I guess you could call it a car. In a parking lot of small European-sized automobiles, we seemed to be the proud owners of an even smaller little vehicle. A vehicle that was - according to Maj Filzen - the largest one left at the rental company.
After some majoring finagling, we were finally able to fit Dee and Regina's suitcases in the trunk, along with one of the carryon bags. That meant that my suitcase had to be wedged in the backseat between Dee and Regina. Due to the lack of leg room and the fact that I was the tallest passenger, I sat in the front with two more carry on bags. Even then, my knees were still pressed against the dashboard just to give Dee the pretense of leg room in the back.
We had our first adventure right off the bat, as we spent a few minutes just figuring out how to get out of the parking lot. We made a several circles through the lot before finding the small driveway that led to the road. At the gate was a box with no instructions, as though we were supposed to know what to do. So, Maj Filzen found the "help" button and after chatting with someone, we learned that you put the ticket and credit card in the same slot and wait until the credit card comes back.
Once we finally got away from the airport, we had a lovely drive through the Italian countryside. We learned that the team was playing a game in Pordenone, but Maj Filzen wasn't sure exactly where, since he had to leave so early to pick us up.
During the ride, we created a plan. We were going to drive to Aviano AB and check in to the base housing, before Maj Filzen went back into the small town of Aviano to check the team out of the hotel that they had been staying at since their arrival in Italy. (Due to our early arrival, the rooms at the base weren't available, so the team found lodging in town.)
The rolling countryside nearly lulled me into sleep, but I managed to keep my eyes open. Everyone had said the best way to beat jet lag was to immediately set your internal clock to Italian time and stay awake until nighttime. While the "whatever you do, don't go to sleep" plan sounded good in theory, the execution was tough.
Along the way, Maj Filzen pointed out a few scenic locations, including the house he lived in during middle/high school while his family was stationed at Aviano.
Finally, we arrived at the main gate of Aviano. After showing our IDs to the security personal, we proceeded around the air field and over to the base housing. The main visitor quarters were located in five buildings. One was the Mountain Lodge, which was where most of the staff was staying. There were also four other units across the street, one of which would be where the team was staying.
The buildings were divided into "Temporary Living Quarters" (TLQ) and "Temporary Living Facilities" (TLF). The TLQ units were basically like a Residence Inn or any other "suite" hotel with a mini-kitchen. The TLF units were the equivalent of a condo and featured a full kitchen and in-room laundry.
Dee and I were the exception to the "most" and were staying across the street ... in the second-farthest building away from the main one. After getting our keys, Maj Filzen drove us over to our building before leaving to complete his `to-do' list.
Aviano is located at the base of the Dolomite Mountains (which we couldn't really see due to the clouds) and is the home of two squadrons of F-16 fighters. We learned this when they started taking off on training runs from the air field right behind us.
The first order of business was to try and feel human again. Despite the fact that you practically had to hurdle the bathtub just to get in (the top of the tub hit me above the knee), it wasn't as deep as it appeared.
It was about noon when Dee and I ventured out into a rather dreary day (apparently, the first two days for the team were "awesome"). The part of the base that we were in was rather isolated and not close to the town of Aviano, so we headed over the BX Food Court for our first Italian meal ... at Taco Bell (I know, very disappointing).
While there, we ran into Regina, who was also in search of her first meal since Atlanta nearly 15 hours earlier. Afterwards we walked around the Base Exchange and Commissary, vainly trying to find postcards of the area. Since we were still not sure where the team was, Dee and I headed back to our room.
The greatest part about staying on the base is the fact that we got the Armed Forces Network (AFN) and thanks to AFN Sports, we were able to watch the several first-round games of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. We also had internet service in the room, so we both emailed home and sent a few messages back to folks at the Academy.
We definitely watched more basketball than we had planned on during our first day in Italy. At some point, we think the team arrived, but we weren't sure. About 8:00 p.m., we returned to the BX and grabbed a slice of pizza, before returning to our room.
Finally, it was time for bed in Italy and we both crashed. Hard. If you don't count napping on the plane, we had been up for long over 31 hours.
