Saturday 12/9/26 Sunday 13/9/26 Sydney to Incheon to Rome

Who would have thought your day could get any worse after being flogged by Jane at golf in the morning, the Citizen watch dying on the day we are due to fly, then a 45 minutes battle to get out of the Westfields carpark after getting it fixed , followed by being confined to the bedroom like 2 naughty children whilst builders installed protective materials in preparation for the renovation whilst we are away for 6 weeks.

Logical answer – NOBODY. That is until you arrive at the check-in desk and discover your passport and credit cards are nowhere to be found- unless you are a diligent Uber driver.

Some how they were left in the rear seat .

Thankfully the technically adept airlne staff tracked down the Uber driver and $50 later we were gratefully reunited. Only a couple of champagne’s in the Lounge could bring the heart rate down from a 100 to 70.

One might say an inauspicious start to the journey. The remainder of pre flight time was spent self berating for being so stupid- and that message was reiterated more than once by the travelling partner. Think she may have been miffed having to walk the length of the terminal on an unsuccessful search mission.

It was pretty uneventful flight due to the desire to get some sleep and put the previous 3 hours out of my mind. Managed some fitful sleep and woke around 500 am – a few hours out of Incheon.

I will need to remember when freshening up to check that the writing on can says deodorant , not deodoriser as that liquid under your arm smells good but you still feel like you are doing an advertisement for Glen 20.

Off the plane it was 6 hours of washing away the sins of yesterday, avoiding another soirée of food in the lounge simply wandering around the huge terminal and sitting in the lounge wiling away the time until our next leg to Rome- hoping that the predicted airport strike is over when we arrive at 730.

Seems the forgetfulness is infectious as Jane managed to forget the number on her luggage locker , but thankfully it was inside the Lounge and she was again the recipient of great help from the Asiana staff.

This time boarded a slightly bigger Airbus for the 12.5 hour trip to Rome. Two good movies, followed by the worst movie ever watched which was named after the former Tiger Bennt Elias – Backdoor . It was pretty macabre and I am sure it caused my very interrupted 5 hour lay down.

Arrived in Rome in 29 degree heat , but thankfully no sign of the strike, at least fir those with electronic passports We whizzed through in about 10 minutes, quickly rescued the suitcases and were on a local train to Trasteverr situated on the opposite side of the river to all the main attractions.

We grabbed the local bus and ended up in our hotel in a very cosmopolitan part of town where the locals were out enjoying the balmy night around the square. It’s the lifestyle we enjoy when overseas – away from the madding crowds.

We dumped the bags and headed back to the square for dinner around 930 and the outdoor cafes were buzzing. Enjoyed a delicious pizza and started the body count for Aperol Spritz downing a couple served in glasses big enough to mix a decent batch of concrete.

Finally after about 35 hours we were ready for our first sleep in Italy ready to start another adventure which will begin in Bologna where a small gathering of 2 will celebrate Jane’s 70th birthday.