In June 2016, I flew back to Rome, and this time, I was going solo.
It's a daunting thing, going overseas alone. It was something I really needed to do though, and something I wanted to do. I was safe the entire time, and had an amazing time, I will keep travelling alone internationally in the future.
I picked a cheap flight, which meant a departure time of 240am. Ouch. I got to the airport around 11pm or so and did the check in thing. I was flying Emirates this time, last was Etihad, and this time instead of one long flight from Melbourne to Abu Dhabi, I was to fly to Kuala Lumpur, then Dubai, then on to Rome. Three legs of around 6-8h each. When I checked in the lovely woman handed over my boarding passes and said 'enjoy your upgrade.' I had been upgraded to business class for the first leg of my flight! It took me a while to get my head around how exciting that was. I guess because I was a solo traveller I was easy to upgrade? Not sure, whatever the case, it was incredibly exciting!
And so began the most comfortable and relaxing flight I have ever had. Free goodies half way through from Bvulgari and champagne as well. It was bliss. The return to economy at Kuala Lumpur was tough! In Dubai the "feels like" temperature was over 50 celsius and it was awful! Thankfully I was almost entirely in the airport there aside from a terminal change where the man driving the bus kept looking at me in the rearview mirror and creepily making me uncomfortable. Was glad to get off and get in to the lounge. I arrived in Rome feeling tired but happy, my driver collected me and drove me into the eternal city. The sun was setting and I could not get the grin off my face. I felt like I was home. I was back!!!!!
As we drove around laneways and small streets navigating to my hotel, I was alarmed to see the driver attempting to squeeze between two parked vehicles on a narrow street. "He's never going to fit through there!" I said to myself, trusting though, that he knew the streets and driving better than I. THUMP. Or not. He hit one of the cars. The owner was yelling at him and they were arguing in Italian for a while whilst I sat there just really wanting a bed and sleep... Eventually the owner gets in the van with us, apologises to me, jumps out at the lights and drinks form a fountain, then back in again, and I am dropped at my hotel leaving the two of them to work it out...
I stayed at an old convent in Trastavere. Beautiful old place, and once checked in I dumped my case and fell into bed. I woke during the night to what sounded like an enormous explosion. I waited to hear reaction - sirens or screaming - none came. I now think what I had was an auditory hallucination from being severely tired and lacking sleep. I went back to sleep and all was fine. Strange...
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