Milan; Friday, 25 September, 2009

I’d been delayed getting away from work, and got to Gatwick 20 minutes after checkin had opened, and given the size of the queue I was confronted with I was slightly concerned about getting through in time, but the queue moved very quickly and just over 10 minutes later I was checked in and joining an even longer queue for security.

Finally through security, I popped into WHSmiths for a guide book and Dixons for some batteries. I was going to wander up and look at getting some lunch, but as I went past the departures screens I noticed, that despite it still being 50 minutes until my flight was due to leave, it had a gate number and a “Go to Gate” message, so I grabbed a sandwich and munched it on the short walk to the gate.

I didn’t know what was happening, straight through the airport at speed, the closest gate to the terminal building with a plane already on stand, and only a couple of minutes later boarding. I knew it couldn’t last, and it didn’t. We sat there for about 20 minutes whilst ground crew came in and out of the plane. Then there was an announcement to see if four people were on the plane. They weren’t but their bags were safely stowed in the hold, so we had to wait for them to be located and off-loaded before we finally pushed back around 20 minutes late.

An uneventful, if slightly bumpy, flight later we touched down at Malpensa airport. I was through quite quickly and taking my life in my hand dashed across the road to catch the inter-terminal bus round to the station in Terminal 1.

As I walked through the door I spotted that I had three minutes until the train departed. I grabbed a ticket from the office and leapt onto the train with seconds to spare. 45 minutes later I was in the city centre, trying to find the correct tram stop to get to the hotel.

I finally got to the hotel, it was quite a bit further out of the city centre than I was expecting, checked in and then headed back into the city.

I had a wander around the Cathedral area, and the Victor Emmanuel Gallery (think shopping centre, and then realise that that label doesn’t do it justice). After a short wander I grabbed a bite to eat, and after a pretty large dinner (to make up for the small lunch), I waddled away from the restaurant.

I had a quick wander around a bit more, before heading back to the tram stop and the journey back to the hotel.