We finished our packing, had a simple breakfast with Rob & Jane, and headed off for Florence about 9 am.
The drive north was uneventful with a brief stop for morning coffee and a pastry. We checked our bags in a full two hours before the flight - easy, or so we thought.
Rob headed back home and we found ourselves a bite to eat before heading through security. Our gate was a bit crowded so we a found a seat a bit further away, When our flight started showing 'Go To Gate' we decided to head back to where we should have been. This is where the fun started.
It turned out that the queue of people was because we had to go through a passport control check-point (not necessary for internal EU destinations). We joined the line (by sort of pushing in) only to find that the woman on the 'Other Passport' desk was as slow as a wet-week, Each person was taking about 5 minutes to process and it seemed we would never get through to our gate before the flight actually left. Many other foreigners in the queue were similarly concerned; some for our flight, others trying to catch a flight to Gatwick, With about 20 people in front of us, they started calling the flight for boarding.
Things seemed to speed up a bit until we were next but one to go through. At this point there was a discussion at the desk with the Americans ahead of us, I thought the Customs woman was saying it was now too late to get the flight. What she was actually saying was that she had finished her shift and was closing the desk!! What a shambles. The American couple then seemed to go away and we (plus others behind us) started to get slightly agitated and waved our boarding passes at the City Jet rep on the other side of the desks, Something seemed to get through to this woman and she duly sat down again and quickly stamped all our passports (without even looking at them). What a relief.
We then got on the bus and waited for another 10 minutes (with just the few of us, everyone else was already on board) until eventually a driver got in and took us to the plane, The plane had obviously been waiting for us so we boarded without any further hassle and flew on to London.
With some relief we passed through immigration and caught the DLR/Underground to Southwark and our accommodation at the Travelodge in Southwark. It was extremely easy with our Oyster cards, a bit of planning and some (if rusty) local knowledge. We have quite a nice budget room for the next 5 nights,
