airport , luggage and queues

18:55 ETD Ciampino to Memmingen (RyanAir)

At 2:30pm, I was at Termini Station to take the Terravision bus going to Ciampino Airport (ticket already booked). At the check-in, I had to re-pack my stuff because my luggage was overweight by about five kilos (allowed only around 18 kilos). Luckily, they don't weigh the carry-on bags or else I might have needed to leave some stuff at the airport. Anyways, all went well without me paying any extra. At the final security check-in, the machine beeped when my bag and I passed through it. My bag had to be passed through a handheld security machine then I had to undergo a frisking. The lady there was asking me something but since it's in Italian, I couldn't understand what she's saying until she said "cinturon." Oh, that must be my belt and when I pointed at it, she nodded her head. Okay!

While waiting for my boarding time, I noticed that the other passengers were already making their queue at the gate. I don't understand why they had to when the gate would be not be open for at least an hour more. When they started boarding, I had to be content on being one of the last people in line (I just sat down until the end of the queue came up to my place). After a while, this harrassed American girl sat down next to me in a flurry and was murmuring something. The only thing I heard was "why this long line?" So I looked at her, smiled, and said "I don't know either!" And she said that she was wondering what's the hurry since everybody would get a seat anyway. And there I realized that there was not a seating arrangement and the seats are on a "first come, first served" basis. So Melanie and I waited it out and were the last few people to get on board the bus that would take us to the plane. I guess that was a good plan because as we were the last people on board the bus, we were standing near the door and when it opened up, we were the ones to alight the bus and therefore, get to the plane first. Inside, I noticed that the front half of the plane was all occupied while the rear half were reserved for us. Because we were onboard first, Melanie and I were able to sit in the middle of the plane! Isn't that great?