Italia 2019: It’s Day One and we survive a bum-numbing trip across the world

It’s a wonder that we keep doing this to ourselves, and after more than a decade of economy travelling. Both of us suffering post-Term 3 stress and faced with a 14-leg followed by a 7-hour leg, we arrived in Milan more dead than alive. Sleep always escapes us when we are overtired, so we once again take the pledge to either go business and hang the expense, or do a layover. Considering how good Qatar Airways have been, we really should give Doha the pleasure of our company when we aren’t on work deadlines.

I’m now sitting here, as a result, contemplating upgrading; but the flight home seems a long time in the future and there is a lot of Italy to enjoy. Siena is quite an amazing city, although I wonder what it must be like in high summer. The day was warm but the evening is deliciously cool, and we have just enjoyed a rather luxurious meal in a local ristorante with amazing food. For the record, Paula’s prima piati was a ravioli filled with a truffle risotto while I had an artisan pasta with eggplant sauce; followed up the lamb for her and wild board — small portions but delicious. After an hour before dinner watching the locals and tourists in the Campo while we had drinks, that was enough. Three cheers for Italian railways, but it was a long five hours to get to Siena via Firenze.

So here we are, round the corner from the Campo, overlooking the walls, tickets for the Duomo organised and a self-guided walking tour loaded on the phone. How long we last will depend on how well we sleep, but we’re both crashing, so see you in the morning.