Italy - Amalfi and Rome

Friday, April 20th, noon time, 1 carry on, 1 check in bag, a Rebecca Minkoff backpack and a cross body Tumi bag, tossed into the truck, we drove to our long term parking by JFK Airport, where we left our car parked for the duration of our trip. We used Jiffy Airport parking, they provide a convenient shuttle service directly to your departure terminal, total cost for ten days, with taxes and Port Authority Fee $145.29.

Fifteen minutes after dropping our car off, the shuttle car whisked us off toward JFK and dropped us off at Terminal 1 - Alitalia Departures. Despite being members of Global Entry/TSA Pre-Check, we found out that Alitalia is not a member. The lines to go through security meandered around the building twice over. After 90 minutes in line, multiple loo runs and being serenaded by the deafening cries of babies, we were released by security and were done being abused by TSA, my jar of extra crunchy peanut butter was confiscated even though it was sealed, I wanted to cry out "Hey lady, that's all I eat!". But I knew that it would fall on deaf ears. We had maybe an hour left to kill before departure.

We decided to check out the Korean Air Lounge. Located on the second level, accessible by elevator as well as stairs. Korean Air (KAL), allows Priority Pass holders. The receptionist requested to see our boarding pass and PP card.

The lounge is a bit sad in appearance and is underwhelming overall. While clean, the furnishing is warm, great airside view, the food and beverage situation is just sad. Some sad cookies in miniature size, prepackaged dry Ramen soup, dried up apples and mushy bananas were set on the left side as you enter. Hot tea and coffee, ***packaged water*** and miniature size soda in small fridges under the food counter. I'm not sure why they call it first class passenger lounge. We didn't stay long. We left to stroll the JFK duty free shops and eventually boarded our flight, Alitalia AZ609 non stop to Rome, economy (O) 63,848 Ultimate Rewards points.

We were seated in 19J and 19L, I picked those seats with no one between us, hoping that the middle seat wont be picked by anyone else. My bet paid off, but despite the extra room between us, it was incredibly uncomfortable. My husband's tray was taped with duct tape, which only stayed up and in place until the food was served, from that moment on, the tape didn't work and the tray was down the entire trip.

We were served mediocre dinner, and a cold sandwich in the morning roughly an hour before arrival. The service from the crew was cold and inattentive, but we tried to sleep, so it didn't matter. We landed on time though, we disembarked exactly at 6:50AM. No lines in immigration. We picked up our bag and proceeded to the Hertz counter. We had a reservation and a three hour drive...

End of part 1