We had been planning a Europe trip for August until we discovered we're expecting our second little one in November. In less than two months, we rushed to plan an itinerary that will include 2 weeks in Italy, 3 days in Barcelona, and 1 week in Greece. This is probably the first I felt the stress of planning a trip.
Nevertheless we are firm believers of the endless reward of being a traveller. Our belief were tested right away. Our flight from YVR to Heathrow was delayed for nearly 5 hours. As if that wasn't freighting enough, this was due to the plane being hit by lighting on its way out of Heathrow. The mechanics had to do thorough check and repair a few minor issues in YVR.
We paced the airport with a very sleep delirious Drake. Finally we boarded at 1AM.
We flew with British Airway who was are rated one of the top children friendly carriers in the world. We were able to pick our seats before other passengers who could only pick 24 hours before the actual flight. In front of the bulkhead seats, a flat board could be pulled down to allow placement of a bassinet (for infant) or travel cot (for toddler). On China Eastern, they attached the bassinet (only available for infant) directly against the bulkhead. The advantage of that was it saved a lot of space.
Drake slept through the entire flight in his travel cot. The only complaints I had was I was trapped in the window seat. Getting up to go to the bathroom required a lot of internal debate of should I do it now or later before getting enough courage to wake up the fast asleep isle guy. The second complaint was Greg in the middle seat couldn't enjoy his entertainment system since Drake's cot was in the way. These were all minor issues compared to Drake not having to sleep in my lap for 9 hours.
Our 5 hour delay of course caused a ripple effect. We missed our connection out of Heathrow to Rome. We asked to be put on another carrier. We had one hour to get from Terminal 5 to 4 but we didn't realize it took 20 minutes to reach T4 so we missed the flight again. Back to T5 with the only option of a next day 7AM flight. BA put us up at Sofitel Hotel in the airport. At 11PM we were finally in a real bed ready to pass out.
Then at 3AM all 3 of us were wide awake from our jet lag.
When we landed in Rome we took the Leonardo Express (14 euro per person) train from the airport to Roma Termini Station. Then we transferred on to the city Metro (1.50 euro per person) to reach our Airbnb apartment next to the Colosseum. The Metro was really easy to maneuver around since there were only two lines.
After some freshening up we were ready to really start our Roman holiday with a nice Italian lunch. Poor Drake couldn't keep his little head up and slept through entire lunch in his stroller. On the bright side, we were able to have a nice undisturbed meal without flying food and random screaming. Despite being so tired after lunch we opted to walk around our neighbourhood to keep ourselves awake. To spice up the day even more, we got caught in the rain. It was time to head back to the apartment and wrapped up this long day. We grabbed dinner at a closed by restaurant named I Clementini. I was so tired that I didn't remember too much about the dinner other than I had clam linguini which was really good, but a bit salty.
I wouldn't call the last two days a great start to our Eurotrip, but it can only get better from this point on.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Nevertheless we are firm believers of the endless reward of being a traveller. Our belief were tested right away. Our flight from YVR to Heathrow was delayed for nearly 5 hours. As if that wasn't freighting enough, this was due to the plane being hit by lighting on its way out of Heathrow. The mechanics had to do thorough check and repair a few minor issues in YVR.
We paced the airport with a very sleep delirious Drake. Finally we boarded at 1AM.
Drake slept through the entire flight in his travel cot. The only complaints I had was I was trapped in the window seat. Getting up to go to the bathroom required a lot of internal debate of should I do it now or later before getting enough courage to wake up the fast asleep isle guy. The second complaint was Greg in the middle seat couldn't enjoy his entertainment system since Drake's cot was in the way. These were all minor issues compared to Drake not having to sleep in my lap for 9 hours.
Our 5 hour delay of course caused a ripple effect. We missed our connection out of Heathrow to Rome. We asked to be put on another carrier. We had one hour to get from Terminal 5 to 4 but we didn't realize it took 20 minutes to reach T4 so we missed the flight again. Back to T5 with the only option of a next day 7AM flight. BA put us up at Sofitel Hotel in the airport. At 11PM we were finally in a real bed ready to pass out.
Then at 3AM all 3 of us were wide awake from our jet lag.
When we landed in Rome we took the Leonardo Express (14 euro per person) train from the airport to Roma Termini Station. Then we transferred on to the city Metro (1.50 euro per person) to reach our Airbnb apartment next to the Colosseum. The Metro was really easy to maneuver around since there were only two lines.
I wouldn't call the last two days a great start to our Eurotrip, but it can only get better from this point on.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Rome
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