It was good to meet up with Sally, Salehe, Suzie and Rob at the airport (along with the Rattrays who were seeing them off). It was amazing to think that, out of a whole plane, we were sitting in the same row as Sally for the flight. They're heading off to Africa and Salehe's home town of Tanga where they are continuing work from their last trip, building Sally's community house to help the local people.
After a good flight, a lovely gluten free meal (that was vegetarian, as well as minus anything that looked like dairy) and a bumpier touch-down than any I've had in Wellington, we had a three hour wait until the long flight to Dubai. Coffee was off the menu, as there was no way I wanted to compromise any chance of sleep. We were all exhausted from all the stress of getting ourselves away on this trip. It had taken about an hour in the air before I felt myself relax slightly, and half a glass of wine helped even more. I have to say I was not feeling excited yet, with the prospect of a 14 and a half hour flight to Dubai.
Before we boarded our flight to Dubai, Sally gave each of us a Bowen Therapy on our calf muscles - amazing, we were so lucky!
It was a shambles boarding at Sydney with no speaker system working. For the long flight, Jan's TV system wasn't working, so somehow we all got a couple of gourmet chocolates each by the crew to make up for it.... I watched the first half of 'Monsters University', but found the background aircraft noise enough to make hearing difficult, so didn't finish, and I had a few mindless games of 'Ticket to Ride'. David watched three movies. Over a period of about 5 hours, we got some good snatches of sleep, with interruptions, but I felt better after that, than when I had boarded the flight.
I had the same GF meal as out of Christchurch, except fish instead of salmon. My 'midnight snack' was two slices of thick, dry GF bread with lettuce, Aussie tomato, cucumber and a slice of salmon which made it barely palatable. The breakfast of scrambled eggs, mushroom and tomato was better, and included (surprisingly) a yoghurt - up until then everything else had been lactose free. There was even strawberry jam to put on the two rice crackers that I received with each meal instead of bread!
Salehe came for a visit to our section during the flight and said they'd had an awful flight because of crying children - we had been really lucky. With about an hour to go before arriving in Dubai, a message came over the intercom asking if there was a doctor or nurse on board - that sounded worrying. And sure enough, when we caught up with Sally and Suzie at Dubai airport after disembarking, they told us that an elderly man in the row just across from them (another of those coincidences) had appeared to have a heart attack. Sally had given him an external dose of Rescue Remedy, and both she and Suzie had offered support, limited by the rules the staff had to obey. He recovered quite well, but two hours later he got worse again and that's when they had asked if a doctor was on board (there was, and they took over). Very sad and scary, and Sally looked absolutely shattered. We hoped to catch up with her again before we left for Rome, but didn't manage to. I hope she got some sleep before heading to Daris Salam... And I hope they are safe while they're there.
The flight out of Dubai to Rome was announced on board as leaving on time, but for some reason it was nearly 20 minutes late. Nevertheless, it was a good flight, and my meal (as it always is out of Dubai) was so much better. Another fish dish, but with a sauce, other interesting flavours, and even a chocolate mouse and a chocolate. Sounds silly to get excited about it, but those of you who are gluten free will understand why I talk about the meals, and get excited about a dessert other than fruit salad!
The six hour flight to Rome was good. I noticed that we didn't fly over Syria, but skirted around the edge. I had a solid hour and a half sleep as we flew between Istanbul and Italy - this set me up well for our arrival and first evening in Rome. David was able to catch some sleep too, even after the air hostess spilled tomato juice all down the side of his lovely Kathmandu shirt, and jeans - agh! It's seemed to wipe out pretty well, thankfully.
Customs in Rome was interesting - it basically doesn't exist! They give (literally) barely half a glance at our passports, and there's no mention of what you should declare. You just collect your bags and walk out!
We found the driver that I'd organised with our Bed and Breakfast/Hotel, and were quickly on our way into Rome. Yes, QUICKLY - this guy put his foot down and went for it, right up the back of any car in front of us, jamming on the breaks a few times (with us and four heavy suitcases in the back. Jan was freaked out, Steve was bemused, but David and I knew you just had to trust that it would be OK. And, sure enough, before we knew it, we were at our accommodation at the Locanda Colosseo B & B!
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