Roma!

Roma!

Europe » Italy » Lazio » Rome
July 3rd 2010

Published: July 3rd 2010

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AndyC

Airport Bed

My Bed for the night at London Stansted Airport

I got into Rome in the early morning after spending the night at London Stansted Airport. Many people decide to sleep there to catch the early morning flights ( 6am) from one of the many discount airlines. It wasn’t the most comfortable night and it probably was the most uncomfortable flight ever but it was cheap. My plan for Italy was to enjoy the food and see the sights without going too much over my 40 Euro budget a day.

I got to the Rome Termini train station and immediately I was kind of paranoid since I’ve heard so many stories from other travellers about pickpockets. So I took some precautions and put 2 locks on my daypack and never my bag leave my sight. Seeing Gypsies holding babies begging for money didn’t help. I needed to find a hostel for the night so I wandered around the train station as there seemed to be many hotels and places to sleep. I walked by what seemed like a Laundromat and internet café. The Bangladeshi offered a place to sleep for 45 euro but that was way outta my budget. He said he knew of another place to sleep for only

Ryanair

Early Morning Ryanair Flight to Italy

25 euro and went on to call his brother. There were 4 of them, all brothers or cousins, similar looking and shady but I was tired and needed a place to sleep. When I arrived at the hostel it had to be one the worst I’ve ever seen. The place wasn’t very clean, the washrooms were really small, there wasn’t free wifi as advertised (It came and went and I think that this guy stole his neighbours wifi and advertised it as his own) and probably worst of all … there were bedbugs!!!! Now being that I haven’t sleep in awhile, and my bag was heavier than a sack of decided to sleep there for the night (in my sleeping bag).

I decided to do all the touristy things but didn’t want to pay for them. I saw the Colliseum, many piazzas, Palantino Hills, Trevi Fountain, and the Vatican but didn’t pay for any of the entrance fees or tours. I only paid the 2 euros ( 1 Euro is good for a 90 minuti bus/train ticket) which by the way is an awesome system for public transportion. Although it kinda works on the honour system as you have

Republica

to buy tickets from tabacchi (tobacco) shops and you must validate the tickets yourself when you get on the train or bus. Only once did anybody check my ticket and I saw many people who didn’t have or validate their tickets ( if you get caught it’s a 30 euro fine) Anyways I think the Vatican was the most impressive out of all the sights. I was kinda kicking myself as I found out that you can get blessed by the pope on Wednesday mornings and I just missed it..

Well the original plan was to do 7 days in Italy but I didn’t wanna spend it just in Rome, So off to the birthplace of Pizza! Naples or Napoli.

Side Notes
- I forgot to mention one of the things I do while travelling is I go out and try the McDonalds in each country I visit.
- McDonalds Meal I had in Rome - The Big Tasty. Similar to the Big Mac. They also charge you for ketchup! 0.25 Euros!!
- Gelatto is soo good.

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