Monday, June 15 my expedition began at 10:40 am when I called a taxi to take me to the Princeton Junction train station. In family tradition I sat down and counted to ten before leaving. I caught a New Jersey Transit train to the Newark Liberty International Airport Station and rode the AirTrain Monorail to the airport.
While taxiing we passed several Boeing 737 aircraft. Interestingly they all had winglets. Winglets are the wing extensions that point upward and outward at the ends of the wings. They cut down on turbulence and increase fuel efficiency. So either all the planes were the latest model or, more likely, had been retrofit.
The flight was Continental Airlines flight 0040 direct to Rome on a Boeing 767-400ER aircraft. The airplane seats 235 passengers; 35 business class and 200 economy. The plane was completely full. The plane's displays above the aisles cycled through several screens of interesting information. Some showed the plane's flight path, completed (solid) and planned (dashed) and I could see that we passed by Gander, Newfoundland, across the Atlantic, south of Scotland, and over France. There were maps that showed the entire route and several that zoomed in on our current position. There were other screens, some in Italian, some in English, with flight data: velocita al suolo 970 km/hr, altitudine 10363 m, temperatura esterna -53 C, and vento a favore 46 km/hr, ground speed 624 mph, altitude 34000 ft, outside temperature -63 F, and tailwind 73 mph. On Tuesday, June 16 after an 8 hour and 25 minute flight we landed at Rome's Fiumicino Airport.
At the baggage claim area there was a woman holding a sign that said Corinthian II. I identified myself. We collected my baggage and she led me through the maze of the terminal. My passport was stamped. Then she led me outside to a bus that took me to a Hilton at the airport. There I waited for several hours as more of the ship's passengers arrived. Finally a bus brought us to the port of Civitavecchia. Here we saw many ancient fortifications. Just of a hint of what was to come.
Then we could see the Corinthian II, our home for the next week. She can carry 114 passengers, though there were only 85 due to the state of the economy. The literature states that she has a crew of 75. Since on this voyage she didn't have a full compliment of passengers, she probably had a smaller crew. Her crew seemed to be made up of people from all around the world. Her statistics: length 297 feet, beam 50 feet, draft 12 feet, and registered in Malta. The agenda for the first day included a safety drill. Seven short and one long sounding of the ship's whistle ( * * * * * * * ******* ) meant take your life vest and go to your muster station. From there we went to the location where we would board our life boat (if it had been an actual emergency). Then cocktail hour, we set sail for Livorno, and dinner.
