Rome one more time

I arrived back in Rome at 3:15 on Tuesday afternoon. I spent my 4 hour train ride reading and spacing out the window. When I got in I did the walk luggage in tow back to the Yellow hostel I had previously stayed at. There I checked in and got into my room to find Caroline, an Aussie girl I met downstairs in reception. We chatted while we unpacked and settled in. After about an hour of dawdling I split and went to the internet café to call home and check my email and update the blog. You know all that fun stuff. After spending awhile at the café I went back to the hostel to and met Caroline for dinner and a drink. We ended up walking to the pizza place on the corner and getting a couple of slices then taking it back to the bar patio and getting a beer. So we sat outside and chatted eating our pizza and beer. It was a fun time. A little later I ran into Tad and Eric both guys I met during my last visit. I chatted with them a bit then went up to go to bed. Yes, it was disgustingly early like 10:30. But I still wasn’t feeling my best and didn’t want to get worse in Athens.

I went up to the room and got ready for bed then put on my MP3 player and listened to some music. It was really loud outside due to the fact that my room faced the street and the bar and restaurants downstairs were still open for business. I finally feel asleep about midnight and actually slept pretty good.

I got up bright and early at 7am and got dressed and packed up. I managed to get all my stuff downstairs and checked out in pretty good time so I had just enough left over to stop for a cappuccino and croissant at my favorite café. So I hiked back to Termini station with all my stuff pausing only to get my cappuccino and white chocolate filled croissant (my favorite). I made it in time to board the train and get into a compartment with a nice American couple. The older gentlemen, was a retired military something or other and he and his wife were flying home to Arizona after spending a month bicycling through Italy. They were obviously in really good shape to be biking around the Tuscan hills. We chatted about travel until some obnoxious British guy came in and demanded we make room for him and his wife. He was being such a pain about it we worked something out, squishing and contorting into the cabin even farther. Thankfully the train ride was only about 45 minutes. I was really happy to get off with all my stuff and I wished the couple well in there travels home.

I walked into the airport and found my airlines and check in line and checked my bags for the flight. I got some more euros out of a nearby ATM then headed through security and immigration. It was pretty much a joke. The only time anyone ever checked my passport was when I got my boarding pass. Not one of the security people checked it, nor did they check it at the gate. I was surprised by this after having traveled through Ireland and England where they check it every 15 feet. But in any case once I was in the gate area I walked around checking out some beautiful leather gloves I don’t need as I’m spending the majority of the winter in the desert and jungle. I found my gate and bought a diet coke and plopped down to read from my Greece guide book. I had to prep sometime!

Within a half hour I boarded the plane for Athens. It was a short 2 hour (give or take) flight. I spent most of it sleeping but they did feed us on the plane and actually the food was pretty good. I will say that is one nice thing about traveling overseas and using international airlines. Where as the American domestic flights never feed you anymore most of the international companies do actually still give free meals. I love that! And before I knew it I had arrived in Athens.

I was really excited to move on to a new country after having spent at least 3 weeks in Italy both north and south. I do love Italy and had a wonderful time traveling there both with my parents and on my own. But I will say I think I’m complete with Italy and would only go back if I was with someone that really wanted to go there. There are so many other places in the world to see and Greece is one. So now on to my Greek Adventure!