On April 7, I left for Milan full of ideas about my trip to Italy and ready for some rest and relaxation before attending the International Furniture Fair.

The trip did not go as planned. Though I enjoyed our pre-show outings to Varenna and Bellagio, and a fantastic day in Torino, what changed the nature of the trip was a volcano in Iceland that no one can even pronounce. I did, however, get to enjoy the fabulous meal pictured here — a Costaletta di Milan veal cutlet, with delicious wine, arugula salad and a fantastic dessert. But it’s all a distant memory now.

I first heard about the eruption on Thursday, April 15. There were a few rumblings about how it might change airline departures. By Friday, pretty much all flights out of Milan were either about to be canceled or had already been canceled — so much for my return to the States on Saturday.

There were a few things that surprised me about the whole situation. First, I realized how utterly dependent I am on having things that work (like my cell phone, the Internet and CNN), and that I take for granted. I was staying in a hotel that didn’t have proper internet access and or CNN or the BBC, so I felt very much in the dark. You never realize how much you miss those things until you don’t have them, and I missed them dearly. Since I don’t speak Italian, it was especially difficult. Of course, since there really wasn’t any good information about the eruption anyway, maybe it didn’t matter that much, but it was crazy frustrating.

Next, it was definitely old-school about getting in touch with United. The was simply no getting hold of them for days. The European reservation line was jammed, and the US line was too expensive to call. I resorted to checking my United account online via my iPhone (which was great, if microscopic) to find out if and when my flight was to be rescheduled. It was, three times. But did United ever call me to say when? No, that was up to me to find out. An email would have been nice, and probably not that hard to do.

I finally got home on Wednesday on Air France, after scooping up the last ticket I could find on Travelocity late Tuesday. Shopping for flights on an iPhone is not a great experience on Travelocity; it’s not easy to see your options and it’s dead slow. But thank God I could at least do that. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be home even now, as United has rescheduled my flight for tomorrow.

Everyone at work has asked me if I enjoyed my extended stay in Italy. They’ve all commented that there are many worse places to be stranded. But the truth is, when you’re stranded and have no idea how you’re going to get home, it doesn’t matter where you are. It’s still just a giant pain in the butt.

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