Athens and Rome

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Athens (again).

Slept really well an am in a room with another two guys who are both nice. Woke up after a sleep in and went down for brekkie. Got out my laptop to send word to the family that I had arrived ok in Athens, read my emails on a whim. CRAP!!. Our flight from Athens to Rome the very next day had been cancelled due to strikes in Athens. Ok its 10am ring Simmone she will know what to do. No answer. Try Rebecca, No answer. Try Mum, No Answer…crap….crap…crap…try them all again, still no answer. Panic begins to set in. Geoff’s Aunty is on Skype, we get her to ring Simmone on the house phone to tell her to answer Skype. Finally! We decide that we have to catch the next flight possible to be in Rome in time to catch the bus to Sienna, which means we have to fly in less than 4 hours. Crap. Chuck everything in the bag, do a quick sweep of the room, check out and cancel the next nights’ accommodation. Contact Camping Roma, and ask for the transfer back to the accommodation to be changed to today. Jump on the metro and rush out to the airport. Made it with spare time. Stoked to be going back to Rome, but wishing that I got to see the flea markets at Monastraki. Never mind. Landing in Rome we see the Vatican from the air, the colloseum and the coast. Very cool view. Land in Rome get our bags and wait for transfer. 10 mins late 20 mins late, 30mins late time to phone…they have no idea what is going on and can’t get out to pick us up until 730pm. Excellent. 3 hours waiting at the airport. Get to camping Roma after being driven by a really crazy woman who abused everyone even though she was doing 130in a 70 zone and straddling both lanes! Get to camping Roma, I sort out the rest of the transfer and Geoff gets us accommodation. I know it’s not good when he calls me back down the stairs. No accommodation. CRAP CRAP CRAP. We are in the middle of nowhere, the sun is setting and we can’t get a bed for the night. CRAP CRAP CRAP. We walk across the highway and up the hill to hotel jolly. 120 euro a night. For craps sake, how much worse can this night get. Check the next hotel booked out. Ahhhhh CRAP. By this stage I’m in tears and want to go home. The sun has set. We book into the 120 euro a night hotel, and he is nice enough to give it to us for 100. Yay. We get into our air-conditioned room, with the most comfy beds I have been on in a long time! We have complimentary shampoo, body gel, soap, lotion, soap, and not one but two toilets! Now I’m cranky that the camping Roma idiots couldn’t have picked us up earlier so we could check in earlier. We take advantage of the situation, have nice showers, and watch English shows on the TV until late. Unfortunately the supermarket has closed and we are in the middle of nowhere so we go to bed without dinner (can’t hurt me that’s for sure). Next morning alarm goes off and hr earlier than it’s supposed to, Geoff forgot the time difference when we flew in. never mind. Fingers crossed, we head downstairs to see if we have brekkie included because we are starving. Surprise surprise it is. We head to the restaurant for all you can eat continental! BINGO! Fruit, nutella toast, chocolate custard croissant, cereal, juice, yoghurt, tea coffee, breads rolls, jams, cheeses, and meats….ahhhh finally something is going right. We head back up stairs after going back for 5th or 6ths perhaps! Dble bonus I ask for a 1pm check out and we get it!!! Baha ha ha we pack our backpacks then sit on the bed for the next hr and a bit in the air-conditioning watching the tour de France! When the time comes we grudgingly put our packs on and head to camping Roma. Private tent for two booked. Yay! We get in and do a load of washing, hang it up, and then head into the city. Head to the post office and send stuff home, before heading to the Fountain of Trevi for a sit down and to throw a coin over my shoulder. Not too bad after all.

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