Oh Siena!

In my desperation to ‘’save’’, I enlisted the help of my good old trustworthy travel agent to get me the cheapest possible tickets to Rome.

She found something from Emirates, ‘’if you don’t mind a transit in Dubai, ‘’ she qualified. KLM was fully booked and others were way above my budget.

I saw the itinerary and somehow, it must have been bravado and stoicism that caused me to agree to the awful flight schedule. That was early July.

I had an ‘’awakening’’ last evening. I finally found some time to check out the train and bus schedules from Rome to Siena and had a rude shock. The train ride from the airport to Tiburtina, Rome’s city centre bus station, plus bus ride from Tiburtina, plus all the waiting and connecting time, will take at least another five hours.

The rude shock further awakened me – my cheap Emirates flight will mean I will leave Singapore at the unearthly hour of 1.40 am and arrive in Dubai at 4.50 am and wait for five hours before I catch the connecting flight to Rome. By the time I arrive in Rome in the afternoon and wait and catch the train and then the bus on Sunday, and then take a taxi from the bus station to my residence, I would have spent at least 35 hours waiting, connecting and traveling before I arrive at night, half dead. How to find my away around the campus (another half an hour from my residence) and sit for a placement test the next morning at 9 am?

Of course, I could have arrived a day or two earlier to ‘’rest’’ and familiarize myself with the city, but heck, that would be incurring more expenses on accommodation.

Another round of desperation. I searched for more flights – Cathay, Air France and Luthansa all fly to Rome, but with again terrible hours and connections. No direct flights. And they are expensive too. The only consolation is you get to transit in a more civilized airport. Singapore Airlines is out of my league obviously.

It was only this morning that my travel agent managed to get me a Thai Airways flight. I flew TG in 2005 when I went to Perugia. I hated the ‘’service’’ and discrimination (the air stewardesses have learnt a lot from their SQ sisters, if you know what I mean!), not to mention the atrocious way they handled my lost luggage (for both on the ground and follow up claims).

Still, the hours are the most decent, and wow, the price is lower too, thanks to some latest promotional gimmicks that came with a host of restrictions! One other catch: I got to fly back one day later. Thank goodness I have one more day of annual leave to spare. Best of all – I get to miss the dreaded video call on 31 August – yahooooooo!

So, hey, things are shaping up – I got my student visa (after some hell with HR about health insurance), my flight schedule is now more decent and as a result I managed to coordinate the train and bus timing.

So, Siena here I come. I can’t wait to savour your lovely pici, baccala, panzanella, ricciarelli and chianti classico !