Once again the glamourous life of a Sports Photographer has caught up with me, I had an assignment in Italy for Turun Sanomat and Finnish Basketball Federation to photograph Cimberio Varese's Finnish International Teemu Rannikko.

But the truth sometimes is far away from what people imagine it to be - here is a short re-cap of my brief visit to Italy :

Thursday morning 6am : Wake-Up after a late night watching Apocalypto  until 1.30am, and drive to Luton Airport to catch a flight to Pisa.

Thursday afternoon 2.30pm : Arrive to the hotel in the sea-side resort of Tirrania - enjoy bit of nice sunshine and walk along the beach. Yes, I know this is what most people think of my life to consist of.

Thursday afternoon 4.30pm : Start the 2 hour drive to Sienna - for the game. Nice scenery - but feeling hungry.

Thursday evening 6.30pm : Arrive at the Arena, pick-up accreditation and follow Finland vs USA Ice Hockey World Championships 1/4 Final online.

Thursday evening 8.00pm : Teemu Rannikko asks for the result of the Ice Hockey game ;-)

Thursday evening 8.30pm-11.00pm : Photograph the game and do video interviews afterwards.

Friday night 1.30am : Arrive back at the hotel, last time I had anything to eat was a banana at 2pm.. starving by now!

Friday morning 2.30am : Finish uploading pictures/videos online - time to get some sleep.

Friday morning 8.30am : Wake-Up and have breakfast - then work on images for two more hours.

Friday morning 11.30am : Drive to the airport and be confused with the cap to the petrol tank..

Friday afternoon 2.30pm : Catch the flight back to Luton.

Friday afternoon 4.40pm : Landed 20mins ahead of schedule - 2 1/2 hours to drive back home

So there you have it, the way I have spent 36 hours on a single job and travelled couple of thousand miles. But, so that you don't think it is just a moan - I got to enjoy some nice Italian sunshine along the beach, I saw a one of the best teams in Europe play a brilliant first quarter, I met one of Finland's best basketball players and met some great people. Now I have weekend at home, before my next European travel..

Pictures from the game in Italy are now in a small image Gallery which you can see on the website!!Siena-vs-Varese-24