Night Train: Rome - Milan

The only hitch at the airport comes at Immigration - the lines are broken into EU passport holders and Non-EU passport. On the occasions I've travelled with Paalo we've been told to go through together even though he has a British passport and I have an Australian passport. This being Italy they do things differently and because my passport needs to be stamped I'm sent back to queue in the line from hell. Why she can't stamp my passport is beyond me but I'm not going to argue.

This doesn't prove to be that bad as this gives Paalo time to go pick up our bags - and luckily he is there when they first appear.

By the time I'm through he is waiting with all our bags and we're ready to go.

From the airport it's a bit of a trudge to reach the connecting train station - only because just like Japan it is incredibly humid. But once at the station, it's really simple to purchase the tickets for the Leonardo express that will take us straight to Roma Termini station.

The train is already on the platform so we hop on board and it's off within 5 minutes.

The only downside of our most fortuitous run is that we now have a long wait for our 11pm night train to Milan.

One thing I've noticed is that they really know how to charge for water - it's cheaper to buy water in the vending machines than to buy it from the shops within the station.

The train was supposed to arrive on platform 6 but when it's eventually marked on the board it's now coming into platform 8. It is called the Espresso 1910 and from my previous night train experience I've made sure we have the largest room on board. The Matrimonial Suite as it is called has a double bed complete with bathroom - sounds big, looks big on the floor-plans at the Alitalia site, in reality it's still a shoe-box.

The bed is a good size but it tapers so that the base is smaller than the top - the distance between the foot of the bed and the bathroom is a shoe-width.

At least there is space to do a bit of a reorganisation on our bags and to stow them out of the way.

As for the bathroom, if you sat on the toilet you could probably put your feet in the shower but the washbasin would get in your way, I think I've seen similar sized ones in dollhouses.

06:00

I've actually found the trip quite but comfortable unfortunately Paalo is really not feeling well at all. He is suffering from really bad cramping in the legs a residual effect from the flight to Tokyo where he wasn't able to stretch out during the flight.

We're served breakfast at 6:30, it consists of juice, yoghurt, coffee, a fresh pastry and bread. All Paalo can manage is a little yoghurt.

The train arrives into Milano Centrale just after 7am.