Tuesday, March 19th. Milan

I made it boys. I got up at 4:30AM, showered, and got ready. I ate some leftover pizza for breakfast and checked out of my hotel.


My walk to the train station was long and arduous. The sun hadn't risen yet. I was walking through a neighborhood that I hadn't been to yet so it was a little weird, trying to figure out where Google Maps was directing me.

I made it to the train station on time but there was only one ticket kiosk. The dude in front of me didn't know wtf he was doing so by the time I bought my ticket, my train had left. This was worrying because I wanted to claim VAT at the airport, which would take time. Now that I missed that train, I was running low on time and I might miss out on about $65 back from the taxes I paid on my headphones and Milan jacket. As much as that $65 would be nice, it wouldn't be worth missing my flight.

The next train to Milan Malpensa left in 15 minutes, but Google Maps wanted me to take a train that arrived 5 minutes later. It took me a minute but I figured out that the first train would be making more stops and wouldn't actually arrive at the airport before the second train would.

I was annoyed because they didn't announce the platform my train would arrive at until literally 3 minutes before it arrived. I was so concerned that I was going to miss this train. This happened to me multiple times this trip so I guess this kind of thing is just a normal occurrence for train travel. I'm much more used to traveling by plane, where you know which gate you need to be at well ahead of time.


I finally made it onto the train and did the math. The train would arrive at 7:05AM and my plane to Frankfurt started boarding at 7:15AM. I had 10 minutes to make it through security AND make it to my gate. Yeah, definitely no way to claim VAT.


I arrived and hustled my way through security. I had gotten Global Entry right before this trip but it did me no good while traveling through Europe. It would have been clutch, too. Getting through security took like 20 minutes, whereas going through TSA pre-check or Global Entry was almost instantaneous.


By the time I got to my gate, they were already boarding. It was a load off of my mind because this was probably the last time on this trip that I would have to worry about getting somewhere on time. The woman at the gate made me check in my big backpack, which was strange. It wasn't an issue when I flew into Europe, but I guess they only allowed one carry on luggage per person on the flight.

The flight from Milan to Frankfurt was dope. You fly low enough to get a good look at the snow-capped Alps. I really wanted to go to Switzerland to go snowboarding during this trip, but it ended up being too expensive. I'll definitely make it happen when I come back though.


My flight arrived in Frankfurt and again I was in awe at how big Frankfurt's airport is. Going into the trip I was excited to see it because it's a pretty highly rated airport. It even has a movie theater and indoor surfing area, apparently.


My thoughts about the airport have changed though. Or I guess it's not the airport's fault, more the airline. Both times that I arrived in the airport, my flight didn't actually taxi into a gate. We would land and all passengers would have to squeeze into a bus that took us into the terminal. This added time into my already short layover. Which would be fine, except this would be my last chance to claim VAT. If I had enough time, I could locate the VAT desk, claim my $65, and still make it back in time to catch my flight.


But after the bus finally got us to the terminal, I not only didn't have time to locate the VAT desk, I actually had to hustle to my gate. I fucking HATE running through airports. This was the first time I've had to do it and I hope I never do it again.


You would think that the shorter the layover, the better. But after this trip, I think a 2 hour layover is ideal. A 2 hour layover would have given me enough time to claim VAT, fill my water bottle, and relax before my flight. Instead, my 1 hour layover resulted in me having to stress over getting to my gate in time.


I made it to my gate in time. Again they made us take a bus to our flight. I did a good job of getting to my gate on time because two more buses arrived after mine. I looked around and was gladly surprised at how empty the plane was. The row ahead of mine and behind me were empty. Or at least they were until a random German guy came last minute and sat in the row ahead of me. I guess this route isn't a very popular route. It makes sense considering LAX is a much bigger international airport and is so close to San Diego. Either way, I'm not complaining.


With no one around me, the flight back was super chill. I had movies downloaded to my Netflix, podcasts downloaded to Spotify, and my Nintendo Switch. The flight was a breeze.


One weird thing is the German dude in the row in front of me was watching some movie on the In Flight Entertainment that had nudity in it. There was a sex scene and this woman's breasts were just out and uncensored. I guess Germans don't care nearly as much about nudity as Americans do, lol.


He also pulled out some pamphlets. I read the titles and they were definitely Nazi literature. It was super strange.


We landed and I was excited to see how Global Entry worked. It was surprisingly simple. I went to a kiosk and answered a few questions about whether or not I was importing any livestock and whatnot. It took my fingerprints as well as a picture. It printed out a receipt and I was on my way.


I picked up my luggage from the carousel and made my way to the Global Entry line. I answered a few more questions about whether or not I was importing anything and was sent on my way.

All in all, it only took about 10-15 minutes between the time that I disembarked from the plane to when I was out of the airport. To be honest, we were the only international flight that arrived at that time so the benefit that I got from Global Entry wasn't as pronounced as it would normally be.


My sister picked me up and brought me back home. It felt good to be in a regular car again. I got some carne asada fries and called it a day.

Recap of the trip to come in another post.