Off to the airport and onto Rome. One advantage of being a solo traveller as I have again been allocated the exit row seat. So much leg room, so little leg to take up the room.
So the next leg of my trip (pun not intended but delicious nonetheless) is to Rome, Italy. The ancient city. I spend 7 nights here; the first two on my own, the next four with Bridie and the final night on my own again. I am flying AirItalia (as part of the star alliance network). I think Air NZ has spoilt me as there was nearly a tantrum when the personal entertainment video thing didnt appear to play your choice if movies. However that was a minor glitch that just needed a couple of minutes for the system to think. I know, first world problems. Since many of my internal flights in Europe are with easyjet (think jetstar) this will be the last flight for a while where I have relative comfort.
Oh, and Happy Birthday Dad! Your birthday is going to last longer than 24hours due to flying time. I think I get to experience the 15th of August for about 30 hours today!

Now 13 hours approx later I have arrived in Rome. My flight landed about 40 mins ago, sped through passport control and now waiting at baggage claim. I have a feeling that I will be writing a few "Dear Sir" type letters on this trip. Here is my one to Leonardo da Vinci airport...

Dear Airport
I have arrived in your fair land in the middle of summer. It is a balmy 28 degrees outside. Yes, cooler than Tokyo but nothing to shake a stick at.
Now you have a spacious baggage claim area which is much appreciated as there is less times when a swift elbow is required, however the experience would be greatly enhanced with the use of air conditioning. I understand that there is a cost involved in running such a temparature controlled device. But, costs can be saved for you in other ways . For example, if you had air con, there would be fewer puddles of sweat created by the waiting passengers thereby greatly reducing the risk of a nasty slip accident ( and the ensuing nasty lawsuit) as well as reducing your clean up costs. Think about it.
Kind regards
Nadine

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