burning calories a mile high

Wow, Rome is a LONG way from New Zealand. After two long-haul flights and more than 30 hours of travel, I finally arrived in the Eternal City, with a strange combination of exhaustion from lack of sleep and excitement about the next few months.

Sat next to an interesting fella on the first leg of my flight, Auckland->Hong Kong. A rather large man, he greeted me with a hearty introduction and I knew I was in trouble - I am definitely a 'polite smile then straight into movies/book/music' kind of traveller, but not Steve from Marton. After 20 minutes or so of one-sided chatter I managed to turn my attention to a movie while he turned his to the flight attendant for the first, of what I later learned would be many, snacks.

Here's me thinking aeroplane food is to be endured, not enjoyed, but ol' Steve must have seen the flight as a 12-hour buffet, ordering drinks two (sometimes three) at a time and even asking (and getting) two meals at dinner and breakfast! He even asked for a third dinner as he wanted to sample all three options but the flight attendant never returned with it - he had to make do with eating my salad.

Just as I finally manage to nod off, Steve decides it's time to "go for a waddle and burn some calories" and spent the next hour or so strolling up and down the aircraft. 'Calories' become a great topic of conversation upon his return, apparently in Hong Kong you can just sit there and the heat burns the calories for you!

After bidding goodbye to Steve in Hong Kong, I managed a quick nap at the airport before boarding for my 13-hour flight to Rome, only to discover the inflight entertainment systems weren't operating - I didn't mind much as it gave me more incentive to sleep, and by the time I arrived in Rome and found my way to our apartment I was still feeling mostly alive.

So what's in store for me for the next few months? Four days in Rome with the main purpose of attneding two nights' worth of tennis at the Rome Masters 1000 tournament, plus sightseeing, pizza and gelato. Then three nights in Santorini, Greece; two weeks in Antiparos, Greece; a week in Rhodes, Greece and then back to Italy where I'll spend two months travelling around the country teaching English at children's summer camps. After that, who knows! A trip to Spain is on the wish list and when the cash starts to run out I can hop to the UK as I've got a two-year youth working visa.