I was bound for a cross-fire hurricane....

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..... and I howled at my ma in the drivin' plane (Sung to the tune of Jumpin' Jack Flash). Firstly, my apologies for the Stones reference straight up, but those who know me well will forgive this slight indulgence. Secondly, apologies to Mick and Keith for butchering those immortal opening lines.

In my defence, the hurricane reference is completely valid. We left for Incheon, Korea heading towards the destructive force of Typhoon Bolaven. The day before we left it had already made a mess of some islands in Japan, and was headed north for the Korean peninsula the same day we were due to arrive. Unfortunately this translated into a four hour delay leaving Brisbane.

Anyway, the day started at 4:30, and thankfully Kay stayed over to drive us to the airport. So there we were at the international terminal at 6:15, bleary eyed and anything but bushy tailed ready to go for a (wait for it) 12:35 departure - bullshit! It was going to be a long day.

We eventually got away, and landed in Incheon about 9:45pm. The tail end of the typhoon was still very much playing havoc for the pilot and we had a slightly hairy landing. The conditions were not good, and we sat rocking and rolling on the tarmac for a good hour or more waiting for a terminal to pull into. It was certainly testament to the forces of mother nature that she could push around a vessel (is that right?) of that size when it was supposed to be stationery. To cut a long story short, eventually made it to the hotel around 12:30am, and crashed and burned (thankfully in a luxurious Hyatt Regency king-size bed, and not in a heap of twisted Korean steel into the East China Sea.)

We woke to enjoy an exquisite breakfast, complete with croissants, danishes, eggs, bacon, waffles, smoked salmon, etc etc. Took our time and made the most of the beautiful surrounds, and finally relaxed into our holiday.

I can't leave the account of our time in Korea without mention of the electronic toilet/bidet in the en-suite. It was an all-in-one affair with a Star Trek-esque flip control panel alongside the captains chair. Flipped back the panel to reveal a number of controls. OK, where to start - ah yes, "warm up" - Check, "spray" - Check, "Jet" - Check. One problem though - as an Antipodean novice to such things, I obviously did not leave enough time between "warm up" and "jet" - hoochie mama!! Oh well, after an icy jet up the clacker, I was ready for the final leg of our journey to Italy.

Unfortunately, we were delayed further, due to the backlog of planes. However, apart from the occasional fallen tree we noticed on our return bus to the airport, you would never have guessed that a typhoon had been through the place 24 hours earlier. Perfect weather - the Gods were shining on us. In fact, the most interesting sight was an unusual piece of public artwork (see photo).

Another long haul across the top of the world, and finally we were descending into Milan. Due to a lost in translation moment (Natalie's fault for once) we thought we were staying on the plane in Milan, then continuing to Rome. Well - sort of. We were staying on the same plane, but had to get off, wait in Milan airport for an hour or so, and then get back on the same plane to Rome. Umm..yeah, OK - welcome to Italy.

Finally made it to the eternal city around 11:00pm, but thankfully had the foresight to arrange a car pick-up with the owner of the apartment we were renting. All went smoothly - met Davide, and finally got to our digs in Testaccio around midnight. We fell into bed finally around 1:30 - WE WERE HERE!

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