Having now spent the grand sum of 5 weeks overseas I take it upon myself to deliver some wisdom to you, fellow travellers:
1. Get some sleep on your last night before your flight. No one likes a hysterical Tom.
2. Carry the correct change for the train ticket to Rome airport rather than insert a 20Euro note for a 5.50 fare and gain a credit note as change. Carrying exactly 5.45 is also not useful.
3. Don't get a migraine during a 6 hour stopover in a country where codeine is illegal.
So our last few hours were a bit hair raising, but not disastrous. We packed the night before to leave as little as possible early in the morning. For some reason Tom had managed to get about 4 hours sleep and was not really in the mood for negotiating international travel. So when we finally arrived at sleepy Tuscolana station and found only ticket machines and no people, it dawned on us that the large Euro notes were not going to be very useful. Tom raged at a few of the machines as some would only take credit cards (but refused ours) and others would only take small notes, as we discovered when inserting a 20 Euro note and received 1 ticket and a printed credit note (which needless to say the machine will not take as cash. It also would not let us purchase 2 tickets at once, so we went through all our change and it looked like we'd be okay... or not. 5.45 inserted later we were both getting a bit hysterical. We pleaded with some fellow travellers and eventually a man gave us 10 cents to complete our fare and get the ticket.
The graffiti ridden train arrived in the dark and we piled in with our bags plus one hard suitcase that had the breakable souvenirs in it. The platform for the airport has zero signage to indicate you have arrived, but at least it is the end of the line so you can't get off too late.
Check in was a simple process - I'm becoming really impressed with Qatar Airways. We found some traditional Italian breakfast and then wandered through security and to the gate for our plane.
6 hours in a plane is manageable. I am all for 6 hour plane flights. I am not in favour of long stop overs. I am also not in favour of migraines, during long stopovers. I don't know why I got a migraine. I don't know why codeine is illegal both to purchase and possess in Qatar. Qatar transfer lounge is tiny, with about 15 gates, a house sized duty free lounge and about 4 take away food shops. We needed US$ or Qatar Riyal to buy food, which I ate and re-experienced later on. I did at least have white tiger balm but in an incapacitative state it's difficult to apply under your shoulder blades, and excessive physical affection also leads you into trouble in Qatar, so Tom wasn't really able to help or express comfort. So I coated my neck and skull in tiger balm (stinking out the quiet room in the process) and just tried to deal with the pain and the sickness. I must have looked like death because I got some crazy looks in my deck chair and to and from the toilets.
The Quiet Room is a great concept in an airport. Semi reclining chairs in a dark quiet space. Pity the space is often filled with talkers, mobile phones ringing and sleeping people who snore like chainsaws. It was better than the rest of the airport however, and I was able to get up and move around. In duty free we did find some painkillers: Paracetamol + Caffeine. Okay. If you say so. Bizarrely because we'd bought them in duty free the cashier had to seal the bag which I guess stays sealed for the whole plane journey. He asked me if I was going to take them straightaway. I just looked at him with my grey face, watery eyes and stooped, weak posture. He broke off a bit of the blister pack and packed the rest. I was very very thankful. Surprisingly it worked, although I think the migraine had worked its way through my system anyway. I was relatively painfree by the time we boarded, although I think I babbled a bit. Tom may recall me describing every cat I have owned since infancy.
At 00.45am we boarded our flight to Melbourne. As is apparently customary they forced us to remain awake while they brought dinner in at 1:45am, plus coffee tea etc. I am at least thankful that their food is actually edible and borderline tasty. Qatar Airways have caught on that no one cares what curry or casserole looks like so long as it tastes good. Then they switch off the lights at about 3:00am. At which point I have moved beyond tired to disturbingly alert. Earlier I mentioned that 6 hours flying is manageable. This is because about half way through a 14 hour flight I find myself suddenly going insane. I can't keep still, but I'm really tired. I want to claw out of my own skin. Sleep this time was impossible. Serendipitously we had been seated in a double seat (rather than a triple, so no one to jump over for toilet stops) but this also meant that we were at the loudest part of the aircraft. We had hoped to use the flight to adjust back to Aussie time by sleeping, waking and then being ready for bed when the flight landed at 10:30pm local time. This would have worked if the stewards allowed you to open the blinds to let in the daylight. We were told to close the blind and remain in darkness. They decided that 3 hours before landing we would be permitted to open the blind, so we got about 2.5 hours of daylight before we met the oncoming darkness. Hence this photo of northern WA, near Karratha.
Before landing Qatar airways show a 20 minute tourist video of Melbourne, which was a novel experience. On no other flight did we see a tourist spruik. It gave exceptionally specific information of where the tourist info centre is, places to stay, eat, shop and experience. It did swell our heads a bit as we nodded in agreement of all the awesome things you can do in Melbourne. And also how multicultural Melbourne is. We didn't really see multiculturalism promoted anywhere else, even though London has large Indian and African migrant populations, Italy, large Asian populations and Paris large Muslim populations.
Aussie customs is also noteworthy. We were sniffer-dogged in single file and asked a million questions about soil, animal products, food, medications... We declared some things that we weren't sure about, which I think is actually quicker than declaring nothing. Clearly if you have nothing to declare you must be hiding something. I was able to keep the feather in my hat though. The woman with her apple collecting her baggage did cop an earful though and the full brunt of dry Aussie humour which I thought was a bit savage for a first time foreigner.
And now we are home. We've had barely any sleep, as it's quite hot here and our bedroom catches the morning sun (die you burning ball of gas). Back to work tomorrow. Yay.
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