Back

Well here I am, back in Sydney...it's cold!

In a way it's good to be back (not constantly on the move, feeling tired, feeling obligated to do and see everything because I'll "never be there again!"). In another way, I'd rather be back overseas. You know when stuff happens and you kind of leave in on the shelf for a bit, hoping it'll go away? There's a lot of stuff I left on my proverbial shelf back in Sydney, and lo and behold, it's all still here. Damn, I thought it was gonna deal with itself!! (not)

All in all, I had a great time overseas. Memorable moments (in no particular order) include:
# (For Maeve Binchy fans) Eating at Bewley's in Dublin: alas, no sticky almond buns...if you don't get the reference, you haven't been reading the books closely enough!

# Nightmare travelling to our first hotel in Rome: OMG. The most stressed I was all trip. Story goes that Jono and I woke up early- 4:30 in the morning early...(hmm. Two pre-5 a.m starts this year has been way too many) and managed to make our Tube on time, then there were late finishing track works, so we had to get off the tube before our stop. Figured that we could get a bus from further up the road, so we ended up trapsing up the road (about a k?) complete with SUITCASES (friggin suitcases!! Never again!) to the bus stop. Waited for the bus for about 20 minutes. When the bus finally arrived, it was at another bus stop which we had to run for...then the bus driver said we needed to purchase tickets from somewhere else...but of course it was before 7 and no where was open. So by that time we were resigned to catching a cab (might I note that I was resigned to that particular fate as soon as we got off the tube!), but all the cabs had people in them since everyone had the same idea due to the broken down tube. Finally got a cab and made it to the train station, but just as we were purchasing tickets for the train, the train we needed to catch pulled away. Soooo, we ended up catching the next train out to the airport. That train got us there at the exact time check-in for our flight closed, so we were hoping that we'd be able to jump on the end of a queue or something. Unfortunately for us, by the time we ran from the station to where we were supposed to check in, the gate was closed ("You are TEN minutes late!" declared the lady witheringly) and we had to pay 80 pounds (what's that...about AU$200?) to catch the next flight to Rome.
*You'd think that was enough transportation drama for one day right?? Grrrrrr...read on...*
When we landed in Rome, we had to make our way into the city centre then catch a Metro out to our hotel. Getting the shuttle into the city was simple enough (relatively anyway!), and the guy at the airport had given us specific directions to get to the hotel (take the Metro out to Cornelia, then catch this number bus to your hotel). The first problem we had was that our maps were out of date and we couldn't for the life of us find Cornelia station on the maps and were beginning to wonder if the guy had got his directions muddled. When we arrived at the main train station (which is where the shuttle dropped us) it was boiling hot (over 30 degrees) and we were toddling around with our bags (well I was anyway. Stupid suitcase!!) trying to find the actual platforms and figuring out which one we wanted. Well we finally located Cornelia station on the Metro map and after that it wasn't too hard to get out there. BUT, when we got out there, we didn't know which exit to take and couldn't figure out which bus stop the bus we wanted would be stopping at. So we were wondering around the various bus stops looking for the bus number we'd been given. Needless to say that in this comedy of errors, we couldn't find it. Sooooo, we wondered away from the station and managed to find a nice man who spoke relatively good English to tell us which stop and which bus. All this took about 45 minutes which seemed like an eternity in our hot, suitcase encumbered state. When we finally got on the bus (which took a while because the bus was delayed...), we didn't know where to get off, and ended up getting off too early. So, following some rudimentary signs, we started walking in the direction of the hotel. In the heat. With our bags. On this small, not-quite footpath. While crazy Roman drivers whizzed past. I'd say the walk took us about 45 minutes to an hour, but man, it felt like FOREVER. When we finally made it to the friggin hotel, we discovered that we had actually gotten off the bus quite close to the hotel, but on the other side of the road from where it was. And because there were road works on the side of the road where the hotel was, we didn't see it (though if we had, we would still have had to walk around them but still!). ARGH!

# The people we met on tour: There were only 9 people on our tour in total (out of a possible 25) so it was nice and cosy...got to know people. Everyone else except us was over 28 (and one guy was 42...he had to get special approval to come on the Contiki tour cos the maxmium age is usually 35!) and was basically from Toronto or the New York. They were pretty nice, some people were such a cack...one guy looked like an absolute geek, and when we found out he was a Harvard graduated software developer, we were like.."Ohhhhhkaaaaay then...". A fair proportion of the people (4/9) were teachers. This married couple were on their honeymoon even though they'd been married 7 months already (they couldn't get leave cos they were teachers!)...they were also hilarious...they were both quite...um...how shall I phrase this politely..."of large girth". They ate EVERYTHING. (Actually, this should be put in comparison with the aforementioned nerdy guy who ate NOTHING- he had this long list of foods that he wouldn't eat, including: cheese, pork or pork derivatives, shellfish, ice-cream...that's MOST of the foods in Italy for goodness' sake!) They solicited you for left-overs. Swooned over all food. Stole other people's food (that's a funny story: at this one dinner we were at,