It was 9am and Dermot was determined to get to the airport early. 'Why' I say.?
He has been caught many times in all those Customs and Immigration lines. I knew we had pre-booked plane seats so I was a more layed back...
After a final check and a clean up of the house- I know a women thing to do, we put our 2 suitcases and 3 carry on bags into the hire car and off we drove, down the highway to Sydney international airport, excited and nervous...and yes we went straight through to 'No mans land' after we checked our bags in. We were in a long queue.! I had packed a couple of cut apples and water so we munched on them as we waited our turn- then it was time to dump the water and the fruit in the bins as we are not allowed to take anything on the planes from Australia.....and say Arriverderci to Australia for a few weeks.
Sitting in our seats we settled for our very very long flight to Rome via a 3 and a half hour stop over in Hong Kong- at 2am Aussie time.!!! Not Fun, but part of international travel. A sleep- haha in the airport was how we spent our time in Hong Kong Airport- in between hearing the various announcements in both Chinese and English.
So a very weiry little family arrived in Rome. I wanted to freshen up, but before I knew it Dermot had navigated us out of Customs, so before Brid and I knew it we were meeting the driver who would take us to our apartment. He spoke very little English, but that was Ok its all in the fun of it.
Dermot and I booked everything except the Airline tickets using online booking sites. It was stressful but fun, as we ticked off yet another city or town that we had booked..
We arrived at 7am, so by the time we cleared customs etc it was 8.30am. It was time to acclimatise ourselves. Ok Sunday morning, why am I so tired !!!!!. Our driver literally sped us to our accomodation, which we booked near the Piazza Navona. My favourite part of Rome. We looked outside the windows of the car to see the many ruins scattered through the streets of Rome. We said goodbye and thanked our driver, paid him, and as we were far to early to access our accomodation, we had a long breakfast at the local cafe'. Italian coffee, cakes, hot Chocolate and water, YUM...
As I was familiar with this part of Rome after staying here in 05, with a group of teens and young adults from World Youth Day 05, I convinced Dermot it was OK to take our bags and have a look around. So 2 minutes walk away was The Piazza and I was finally taking my Sweetheart Dermot and our Brid to see it. I was excited to be doing this as a family.
The gasp from Dermot was worth it all as we turned the corner. A huge square made of cobble stones, a fountain and the people just getting ready for the day, setting up stalls. A church or 2 in view. We took our bags with us and found out when the Sunday Mass times were. The Deacon was a little concerned about our bags but we reassured him and the Priest that there was not a bomb in our bags and we were staying for Mass. This was there main concern.
Although Mass was in Italian, you know where the pauses are, where to respond- most of time. Where to say Our Father etc, etc.
We thanked the Priest and Deacon for letting us keep our bags in our view, and walked back to gain access to our apartment, along the cobble stones and dodging the various motorbikes and cars along the way. It was now 12.30.
Now we could relax, have showers and put our feet up for a couple of hours.
He has been caught many times in all those Customs and Immigration lines. I knew we had pre-booked plane seats so I was a more layed back...
After a final check and a clean up of the house- I know a women thing to do, we put our 2 suitcases and 3 carry on bags into the hire car and off we drove, down the highway to Sydney international airport, excited and nervous...and yes we went straight through to 'No mans land' after we checked our bags in. We were in a long queue.! I had packed a couple of cut apples and water so we munched on them as we waited our turn- then it was time to dump the water and the fruit in the bins as we are not allowed to take anything on the planes from Australia.....and say Arriverderci to Australia for a few weeks.
Sitting in our seats we settled for our very very long flight to Rome via a 3 and a half hour stop over in Hong Kong- at 2am Aussie time.!!! Not Fun, but part of international travel. A sleep- haha in the airport was how we spent our time in Hong Kong Airport- in between hearing the various announcements in both Chinese and English.
So a very weiry little family arrived in Rome. I wanted to freshen up, but before I knew it Dermot had navigated us out of Customs, so before Brid and I knew it we were meeting the driver who would take us to our apartment. He spoke very little English, but that was Ok its all in the fun of it.
Dermot and I booked everything except the Airline tickets using online booking sites. It was stressful but fun, as we ticked off yet another city or town that we had booked..
We arrived at 7am, so by the time we cleared customs etc it was 8.30am. It was time to acclimatise ourselves. Ok Sunday morning, why am I so tired !!!!!. Our driver literally sped us to our accomodation, which we booked near the Piazza Navona. My favourite part of Rome. We looked outside the windows of the car to see the many ruins scattered through the streets of Rome. We said goodbye and thanked our driver, paid him, and as we were far to early to access our accomodation, we had a long breakfast at the local cafe'. Italian coffee, cakes, hot Chocolate and water, YUM...
 |
| So tired, but very excited to finally be here.. |
The gasp from Dermot was worth it all as we turned the corner. A huge square made of cobble stones, a fountain and the people just getting ready for the day, setting up stalls. A church or 2 in view. We took our bags with us and found out when the Sunday Mass times were. The Deacon was a little concerned about our bags but we reassured him and the Priest that there was not a bomb in our bags and we were staying for Mass. This was there main concern.
Although Mass was in Italian, you know where the pauses are, where to respond- most of time. Where to say Our Father etc, etc.
We thanked the Priest and Deacon for letting us keep our bags in our view, and walked back to gain access to our apartment, along the cobble stones and dodging the various motorbikes and cars along the way. It was now 12.30.
Now we could relax, have showers and put our feet up for a couple of hours.
