Jet lag's a bitch

back home..awake too!

Random thoughts: 

***Rome was a bit of a trial…

• I was really tired and nearly fell asleep while on the open top tour bus…actually, unless they missed out a part of the tour I think I DID fall asleep since I didn’t get to see what is described as the most famous fountain in the world……!
• Sadly the Lazzaretti bike shop was a disappointment…I keep forgetting that in general European  and UK bike shops are very small and don’t have much on display to gaze at..we’re lucky in Aus, not only do we have easily found bike shops in many suburbs, but they also have heaps of stock/things to look at  and make browsing worthwhile. 
• Memo to self ….if you’re going to claim a return of VAT from goods bought in Europe…don’t fly out from Rome.  Here you have to do the following….put tax free stuff in checked in baggage, go and get it checked in, go to customs with checked in baggage, passport and boarding pass, wait in queue for up to an hour, get paper stamped, put luggage on special location, go to a special gate once through security to wait in another queue to get cash refund or a different one again for a credit card refund.  Had I known it was going to be soooo slow I’d not have bothered, but when I went to check  out what to do there was no queue at all.  Still an'all...I got 32 euros back. 
• On the positive side..... unlike  in Florence, either people living in the part of Rome I was walking in don't have dogs  or the dog owners clear up after the dogs 'cos the pavements were really clean.

***The flight was bearable..

• The leg from Dubai wasn't direct, it was via Singapore which turned out to be a good thing  since, even although it ended up a couple of hours longer, it broke the journey into bite sized chunks and what's more there's free internet at Changi ;-)
• Since there is always a queue for the ladies toilets everywhere, but especially in airports…….what should be the  ratio of  toilets provided  to the expected number of females in the building at anyone time!!?...1 each, 1 for every 5,10,15??????  I feel distress for anyone with continence issues.
• Sitting next to a tall person is the same as sitting next to a fat one…they take over your space..boney elbows and knees.