Day 39 - Rome to Frankfurt

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Being a travel day there will be few photos which will be a relief to anyone who saw yesterday’s photo filled day of fun.

This morning we had to check out of the Air BnB by 10am and with our quantity of luggage it wasn't possible for us to do any sightseeing so went to the nearby taxi rank and came straight to the airport despite our flight not being till 3pm. The traffic in Rome, as I've said many times, is chaotic and this morning was no different. Our taxi was piloted by none other than Valentino Rossi's second cousin on his mother's side. Our ride this morning was a Toyota Prius and our driver proved that a Prius, yes a Prius, is capable of speeds up to 150km/hr. The irony is at no time did the drive feel unsafe as was our driver's skill, a couple of times we got to within that immeasurable gap of half a cigarette paper's thickness to the vehicle in front but we generally kept the standard one cigarette paper thick between us and the vehicle in front.

We arrived at Rome's Fiumicino Airport Terminal 1 and check in was super fast, no queue, but Wayne's bag was deemed oversize (first time we've encountered this on many flights) and we had to drop his bag at the oversize bag drop. The Alitalia Lounge is pretty busy but you could stay in worse places as we had a couple of hours to kill. Vicki settled in to some people watching while Wayne chilled appreciative of the fact that this is the coolest he has been since leaving the UK over two weeks ago. In the lounge we watched the guy with the head phones on looking busy but the busiest guy there was the prance on his mobile phone trying, and failing miserably, to impress everyone with his importance.

After the lounge we headed to Vicki's worst nightmare, security. After stripping down, well taking her boots off, and emptying everything out of her bags she passed through with flying colors except for one thing. Her handbag set off alarm bells so that was emptied out by the glove wearing security lady and she went through everything like Vicki had a ton of cocaine stuffed in her handbag. Finding nothing they scanned it again and without removing a solitary item including the afore mentioned ton of cocaine it passed with flying colors. All Wayne had to put through was two laptops, an iPad, mobile phone and he didn't even remove his belt or shoes.

The flight to Frankfurt was terrific, excellent service and great inflight food and drink. Our Cabin Manager, Paola, was run off her feet with just us in business class to look after. Following lunch it was time for coffee and limoncello served over the Swiss Alps, well we assume they were as they were really high and covered in snow, and this had us reminiscing of our nights with Gabi and Daniel in Sursee all those weeks ago, a special part of our journey through Europe.

We arrived spot on time at 5pm in Frankfurt and had a bit of a wait for our luggage, despite it being marked priority, but no dramas compared to what followed. We walked over from terminal 1 to our hotel, The Hilton Garden Inn, to find their computer system was down. After about 15 minutes in the queue Wayne was finally served and given a room, we were on our way to freshen up before going out for our last dinner on our holiday. WRONG! We eventually made it to our room, could it be any further from the lift, to open the door and find someone else's luggage already in the room. We just looked at each other said some words that we won't publish here and got out of Dodge as quickly as we could without slamming the door. Fortunately there was no one in there to "greet" us or worse in a state of undress to "greet" us without anything else going on. Wayne left Vicki on the 10th floor and headed down to reception, steam coming out his ears and sweat dripping off his forehead. Back to reception and more waiting practice to be greeted by the same person who checked us in. She fumbled around for some time with help from two of her colleagues and she gave us another room and offered to compliment us two bottles of water, how generous - not! Wayne passed on the generous offer and said we'd just like a room with no one else in it, that would be just great. Low and behold if we don't get to the new room and, sorry to disappoint those expecting a huge laugh, there was no one else in it (hence the photo of the big larrikin).

We then headed off for dinner at a local eatery called Alex. The Squiare here in Frankfurt is great, there are restaurants, groceries and a chemist so dinner was fairly inexpensive at 50 Euro for two steaks a couple of drinks and coffee. The food and service at Alex were both excellent and we would recommend The Squiare, just not the Hilton Garden Inn, as an excellent place as a stop over if you are coming on a long flight and want to adjust to Europe's time zone. There are other accommodation options here including a second Hilton, right next door so be warned if you do come here watch which Hilton you book particularly if there are queues, and also a Sheraton. The Sheraton is closest to the airport and the long distance train station which sits in the lower ground floor of The Squiare, not to be confused with the local trains which is at the other end of the airport.

We are now home alone with a do not disturb sign on the door and furniture being used as a blockade so we can rest up before the long flight back to Sydney tomorrow. Sorry this became a long blog entry as we thought we'd struggle to offer much today but isn't funny how things pan out when you least expect it.

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Photos

WINNER!
Wayne sent in to scout room number 2, and it was empty.

Comments

[Annella Wheatley]

LOL
I cannot believe you passed up the opportunity to make new,(possibly naked) friends in Frankfurt! You must be tired. Hope your journey home is totally uneventful. See you soon!