Stranded in Italy

I had the pleasure of being stranded in Rome for a few days as the volcano in Iceland stopped air travel in Europe.

I was in Bologna, Italy for the cosmetic trade show and was supposed to be going to London for client meetings on Sunday April 18th, but that plan was scrapped with all air travel to UK stopped earlier in the week. Instead, the game plan turned to trying to get home to HK on whatever flight would take me.

I was in Italy with my boss Sue and a friend, Kim. For those who think a business trip to Italy sounds fun, here's the standard breakfast with my travel partners...all addicted to their Blackberries.

(Hair trends in Italy....big permed hair!!!! I can't believe it's back again. Time for me to pull out my hair school hair do?)

But, actually, after all the work, Sue and Kim and I did have a great time eating great food and taking opportunity to spend some more time in Italy.

We drove from Bologna to Rome on Sunday with the hopes more flights from Rome would be available. We were right. Kim and Sue got out on Monday (they are diamond preferred travelers so got some priority seating by the airline).

We spent Sunday shopping and Kim and Sue are some serious shoppers.

Not quite the Target shopping I'm used to splurging on, but I enjoyed joining the splurge

Sue and Kim got their palms and tarot cards read by a gypsy near the Pantheon.

I left Monday night on a connecting flight through Dubai. My trip was 23 hours total from time left for airport till when I arrived home in HK Tuesday night. I didn't get any sleep so am a little rummy right now.

A day in Rome by myself
I did get to spend Monday in Rome by myself and took the time to walk the city from end to end.

I got caught in a rain storm that turned into a hail storm with marble sized hail.

I was standing on a corner, but when the rain started going sideways, I took cover in a small shop with a group of German tourists and waited it out for 45 minutes.

Mark to Beijing
Happy to be home now with Bailey cuddled at my feet. Unfortunately, after me being away for a week, Mark found out he has to go to Beijing today until Friday so he's off now. At least I'm home and we coordinated the time so someone is here with Bails.

Bill and Hyoeun visit
The week before I went to Italy was crazy busy since I had a conference in Hong Kong I was organizing for the International Association of Business Communicators which had about 150 people here from all over the world. And, we had dear friends visit from Korea!

Bill and Hyoeun came from Seoul for a weekend visit and we spent as much time with them as we could.

We took them to Lamma Island for the day and tried to fit in all the best foods and places to see. They'll have to come back again when we can take some time off work with them and enjoy even more time.