Flight leg two

Dubai to Rome

Regardless of my previous lesson, I caught myself humphing over two screaming kids who continued to yell and scream longer than I ever thought possible. These kids weren't infants or toddlers, just irritable young kids on a long flight. Now, as a mother of two of her very own screaming kids, I think I’m well-conditioned on this subject and its experience. Nevertheless, I can’t recall a single day I have been more thankful for the technological advancements in sound-cancelling headphones.

I arrived safe and sound in Dubai with my eardrums intact.

While standing amid a group of other bewildered travellers scanning departure screens for their connecting flight details, I entered phase two of my journey. Phase two involved me chasing handsome Arabian airport staff around the enormous Dubai International Airport, asking why my connecting flight was still not displayed. With no idea which gate to walk toward or of boarding times, I continued the plight up and down escalators and elevators and trudging along glossy tiled floors.

I noticed the kind eyes of a pretty Emirates hostess and decided to try asking her. This is where I should have started. This helpful hostess showed me that you only need to type your flight EK97 into Google, and your gate and times will appear. Magic travel hack#1. Now that I understood I would never need an airport departure screen again, I made my way to gate A23.

Well, A23 was in a hot mess. Further bag inspections and enforced water dumpings were in full swing. With more screaming children, upturned bags, and flustered and annoyed travellers than one can poke a stick at. Of course, it took forever to get to the first of two (pre-boarding) lounge waiting areas. Lounge two felt like an entire city was crammed into an inadequately sized room. It turns out these A380 airbuses hold between 525 and 853 passengers, depending on their configuration.

First Thought: Holy shit! That’s a hell of a lot of stretchers when one of these babies goes down.

Second Thought: Did the engineers give First Thought any thought at all?

So, I boarded Emirates EK97, which was shaping up to be a much better flight. I found myself sandwiched between two men. Now, don’t be hateful; someone has to do it. I had the good-looking business Adonis to my left, and sadly, to my right was a tall, gawky Kiwi with that shocking 20-hour-travel-bad-breath to match my own.

The six hours passed like they were three, and before I knew it, I was zig-zagging at high speed in Vinnie's cab, wishing he would look straight ahead while practising his English. After passing under an incredibly long and arched historic Roman wall, we entered the ancient city of Rome. Wow!

Third Thought: We’re not in Brisbane now, Toto!

I arrived at my Airbnb hotel in the centre of Rome. The buildings in the street seemed to stretch from one to the next without a break, with nothing notably different to help decipher where one started and the other ended. Thankfully, Vinnie dropped me directly in front of the two large, impressive timber doors I needed to pass through. “Grazie, e ciao Vinnie!”

After bidding “Boungiorno” to the lovely receptionist, I ditched my bag on my bed and headed back down the old, rickety little lift and back through my timber doors.

I set out on my walking tour with plans to experience a Roman dinner in the evening. For now, I hoped some brisk walking would thin my flight cankles. The walk was lovely, with some amazing sites to take in, but in my post-flight brain fog and after a long struggle to find my timber doors among the others in the street, I finally found myself dinnerless and in a heap in bed at 8 pm.

Hello Rome