When in Rome...

Our first camp out in the Baggage claim didn't last long, but we got a few minutes of shut eye.
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We touched down in Rome, Italy yesterday at 11:00pm. A few days earlier we were wondering what to do about time, seeing as Italian transportaion isn't exactly the best. Unsure, we e-mailed the hostel we would be staying at, Litus Roma Hostel. This one is set up the same way the Flying Pig was in Amsterdam - not in the city of Rome itself, but on a beach about half an hours transportation away. We received bad news that transportation would not only be a very exhausting task, but would amount to about €60. This was because we'd need to take a cab for some parts because the buses wouldn't be running, and the night busses themselves cost more then regular day busses do. We knew that € 60 was just far too much. The owner of the hostel lived close to the airport however, and offered to drive us at 7am from the airport as she would be on her way to work as it was.

The beach.
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So we spent our very first night in an airport! At first we tried to stay in the baggage claims area, because we thought it would be more secure and less noisy, but after about 20 minutes we got kicked out into the main arrivals area. It was very shady there, as anybody can walk into that place from outside, so we both took shifts sleeping while the other took gaurd. We were not the only ones sleeping in the airport, and it seemed to be a common thing because of Rome's transportation issues. About 30 other people were in the tiny terminal that night. We should specify that this was a budget airport for us budget travelers that takes flights from Ryanair and Easy Jet, etc, Which is why the airport was so small. The room was literaly about the size of our apartment back home. So, roughly eight hours later we were on our way to Litus Hostel. The staff were so kind and accomidating. We expected we'd still have to pay for that first night as we didn't give enough notice, but not only did they not charge us, but they also checked us in early, fed us, and gave us free cappuccinos! We got to bed (a real one) finally at about 8:30 and slept untill 12:30. By then we figured it was too late to head over into Rome, so we just went down to the beach. Turns out it's a national holiday here, the anniversary of the end of World War II. So the beach was absolutly packed with people, thousands of them. We spent a bit of time sunbathing but it was just way to crowded. Our first meal was, of course, pizza. Tanya would not have enjoyed it as apparently real Italian pizza does not have tomato sauce. So tomorrow we're going to go into Rome. We have a few days here, so we're really excited to settle into the place. Thank you for all your e-mails and we'll write again soon!

We spent our very first night in an airport.