I just can’t seem to get a handle on this waking up on time thing. Once again today, I was late at getting myself up and getting ready for the day. With five minutes till I needed to be ready to leave, I awoke disoriented and confused. I got out of bed as fast as I could and got dressed once I realized what time it was. I ran out the door and straight to the bus. Our first stop this morning at 7 AM was St. Peter’s Basilica for our seminary mass.
I guess one must accept the constant confusion around sleep when one travels internationally. Today, instead of waking up super early, I woke up late. I thought I had my alarm set for 6am, but instead, I woke at 7am… Needless to say, I was rather rushed this morning.
DARN JETLAG! It’s 3am over here and I’m wide awake! #NEEDSLEEP!!
— Andrew M. Boyd (@boydspace) March 5, 2017
Waking up at 3am is not fun. No matter what anyone tells me, this is not a fun way to spend one’s time traveling. Yet that is exactly what I experienced today. Have you ever had one of those moments where your body just says ‘get up!’ and you can’t figure out why? Under no circumstance should I have woken up at 3am here this morning, yet after five hours of sleep I was wide awake and ready for the day.
After a long night of travel with little to no sleep, we arrived in Rome at 1pm local time. Not surprisingly, the travel was probably the worst part of the trip for me. It started with a delayed flight in Pittsburgh, a very long taxing time at JFK, and a difficult passenger sitting next to me.
And so I sit here, preparing physically and mentally for the journey that is about to begin. I have packed, double and triple checked my bags and what I have packed, knowing that even though I tried, I still over packed; it always seems to happen that way when I travel.