Our main trip for Fall 2024 saw us working for the first 1.5 weeks and then take vacation for the next 1.5 weeks. The majority of our trip was spent in southern Italy, specifically Puglia, with a long weekend in London on the way, plus a two day stop in Rome and five day stopover in Germany on the way home.

southern Italy map (click to enlarge)

western Germany map (click to enlarge)

Overall impressions:

• Southern Italy is… not our favorite part of Italy. The landscape isn’t as scenic as expected, the driving is as crazy as advertised, and you feel that people are trying to cheat you reasonably often. We definitely prefer northern Italy.
• Rome – the main tourist sites seemed even busier than we’d ever seen them on previous trips, so we were quite thankful that we didn’t feel the need to check any of those out. There are still so many things to see that aren’t overrun, and once you get out of the main tourist zones it is a magnificent city.
• Western Germany – we spent most of our time in the wine regions along the Rhine and Mosel rivers, and we liked it more than we expected. Great roads, lots of beautiful scenery, and a nice wine and food scene.

Flights

RDU > LHR  (American Airlines) – Our direct flight was delayed 15 hours! So instead of flying overnight we ended up flying all day starting the following morning. It was a little strange to land in London in the evening. The flight itself was unremarkable, though the economy seats felt even tighter than the last time we flew them. (Note: We contacted AA about reimbursement for our two extra Lyft rides to and from the airport and they cut us a check plus 7.5K miles each.)

LGW > BRA (British Air) – Our original boarding group was dead last, so we went to the priority desk in Gatwick to get my oneworld boarding privileges added. Once sorted we headed to the No1 Lounge for breakfast and phone charging. On board the seats were standard BA, fairly tight, but thankfully we had an empty middle seat between us. In Bari we deplaned by stairs, then we able to use the electronic gates for immigration. Bags took about 20 minutes to come out.

FCO > FRA (Lufthansa) – To get to the airport we decided to try the Terravision airport bus, so we walked back to the train station and looked for the bus stand. Thankfully, the line wasn’t bad and we were able to get seats together – however, they definitely don’t care about reservation times! Leandra was a bit freaked out after reading several bad reviews, but we didn’t have any problems getting on an earlier bus. Note that there was one bus for each airport, and each bus has both airport names on it, so you have to ask where each actually goes. Of course.

For this flight we were flying intra-European business class, i.e. standard seats with a blocked middle. The Lufthansa check-in counter was quite efficient, giving us instructions for priority security and lounge access. Our flight was delayed half an hour before boarding, but was otherwise quite fine. The food was surprisingly good, cold chicken with a nice grain salad (lentils, barley, vinaigrette) and a lovely chocolate cake, all of which paired nicely with a German white from Rheinhessen.

FRA > RDU (Lufthansa) – We stayed at a hotel near the airport metro, but given the pricing for one stop (€2.40 pp) and a lot of walking vs the €10 cost to Uber direct to the departures area, we decided on the Uber with our wine-laden luggage. Business class check-in was efficient and we were soon through to the lounge, which had a reasonable breakfast spread. Boarding for our flight was delayed right after we left the lounge. Once on board the A330 everything was reasonable – the seats were comfortable (though the tray tables were awkward to get out), the food and drink were good, and the staff were great.