2.6.2000 In case you get confused, as I did when talking to another girl who was on the same flight as me, but seemingly out of a different airport, FIUMICINO and DA VINCI are one and the same and both refer to Rome’s International Airport.

A train leaves from the Termini to the airport about every half-hour. You can buy the ticket at any magazine stand, you don’t need to visit the main ticket counter.

I board the plane and fifteen hours later I’m back in Los Angeles.

Be prepared for a little bit of a culture shock when returning. The United States seems foreign when you’ve spent enough time in Europe.

And then there are the trappings of travel that you must shed. Like your money belt and the backpack. It takes a while to get used to not meeting an entirely new group of friends every single day, staying in one place and eating normally. I hadn’t quite forgotten how to drive.

On the return leg of the trip from London’s Heathrow to LAX, the in-flight entertainment included a special on the Best Beaches in the World.

A beach for every month of the year.

The winter months (of the Northern Hemisphere) can be spent in Australia, the South Pacific and South America, while the summer months are spent in Mexico, Italy and Thailand.

I remembered someone told me about this deal on a round-the-world plane ticket where you can have as many stops as you want as long as you travel in the same direction.

And you know what? It got me thinking…