The boyfriend and I had a pretty calm 8 hour flight on Virgin Atlantic from Barbados to London
Gatwick. The flight wasn’t that full so we
got an entire row to ourselves. Lunch was rice and split peas with honey
mustard chicken and steamed carrots. We had apple crumble for dessert. We arrived
in London at 6 am and had no issues with Immigration and luggage at
Gatwick. We had an 8 hour layover til
our flight to Rome so we had prebooked a room in Yotel Gatwick. As soon as we
entered the Arrival Hall in Gatwick’s South Terminal, we saw the sign for the
Yotel! After a quick hot chocolate at Costa Coffee, we checked in, slept for a
few hours, showered, took the shuttle to North terminal, grabbed some
breakfast and checked in for our flight to Rome! Woo hoo!
Roma!!!
We made it safely to Rome at 5:30 pm via British Airways
though the flight was bumpy and the egg and tomato sandwiches on offer were
yucky! Lol! Again, we had no issues with
Immigration or luggage! I entered the Arrivals Area on the look out for a sign with my name on it, as I had arranged with the B&B owner
to have a taxi meet us at the airport. In no time at all, I spotted my name and
the driver and felt a quiet confidence that all was going to be well with this
trip.
After greeting the driver, he waited a few more minutes while I quickly went in search of a SIM card and data
plan for my smartphone. This was in
vain. I wasn’t too annoyed though as the B&B owner had indicated
in a previous email to me that there was a shop near his place where I could
get a SIM and data plan. When I stepped out of the airport, I was met with
evidence that it had been raining – the ground was wet and the sky was dark.
That was fine by me....because my spirits were bright! After the driver helped us with our baggage, we
got into the taxi and were ready to begin our adventure. Less than two minutes
into the ride, we could tell that the Roman drivers were crazy! Oh my gosh! The
driving is scary!
About thirty minutes later (I think) we arrived at our B&B near
the Vatican. It was sooooo kool to see the streets and the surrounding
buildings in person...as I’d only seen them via Google Street View before! The
driver helped us with our bags and the boyf paid him and we made our way to our
home for the next three days! The B&B owner greeted us warmly and helped us
with the bags to our room. I honestly felt like I was linking with an old
friend as he and I had exchanged lots of emails during the last seven months. Before we got down to business, he explained that there was an issue with the
plumbing and the hot water was affected. He promised to have it fixed by the
next morning. The room was even lovelier than it appears on Trip Advisor. It
was clean and cozy. There were robes, slippers,towels and sweets for
us on the bed. We also had a sofa, mini fridge, coffee maker, and a
safe at our disposal. He showed us how to work the flat screen and satellite
tv, and left us with about 40 dvds to chose from. Our B&B guy provided us with a map and took
lots of time pointing places out to us. He gave us a tour of the help yourself
kitchen and showed us how to use the panini maker
and the espresso machine. The fridge and
cupboards were packed with delicious food and treats. He told us how to get to
the metro ( Ottaviano - 2 mins away), where I could find the phone place, how
to reach the 24 hour gelateria (that he deemed the best in Rome), restaurant tips, tips against pickpockets, etc.
He also provided us with all of his contact numbers.
Armed with our money belts – well, a money belt for the boyf
and a bra stash for me, we headed across the street to Da Vito E Dina for our
first night dinner in Rome. We shared some house red and ordered two mushroom
and sausage pizzas. Yum. 20 euros. It was weird to be eating and approached by
guys who would come in off of the street
trying to sell us flowers, watches and cds / dvds. After dinner, we took a
quick stroll to the gelataria that the B&B owner recommended. It was called Old Bridge Geletaria. There was
a bit of a line, so we figured that was a good sign. We both ordered a cone for
euro 1.50 (3 scoops). I got crema, caramel and dulce de leche. Heavenly!!!!
We got a little lost on the way back to the B&B because we
took a wrong turn due to the fact that we were caught up eating gelato, talking and just being in
Rome. It was easy to retrace our steps and make the correct turn though. We saw a rat
as big as a cat and a guy looking a bit unsteady and vomiting in the street! The gelato was sooooooooo good that seeing
that didn’t even turn our stomachs! Lol. It struck me tho – I‘ve never seen so
many cigarette butts in streets anywhere else in the world. Rome takes the
cake. Wow! As we were about the enter our building, our B&B owner was
exiting. He was kind enough to show us the bus stop we’d need for a bus to
Trastevere in a few days; as well as the
phone place. We parted ways with him and headed upstairs to shower. I set the
alarm for 6 am and we were off to sleep in no time!
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