As hinted in previous Posts, we have commenced a marathon trip into an around Europe, lasting nearly 70 days. That is a new record for us/me. The following is our planned Itinerary.

Europe 2017

So let’s commence!

Part 1 – The Great Roman Crusade
Wednesday, 14 June, 2017

Our good friend Gary drives us to the airport in the Black Beauty. It is a relatively straightforward trip out to Tulla as the traffic is not horrid. When we get to the airport, 3 hours early, there is a long line in the Business Class lane, as well as Economy, and it is just not moving. Eventually, Singapore Airlines stops serving Economy customers and clears out the Business Class line.

Security and Immigration go smoothly, the latter is now automated with chip passport entered and camera verification. I had intended to collect my GST for the new camera I had purchased but there was a long queue with only one person serving. So much for using the App to generate a QR code which was supposed to give priority but did not. The SA lounge was OK with some food and had a few bloody marys before boarding was called.

After another bloody mary, the meals were served. We had signed up for the “book the cook” service that SA provides for Business and First Class passengers which enables us to select, in advance, one of several meals from famous chefs – Matt Moran is the Aussie representative.

I had had a Thai Green Curry on my last flight on SA and it was one of the best I have ever had anywhere. This was OK, but not up to the same standard as last time. The lamb was a bit tough as well. The wine was an Aussie Shiraz and quite good.

I will make a comment about the Seat on this plane. It is modern with lots of space for storage etc. It has a full lay out bed. But the length of the bed is only about 5 feet which means a not that tall person like me cannot stretch out full length which seems a bit of a strange design.

During the flight Julies watches a strange looking movie, Beauty and the Beast. I had picked up a few papers at MEL so spent a lot of time doing their puzzles and drinking Shiraz.

Finally, the plane lands in SIN after just 7 hours or so. However, it seemed much longer to me, I have done this flight at least 50 times in the past, so this does not bode well for the rest of the flights. The plane lands in Terminal 3 and our next flight departs from Terminal 2. Last time we took a train over but this time we take a bus to terminal 2. It seems to take quite a long time driving around the airport but we reach Terminal 2 and eventually find the Lounge. I don’t recall much about it, there was food and drink not that we really needed that. Finally we board the plane, this time it is a Swiss Airlines flight. The structure of the Seats is quite different with the general design a 2 x 2 x 2 per row. However, in each column the seats are structured in a herring bone fashion with 2 seats alternated with one seat etc. This enabled the fully flat bed to reach a decent length by extending into the seat / bulwark in front of you on an angle. Otherwise, the seats were not particularly roomy with not a lot of storage. Eventually they start serving the food. The menu is not as exciting as the Singapore Airlines flight so I order beef.

These serves were quite large and I thought they were the main meals. WRONG – they were just the starters.

The wine was a Zinfandel which was not all that great but I stuck with it through the flight. I was mainly served by a Swiss hostess lady named Vera, very nice person. Eventually, I pass out in my chair and got very lucky in that my glasses fell off onto the floor in front of me. Julie had to step over me to get to the toilet and just missed the glasses, otherwise if would have had smashed glasses for the second time in a year. Eventually, my lay flat bed gets set up and I drop off to sleep – I am estimating I had around 4 hours which is not near enough for a 12+ hours flight. After waking up and settling back into normal seating position, they bring a snack/breakfast.

I did not turn on the PC once on the flight and did not watch a movie either. Mostly I just festered, although toward the end of this flight I broke out a puzzle page from the Sunday Herald Sun which helped pass the time. Finally we land at Zurich airport after a very long and tiring flight. I envied the French guy across the aisle from us who had slept 90% of the time of the flight. We took the train across to the main terminal at Zurich airport and find the Lounge we had been in last time we flew Swiss Air from Singapore. A bit of a drink and some Wifi enabled emails and then it is back on a plane for the next flight.

This is a short (70 minute) flight to Rome. There is another breakfast meal.

An uneventful flight and sit in at the airport waiting for our suitcases – waiting and waiting. After around an hour, they finally get off and we exit. We had organised a driver to pick us up and eventually found him. He took us on an entertaining back roads tour through forests etc before eventually reaching Rome itself and heavy traffic. We are nearing our destination but there is a large street protest going on so we are not allowed to turn into where our apartment is based. Finally, after more driving around we end up there.

We meet up with our Host, Giacomo, is waiting for us and shows us up to the apartment. It is up several stairs but Giacomo carries Julie’s heavy bag the whole way and my lighter one part of the way. He spends a lot of time explaining and demonstrating things to Julie. He is very thorough and very good. By then I have turned into somewhat of a Zombie due to the jet lag and lack of sleep so unable to do anything much.

So why did I title this Post as I did? We certainly ended up in Rome. I doubt that it could be called a Crusade but travel there we did. And I don’t think Great was an avid description. Rather than great, it was long. Approximately 29 hours from door to door. I have done longer in the past, up to 42 hours a couple of times, but this one was plenty long.