Sunday June 9 2019 – Monday June 10
Really day zero, as we probably won’t be in our room till we have been traveling for round 32 hours after we leave home.
Things got off to a rocky start. Our driver was due between 5:00 and 5:30pm on a Sunday evening of a long weekend. He texted to say he was running late.
Finally turned round 6:00pm, but no problem as it should be a quick trip.
He suggested avoiding the city because of crowds at Sydney Vivid. So off we go via M4/M5. Traffic was horrendous.
Then the M5 was a car park – some accident on it.
He headed down back streets and I have no idea where we went. I know that at one point we passed through Hurstville, but that’s about it.
Fortunately he knew which section we had to checkin through, and dropped us right at the door. Also manged to tell the worst joke of all time about polar bears.
By the time we got through checkin, we only had 5 mins till boarding – so much for the idea of getting dinner before the flight.
Going through security screening,did the usual of putting laptop, watch, jacket, bag on the xray roller-coaster, then I was asked to go through the full body scanner.
Trouble was the crazy little lady in front of me registered on the scanner, but refused a pat down and manua scan, so that had to rescan her twice more before sending her back for external security.
Meanwhile I helplessly watched my stuff sail off into the distance… Fortunately Annie was ahead of me, and retrieved it all.
The good bit was the excellence of the Etihad food, and taste of their Merlot.
Then a nearly 15 hour flight to Abu Dhabi and about a 3 hour stopover, the next leg of just over 6 hours should see us in Rome.
As well as looking out the window, it was interesting following the flight tracker. We do not fly a straight path, but lots of little zig-zags that I assume are dictated by borders.
The scams start. The airport at Rome has fixed taxi price of €48, and big signs indicating this. We join the taxi rank, and the cabbie puts our bags in the boot. Annie checks that it will be €48 but he says €60. After an argument he angrily dumps our bags out and goes looking for another sucker.
The next cabbie is much nicer and agrees with the €48. Until we hit the road…
The spirit of Fangio still lives in the European blood. 135+kph along the highway, one phone to his ear, checking another on his dashboard while still monitoring his booking screen. After that trip, I will be carefully checking before using any pedestrian crossing, even those with a little green man.
We are staying at the Romanico Palace Hotel, until we join the tour.
After unpacking a bit, we head out for a first taste of Rome. The flavour is… hot and humid!
In honour of Alfred Bester, we do a quick jaunt to the Spanish steps.
