Today we begin the final leg of our 2017 European Adventure – the long journey home. All good things have to end at some time.
We were in no rush today as our flight doesn’t leave until 22:05 – Emirates EK96 from Rome to Dubai. We left our great apartment just before 10:00am and had our last breakfast down in Piazza del Biscione. The location for our stay in Rome was brilliant. Close to everything, set in two lively, adjacent squares with so many dining choices, the market every day and the ad-hoc entertainment at night. The apartment was spacious, accommodating four people easily. We just loved opening up the big windows each night to let the cool air and the noise from the squares float in. We would highly recommend it for any one coming to Rome and looking for an affordable place in a fantastic location.
After our good-byes to our friendly waiter of the last five mornings we wheeled our cases down to Corso Vittorio Emanuelle II and immediately caught the eye of keen taxi-driver keen to avoid the queue at the taxi rank 75m up the road. Rome has set taxi fees to each of its airports. The international airport – Fiociminio (FCO) is about xxkms away. The cost is EUR 48.00. It’s a few Euros more expensive that, the taxi to Roma Termini and the train to the airport but we were happy to pay that to minimise the distance we need to drag our bags.
We arrived at FCO by about 11:30am so we had plenty of time to kill. No drama, as we had decided to make this airport adventure as stress free as we could! I logged into work and got stuck into my emails until the battery on my computer died. Kerry did some needle work. A couple of coffees and some nibbles helped while away the time. On one coffee run Kerry passed a men’s fashion store and found s\\ome things she thought might be good in my wardrobe. Well, 45 minutes later we walked out with three light cashmere pullovers, some socks and two silk ties. The acquisitions attracted a tax rebate so getting that money back killed another 30 minutes.
From there we went straight to the Emirates check-in desk. I’d checked-in online a couple of days ago so it was just a matter of dropping off the bags – four in total. That done we went through security, my belt went off so it came off, nothing more than that. The surly faced customs officer stamped our passports and we were in. The International terminal at Rome is quite modern, very spacious with many choices of places to eat. We chose a bakery and had prosciutto and cheese on a crusty, warm baguette. Kerry has Coke, I had vino rosso. There is an automated train that takes you from here to the embarkation gates. We jumped on that and soon arrived at our gate. I bought UK-Italian converter plug because I’d packed my other one in th case (doh!) and spent another hour knocking off some more work emails. Kerry did more needlework.
After ten hours of waiting it was finally time to board the plane. We settled into our middle seats (21D and 21E) and waited the the plane to take-off on the 5.5hr journey to Dubai.
No comments:
Post a Comment