I go a lot of places for work… I’ve been on more than 120 planes this year and at least 100 of them have been work-related. Actually! That’s how this blog was born, I made a Facebook album after a thought I’d often have: “I travel for work, but sometimes?” I’d think wistfully, “Sometimes I VACAY!”

For now, I don’t mind all of this work travel – sometimes I feel the burnout setting in, but then things like today happen and I’m grateful for my job and the lifestyle if affords me: the coveted DELTA ONE upgrade!

Given how much I travel, and that I’m based out of Atlanta, it’s probably no surprise that I’m a Delta Girl and have earned D I A M O N D status this year!!! This came with four glorious Global Upgrade Certificates — I think of these like Willy Wonka’s Golden Tickets. The only people who get the certificates are Diamond+ members and since the year’s almost up, people are using them. When I called Delta, Kyle & I were 4 and 5 on the upgrade list, but there were only 3 spots left, so we’d lost all hope of actually getting to redeem the certificate. BUT!! All of that finger crossing paid off because I sit here typing this from my very reclined Delta One seat getting ready to shut down and go into full bed-mode.

Getting to Italy: The Delta One Experience

Oh my gosh!!!!!! We would have been fine in our original seats, but I cannot emphasize enough how absolutely luxurious the experience is. As soon as we sat down, we were offered a glass of Prosecco and full bottle of water, at least one of our attendants is Italian and he allowed me to “practicare me Italiano” with him… and overall, we’ll arrive much better rested than we would have otherwise, which will allow us to dive right into the amazing honeymoon we have planned. OH! Did I forget to mention that? YES! We’ve been talking about coming to Italy since 2018, have been engaged since 2019, were supposed to get married in 2020, finally got married on May 29 this year… and are getting to actually take our dream honeymoon over out 6-month anniversary, so it’s been a long time coming and we intend to fully celebrate <3.

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To help us get the the most out of our glorious lay-flat seats, Delta provided us with Westin comforters and pillows along with other essentials…

Tumi Toiletries & in-flight Essentials

Delta provided us with this super cute and lay-flat toiletry bag filled with in-flight goodies!

In-flight Dining

[discuss dinner / breakfast]

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In-Flight Entertainment

I love the wide variety of movies offered on Delta flights. For this trip, I knew I had to watch Luca — I watched it in Italian with the English subtitles, then decided to only watch programs offered in Italian, so moved on to Raya (when I fell asleep).

WiFi is available with your Delta wifi monthly-membership or for $21 for the duration of the flight.

Getting to Italy: What you need to know

We had to fill out these EU travel documents, Delta provided all of the information we needed when we went to “My Trips” and the documents tab, but we could only access this on the website, not the app. Then we were emailed a QR code. This seemed mostly for general entrance forms, like how we’ve always had to fill out the papers upon entry in the past. We had to attest to where we came from and if we were from the US, Canada, or Japan that we would be bringing either a certification that we have had and recovered from COVID-19 or our CDC (or equivalent) vaccination card, and a negative COVID-19 test (this could be a rapid antigen test).

When we arrived at the airport, they verified that we had our passports, EU entry QR-code, negative test, CDC vaccination card and took our temperature.

It was a relatively painful process, but I did see someone get turned away who’s Covid-19 test results were more than 72 hours old, so if you’re going abroad, be sure to read carefully which specific documents and timing is required for your visiting region and follow their protocols accordingly.

Getting to Italy: Roma Fiumicino & Milano Linate Airports

Once we arrived in Roma, we buzzed through customs! We no longer have to fill out the paper forms because of the EU QR code, which made everything so simple (although nobody actually ever scanned our QR codes). It was a bit of a wait for our baggage, but thankfully we scheduled a long layover before our flight to Milan.

While waiting in the somewhat long economy line for Italia Air (ITA), Kyle noticed that the Sky Priority line looked identical to Delta’s Sky Priority sign, after a quick Google search (there’s free WiFi in the airport!), we found out that ITA joined Sky Team on October 29, 2021– how fortunate! So I asked an agent, and we were able to pop over there, which sped things up considerably.

What you Need to Know:

The restrooms are gorgeous, you do not have to take off your shoes in security (Kyle said it was super obvious that I am American because I did this), surgical masks are required in the airport (if you don’t have one, Delta will provide them upon landing. I like opted for these black surgical style masks, while Kyle got these black KN-95 masks).

Getting to Italy: What I Wore

Okay y’all, I’m actually super proud of how I packed for this trip! You’ll see me repeating a LOT of outfit pieces!! For 9 days in Europe, I only brought FOUR bottoms and a handful of sweaters. I know, this is completely new territory for me, so we’ll see how it goes. My bet is that it ends with me covered in sugo-stained clothes by the end, but since it’s northern Italy, maybe I should say risotto-stained clothes hahaha.

We have now made it safely to Rome, through customs, and are just awaiting our Italia Air flight to Milan! We’re *planning* on keeping the blog up-to-date as we move through Italy so our families can follow our adventures – so stay tuned for more bellissime avventure in Italia.

p.s. when I was in college, I did an exchange program and spent 6 months studying in Milan and kept a blog called “Bellissime Avventure,” I’ve since migrated that blog over to SometimesIVacay in case you want to check any of it out! for some reason, I don’t think any of the photos load anymore, but it’s still fun to read what my 20-year-old self thought of Europe.