The end was upon us, and we would be spending most of the day travelling, but just like any other day, I started this one with a short run - the last time I’d be running in Italy. Hopefully not the last ever as it’d be nice to one day return to Rome. It would have been nice to have done a slow parkrun at Florence’s Mensola park but this would have made things too tight in the morning, so I just couldn’t do it. Instead I ran to the cathedral with my DSLR in the hopes of getting a photograph free of tourists, and then on to Hotel Brunelleschi which had been used in the Dan Brown movie ‘Inferno’. As this was also not far from the Casa di Dante Museum I decided to see that as well. It wasn’t a particularly fast mile, not that much more than walking speed on average due to all the stops for photographs and checking the map.
Due to a ‘final cleaning’ charge of €50 being the minimum we’d have to pay for them to prepare the apartment for the next guest, we had to spend the first part of this morning not just packing, but also making sure the apartment was spotless. We did notice for the third day running that the boiler leaks onto the floor after the shower is used. After I’d cleaned the kitchen, we relaxed until it was time to go. Between the check-out time, and the time for our train, we’d got a couple of hours to kill at the train station. I’d considered using their lounge for €7 as this would have Wi-Fi, snacks and drinks, and washroom facilities. Even if we’d pre-booked this we’d still have needed to queue to show them the voucher. In our case we hadn't, so we paid this when we got to the front of the queue.
The train journey lasted for about two hours, having lunch whilst travelling, and although we’d got some spare time we decided to travel to the airport immediately to make sure we got there okay. It’d be easier than going anywhere with our luggage for the small amount of time we had anyway. This would allow for more time should there be any check-in delays at the airport anyway. Strangely, I knew one of my colleagues had arrived in Milan for an England football game on Friday, so was probably still in the city as well.
Unlike our arrival where we paid €2.90 to use two buses and a tram to reach our apartment, this time we paid €7.00 to take the Autostradale airport express all the way to Linate. Whilst we could have bought these online to get a QR code, after our experience in Milan previously we decided we’d pay the driver directly instead for ease. The main thing to note with this bus is that it leaves the main train station on the hour, every hour.
We arrived at the airport around 14:30, and had thirty minutes waiting around until check-in opened. When we did so they were trying to make sure we’d put our bags under our seats, but we both knew that this would not be possible. They did however warn us that the flight had been delayed twenty minutes, and wouldn’t be boarding until 17:15. We’d still got quite a wait ahead of us.
Security was relatively quick, but it seemed they had very new scanners as they advertised that you don’t need to remove anything from your bags. I did this anyway, and my bag got shifted over to the side for further checks, but rather than check it they said I could just go ahead and take it. My sister on the other hand had to have her bag rescanned.
The trek from security to the gate, and the expected border control was quite a long one. The automatic gates said they were for EU/EEC passports only, so as the UK is no longer in the EU we joined the All Passports queue. The police insisted we joined the queue for the electronic gates instead, but they only turned on two of the four so I joined one of the queues whilst my sister pushed in front instead and got straight through. When it was my turn my passport couldn’t be scanned on the first gate I tried, so had to try another instead.
Finally with us both through to the gate we found somewhere to sit as it’d be over an hour until we’d be boarding. We had a Skype call with home, and then just sat and waited. It took several bus loads to get everyone onboard, and this time the flight was filled with people who had been in Milan for fashion week. It wasn’t something I was aware of, or knew about, but my sister pointed this out to me afterwards.
As we were already late, and the airport busy, it meant our flight couldn’t leave for a while as air traffic control wanted what I think was an ITA Airways flight to leave ahead of us. Eventually we were able to taxi out, and was next in the queue. Usually within a minute or two of seeing the one before us take off, we’d begin the process ourselves, but this time we were still stationary and as time passed I wondered if we were waiting for several aircraft to land first. Time passed, and I started to wonder what was going on. The Captain then announced that the aircraft in front of us had experienced technical difficulties and the runway had been reserved for them to perform an emergency landing. He then added that there would be fire engines joining them on the runway whilst they inspect the problem. That didn’t sound good.
My sister wasn’t just suffering with her ankle, but had also been getting a headache so needed some water to take some painkillers. The passenger next to her was kind enough to quickly ignore the seat belt signs, and went to the cabin crew to ask for some. I think since this revelation they were not so strict about the restrictions.
She also pointed out that we couldn’t risk too much of a delay as my parking space at the hotel would expire at 21:00 BST. We’d still got plenty of time, but she had a point, and time was ticking. I tried the YourParkingSpace application on my phone to see if I could extend it by an hour or two as a safety net, but couldn’t. I’d already added on more time than I’d needed in theory when I’d booked it, but hadn’t expected these sorts of delays with the flight.
I’d watched out of the window and saw the aircraft land, but couldn’t see anything catastrophically wrong on the outside, and by that I mean it wasn’t missing a wing or anything like that. Shortly after I saw a fire engine racing down the runway, and then a couple of other vehicles that looked like they may have been for maintenance.
The crew were unsure how long we’d be waiting for, as air traffic control were being tight-lipped so far. The passengers were growing restless, so they turned off the engines to conserve fuel, and turned off the seatbelt sign so they could use the facilities onboard. When it was time to go they’d have fine minutes to reignite the engines, and everyone would have to be ready quickly.
Forty more minutes had passed and the Captain informed us that they had no idea how long this delay would be. They’d been able to find out eventually that the reason for the emergency landing had been smoke on the flight deck, and they were inspecting it now. At this point they started to hand out water, and would follow this with snacks. However after five minutes the seatbelt signs came on meaning they’d had the update. Sure enough they confirmed the airfield had been reopened and the engines were starting back up.
After two hours had passed since our original twenty to thirty minute delay originally caused by this aircraft leaving Heathrow late, we were finally on our way back to London. The local time when we landed was 20:20, and we’d got forty minutes to reach the parking space. That seemed impossible, no matter how quick we could get through.
We had some luck though, rather than de-planing using buses, it was a sky bridge which meant we could get off faster. The queue for the border control was fast moving, but baggage collection really slowed us down. The first 27 items of luggage were for one passenger who had something to do with that Milan fashion week. By the time we’d got ours we knew it was impossible as we had minutes to get there. I’d already tried to call the Premier Inn to warn them my car would be overstaying the time limit, but got no answer.
The rush for the bus turned out well as there was one waiting there as we left the terminal. We were just metres away from it as it pulled away, but it stopped again for us. That driver was incredibly kind doing that. Then after ten minutes we were walking along Bath Road to reach the hotel, and I rushed on ahead to speak to reception about what to do with the barriers, and how to pay for the extra time.
One of the members of staff led me outside to the machine to put in my registration, and it said there was no extra to pay. It seemed I’d gotten lucky! I rushed to get my car, and brought it around to the front so we could load it up, and then the end of the long journey home was in sight. We’d hoped to eat at Burger King on the way back, as we’d seen their closing time was 23:00 so would easily make it, but they closed just before 22:00 meaning it was another thirty minutes until we found an open McDonalds to eat there - my first since I was in the US with my sister back in 2016. It’d been a hectic day, but it was over, getting home a little before midnight.
The trip had been busier than intended due to mishaps along the way, but it was a break we both enjoyed.