The Crawshaws’ Overseas Trip - Flight to Rome

Sunday 12 May - Although we had access to the lounge area, it was still a long wait until boarding at approximately 12.45am. Finally we all trooped on, bracing ourselves for the 12 hours ahead. As it turned out, the seats converted into quite comfortable beds. Michael went to sleep as soon as the seat belt sign flicked off. I stayed awake until the end of Bohemian Rhapsody, then slept for about 4 hours. Sleep eluded me after that and while Michael slumbered on, I indulged in some Iyengar yoga postures seated on the bed. First yoga for at least two weeks! An hour or so later, we were fed breakfast with about 90 minutes of flight time to go. 

At last, Rome airport. We managed to navigate our way from Arrivals to Departures by train, get our boarding passes for Palermo, capital of Sicily and find the correct gate. Then another 2 hour wait for our flight. During this time, a lady pointed out to Michael that his mobile phone was on the floor behind his seat. He got his own back when we were lining up for boarding. Another lady came up to me and asked if I had left my mobile back at the charging dock where I was sitting. Er, why yes, so I had, very embarrassing. Michael just smirked. 

After an hour’s flight, we landed at Palermo airport and headed for the baggage carousel. An excruciatingly slow process, one bag being flung down the chute at seemingly 5 minute intervals. Eventually the carousel stopped altogether. At that point an airport official announced to the considerable crowd that international passengers could collect their luggage from carousel 1, not 4 where we were waiting. Off we trooped where we waited another 30 minutes for bags to start appearing. Then, once retrieved, we had to go through the customs checkpoint. Finally we made our way past the barriers to the free world. Our driver was waiting patiently for us, or so we thought. Once in his vehicle, he tore at the speed of light along the Autostrade and inner city streets to regurgitate his petrified passengers on to the pavement outside their hotel. 

We checked in to the Hotel Plaza Opera, our room quite small but a comfortable bed and a hot shower so very acceptable. The safe wouldn’t lock and the aircon didn’t seem to be working but these were minor details in the scheme of things. After dumping our bags in the room, we set off to explore, initially seeking out the Avis office so we would know where to go in two days time. We found it, closed due to the siesta break, so decided to return the next morning to confirm the booking. 

Wandering through the narrow cobbled streets, we navigated our way around cars, roadworks, rubbish bags piled high. At times the stench was overpowering. Washing lines were strung high between little balconies, people were watching the world go by out of shuttered windows. We eventually found an outdoor bar and stopped for a beer. The area felt a bit unsavoury so we moved on.

A horse and cart passed us by, the young man hailed us, and before we knew it, Francesco the reinsman and Zenit the horse were taking us on a tour of the city. We saw churches, monuments, majestic buildings, statues, all of which were explained with passion by Francesco. There was the slight problem of the language barrier and so we gleaned little or nothing of what he was attempting to reveal. We nodded a lot and said “oh si” a lot. He became especially animated when showing us where a famous Italian movie had been filmed, and naming the lead actors. We nodded even more knowingly because he was desperate to impress upon us the importance of this major event. I think he suspected we were completely ignorant of the finer facts of Sicilian life and eventually got his own back by charging us double what he originally quoted. 

He also did not understand that we wanted to be dropped off at the same point as our pick up. 

It took us quite some time to find our way back to the hotel. By this stage, I was exhausted so while Michael went for a beer in the hotel bar, I had a shower and rested, as in fell asleep. I remember letting Michael into the room, then nothing more until morning.