The flight from KL to Rome took almost 12 hours, leaving KLIA at 1130pm and arriving at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci or Fiumicino Airport at 530 am in the morning on Friday. We had booked to connect on Easyjet to Palermo on Sicily at 230pm, thinking that it would be too close to catch the 930am flight. We were not sure how far and how long it would take to go from Terminal 3 to Terminal 2 of the airport - keeping in mind that our own LCCT is easily one hour away from the KLIA. But Rome's Terminal 2 was only a 10 minutes walk from Terminal 3 and the morning Easyjet flight to Palermo was fully booked. So we had to wait the whole morning at Fiumicino.
We first killed some time having espresso, latte or cappucino at one of the airport's cafes. By 9am the shops started to open and we herded ourselves to the Terraza Mall on the mezzanine floor of the airport. There were not much really there. Some fast food outlets, a cafeteria and a few shops selling electronics, souvenier items and clothes. Sandra bought a tee-shirt ( which she thought was the Italian World Cup Football jersey for her son) and Siti found a Sergio Tacchini straw hat which would help shield herself from the intense summer sun. Ravee, who found a good and pretty Italian salesgirl at the electronic shop was persuaded to buy several electronic gadgets to add to his collection...
Siti, with her newly bought Sergio Tacchini straw hat from Rome Airport..
We finally queued for check-in at 2pm for the 430pm flight to Palermo. It was our first taste of Italian 'slow service'. Those who wrote and complained so much about our very own Airasia's service should be sent here to give them a dose of reality so that they will now appreciate what "Malaysian's Can Do'....and yes we can....
The flight to Palermo from Rome took just about an hour. We tried to get an 8-seater van to transport us to our hotel but were confronted by a 'tough' lady in charge of the queue of taxis waiting for passengers. She told us in no uncertain terms that we have to take 2 taxis and each will cost us 45 Euros. This lady looked so 'mean' that we did not dare haggle the price with her....
And the taxi ride was another experience....it was like a Formula One race through the heavy traffic of the highway with curses being shouted at the other driver who was too slow for the taxi driver's liking. And when pakdokter gave him a 50 Euro note expecting a 5 Euro change in return , he just shook pakdokter's hand and thanked pakdokter for the so-called 'generous tip'!
the 'Lady Boss' was in charge'....what was she telling Ben Haron?....
Anyway, it was a relief to finally get into our hotel room. The Palermo Centro Mercure Hotel was conveniently located in downtown Palermo, within walking distance of most of the tourist sites. The modern and bright lobby and the spacious and comfortable room was a welcome relief from the 24 hours of travel and transit.
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