Chapter 5 - DAY 10 - Rome to Home

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ROME TO HOME
Today was the long haul from Rome to Auckland via Singapore. We booked a 9am shuttle to the Airport for our 12 noon flight. The airport was extremely busy but we found our Singapore Airline check in with relative ease and started the ordeal of being ‘processed’ through the system. Despite the number of people things ran smoothly and efficiently and it wasn’t long before we were through the official part and into the departure area.

We took the inter terminal train to Terminal 3 where we were scheduled to depart from. We had something to eat and grabbed a couple of books for the flight and before we knew it we were winging our way on the 12.5 hour flight to Singapore.

We travelled Singapore Airlines both ways and for 3 of the 4 legs they were absolutely outstanding. One the leg from Singapore to London they appeared to be really short staffed and the service suffered as a result. I’m thinking this would be most unusual and the service on the other legs was so exceptional (even in ‘cattle class’ where we were sitting) that we would definitely fly Singapore Airlines when we travel again. For us the flight is part of the overall travel experience and we couldn’t have asked for more.

After a 2.5 hour stopover in Singapore we boarded our plane for the 9.5 hour flight to Auckland. We were one of 11 planes lined up and taking off from the airport – it was a busy runway!

We arrived in Auckland at Midnight and by the time we got through customs it was about 1.30pm, we had a 7am flight from Auckland to Wellington the next day so just slept at the Airport. It was the eve of the Rugby World Cup final in Auckland so even if you could find any accommodation it would cost a fortune. We found some long benches upstairs in the observation area. I wouldn’t say it was the most comfortable of sleeping arrangements but it was OK all things considered.

The flight back to Wellington was uneventful and we were home, with many fantastic memories and looking forward to getting back into our daily routine.

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Photos

Singapore Airlines
A great way to fly

Comments

[Chris]

Great Blog
Thanks for writing your blog we are basically doing the same trip this year at similar times. Britain & Ireland Discovery from 16/7 and European Heritage from the 15/08 so your ideas and experiences give me and my wife a good deal to reflect on. Glad we have allowed down time in London from 07/08 till 15/08 as I think we will need it but might see if we can also change our end we have booked a few more nights in London but might change that to a flight home after extra days in Paris. Thanks again for your blog

[GrantD]

Hi Chris
Thanks for your feedback. We definitely found the break between tours invaluable - coach touring is an awesome experience but its full on! Pleased you found our Blog useful. Have a great trip :)