School Holidays: Italy! (Part I)

I sigh as I stare beyond the dark night sky lit by the lights of the calm and quiet city. The cool breeze hit my face gently, the air of early spring approaching very soon. What's the temp, four? Five degrees Celsius? I don't know. I sweep myself inside, leaving the balcony door open for the cold air to enter, since I don't know how to turn on the air-conditioner. On the table lay my mother's laptop I borrow to write my blog. About this new place and surroundings.

What, I didn't tell you?

Assalamualaikum everyone and welcome to....(drumroll) Italy!

 Yes, I am now currently in Milan, Italy, about 14 hours away from home. Reason? a) My mother is working there for a year, b) It's the school holidays, and c) We want to travel again. It had been, what, three years? Yup, three years since I went overseas. Since I travel to another country. The last one was Australia. Remember that post? That was in 2013! Wow, it had been a very long time now.

Anyway, I came here with my father and little one-year-and-nine-months-old brother, Yusuf. Remember him? Our trip this time is going to be one week long. Let me tell the whole story, from the beginning up to this point.

First, we took a taxi to get to KLIA, where my brother cried in because a) according to himself, he wants to stay with the maid, and b) according to my father, he's very sleepy. It was 10.30 p.m. anyway, so my father was right. He finally stopped shrieking and closed his eyes, comfortably cradled in my father's arms.

KLIA was always busy, so it didn't really surprise me when I see it packed. We first wanted to check-in. After searching the counter we were supposed to check-in at on a screen, we found our line, which was a very, very long line. I don't know if this is fortunate or not, Yusuf woke up due to the various noise sounding in the airport. Then as the line gets shorter, my father released him and gave him the liberty to walk on his own. I also gave him short rides on the baggage trolley while waiting for our turn to check-in.

We were done checking-in and sent three bags out of six to cargo, so we hurried to grab a quick bite before having to go to our gate at the other terminal using the aerotrain. The usual restaurant wasn't open, so we stopped at a shop, bought some Gardenia bread and drinks, and devoured them. As fast as we can, we brisk-walked to the aerotrain, going through security checks, and my father had to switch hands often to bear the weight of the heavy Yusuf. After more security checks, we finally arrived at our gate, with a few minutes to spare. There were barely any seats left inside, so we waited outside the gate. With the spare time, I fished my book called Killing Time out of my backpack and read while my father and Yusuf played and took pictures, sending them to my mother  at our final destination.

Finally they called for boarding. It was a very big plane, Etihad. My father said all the food in the plane was Halal and it would be stopping at Abu Dhabi to transfer flights. There was a bit misunderstanding in there (the stewardesses called me "ma'am" probably because I held Yusuf when he cried as my father went to the toilet). Once, Yusuf cried and everyone behind laughed at him. The food was delicious, but it could be better. The things I did on the plane was reading, watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on my father's screen since mine cannot be ejected, I didn't survive it so I slept and whenever I'm awake at the same time as Yusuf, I would play with him or keep an eye on him as he waved and greeted other passengers. My father said he didn't get much sleep. If our seats were beside the window, I could have something additional to do, but we got the middle seats, plus, we departed at 3 a.m. so it's completely dark outside anyway. I was also interested in the screen in front of me, showing where we were flying above, the local time, distance, altitude, etc, etc.

Finally we arrived safely in the Abu Dhabi airport after seven hours of flight, a few minutes before the end time for Fajr prayer. We rode an aero-bus to get to the airport from the plane. We hurried past everything else in search of a prayer room, struggling with our bags in little Yusuf, my father switching arms to bear his heavy weight. It's impossible if Abu Dhabi doesn't have a prayer room in the airport since it's a Muslim country itself. At last we located the prayer rooms. I walked into the women's and my father brought Yusuf with him to the men's. The prayer was empty apart from a sleeping and a praying lady. I didn't waste any time and performed Fajr prayer immediately. I already performed wudhu, or ablution, on the plane, so I didn't have to take it again.

I exited the room to find my father standing with Yusuf in his arms, ready to go. But then he said he wanted to go to the toilet, so he left me with Yusuf. He didn't make any trouble, just wanted me to put his shoes on. When my father finished, it was my turn to go to the toilet, and his turn to take care of Yusuf.

Above anything else, we had to find our gate first in case we get lost if we find it later. Once there, we relaxed for a while, one using the phone, one greeting people and one munching a packet of Digestives biscuits. About an hour or two later, the ground crew called for boarding. They checked our passports and changed our seats on the plane. We rode the aero-bus again, and strapped ourselves on the most comfortable economy class seats we've ever sat in. Our two seats were on the left side of the Alitalia plane, and my seat was next to the window. There's a wide space between us and the border wall between business and economy class, so it's easy for Yusuf to walk and play.

We slept a lot on this seven-hour flight too, especially Yusuf. My father said he can't sleep without a bed, so he didn't get enough sleep. Me? A bit. Most of the time, I used my own screen (yes, this one could be ejected from its place, but it's smaller than the previous ones) to watch another movie, Pan. I survived the whole story and watched bits of other movies and shows. I also tried listening to music and playing games, but it's too boring. A few hours before landing, all of us were awake and Yusuf took a container of biscuits and ate on the wide space in front of us like a picnic. It was fun playing with him, but there were some...troubles.

(To be continued...)