Leaving Rome, Italy and a night at the airport

When I booked my stay in Rome I did not think when Easter was, and so was unprepared for the hike in prices and unavailability of hostels and hotels. I also didnt realise that the earliest train or metro that could get me into the airport was at 6am and thus a 7:30 flight was always going to cause me problems, unless I stayed a night over at the airport.

Likewise in Athens I was not aware that the metro link from the airport was down for six months so that they could add three new stations, but these are the things that surprise us when we least expect it.

Waking up late today, I leisurely took my time and after checking out leisurely strolled my way down to the Railway station, using a different route to the one I had taken to get there. What I found was a wunderful Irish Pub called the Druids Rock and featured the image of Getafix as its mascot. Brill, and only yesterday I was wondering where Asterix was!

I could not pass this by without popping in for a swift coke and was only denied the delights of using its pool table due to it being out of order at the moment. Instead I got to eat fish and chips while listening to Jim Bowens 100 super smashing party tunes, which dragged out one hit wonders galore.

Just before I left I spotted a group of attractive women through the open doorway at just the moment when fate decided to shake lose a few small branches which came crashing down on them, not enough to cause any seriuos pain but I bet it scared the beeezus out of them. I have no idea why but it suddenly reminded me that I forgot to mention that yesterday just before I had my pizza I was caught in the crowd of a passing music video shoot for a very blonde lady wearing a bring pink scarf to some very cheesy pop noise in the background.

Anyway, back to today. I finally made it to the train station where I was gobsmacked that they want to charge 80 cents for using the little boys room, a thing that should always be free unless they expect you to open up and let rip in the middle of the platform. I decided that I would rather hold out that pay and got caught out buying my ticket at the station as I somehow ended up at a travel agency ticket booth and not an outright railstation booth ( though it took a long time to notice the difference ) and thus had to pay an extra EU $1 commission to the agency, despite the main signs for buying tickets pointing in this direction.

The longer I was staying in Rome the more I was having mixed feeling about it, and I was glad to be on a train off to the airport before I found out that I actually didnt like it as much as I would have hoped.

There was a few things to do in the airport, but as I arrived around 4pm and my check in time was 5:30am I still had a looong night ahead of me, made all the longer as I could not see anywhere to easily plug in and recharge my laptop. I checked the wifi but it wasnt free, another pain and when I tried to send a text using my phone it failed. I tried again a few times and then deduced that as I had canceleed my direct debit in order to prevent myself oing overdrawn and paying charges that I must have run out of time and thus would not be able to use my phone til I returned home and reactivated everything.

This night, my last abroad, will likely be a long one and thankfully I managed to hold onto at least EU $40 plus change so any last second expenses should still be able to be coverd when they turn round and say that they wont accept credit card. Which again reminds me, considering that Italy is a pretty well developed country I was very surprised at the amount of old style slide and print credit card voucher machines I had seen still in operation, even in the big places like the hotel. I would have thought a place that could charge EU $95 per night for nothing more lavish than a broomcloset with a bed could easily afford to update their payment system, but apparently not.

After convicing a freindly waitress to let me into the cordoned off area of the restaurant I was able to finally find a place that I could recharge my laptop which meant that I could watch the last of the Harry potter films that I had with me, and have enough juice to run unplugged for another hour after they chuck me out. Only 9 more hours to go now, not long ... I have never liked waiting for things to come but I am always more in control when at least I know how long I have to wait, its the indefinite / uncertain delays that get me going.

The night was not the easiest as there was nowhere in the airport where the lights were turned off and still accessable to the public. I did find a quiet area upstairs where I managed to snooze on and off for a couple of hours til a loud and annoying Italians started chating up this girl around 4am, I could have killed him. I was also glad that I had forseen the night time chill in the airport and doubled up on my clothing, although a good jumper would have done equally well had I not posted them back home weeks ago.

Once awake I decided that I would complete another first, and be the first person to check in on my particular flight, so went downstairs and just sat right infront of the check in desk. Although checkin wasnt until 5:30 the female attendant got my subtle hint and being ready herself a few minutes after 5am they processed me and that just left security and passport control before waiting at the gate to board my very final flight, the 2 hour 40 minute flight home.

A trip to the Vatican in Rome, Italy

After waking in my first morning in Rome I was unsure as to what to do with my day that would be cheap or free but I figured that I would go take a looksie at some of the other ruins that I saw and possibly a museum or two before heading over to the Vatican City in order to see the Sisteen Chapel and home of the Pope. What I should have done was follow my friends advice and woke up as early as possible before dashing out the door in order to beat the line at the Vatican, but I was lazy and in the end paid the price.

The first thing that I did was hide under the blankets in my room as the early morning was quite chilly and I was still suffering from my cold / chest infection.

The second thing I did was take a slow plod down the road, snapping pictures as I went, to see some of the big ruins in the centre of city that were next door to the hour long 5D experience of Rome.

The ruins turned out to be part museum and quite empty of other tourists which was good despite them being still in very good condition, although perhaps it was that they were not as important as the colossium.

I did spot a nice restaurant that overlooked the ruins and thought it would be a lovely place to stop and have a coffee or a light snack, but even preparing myself to how expensive it was likely to be I was still shocked at how much extra they had hiked up the price and I doubt I would have chosen to stay even if they had a happy hour and slashed their prices in half.

The 5D experience was very cool and well worth the EU $9, after taking the discount voucher from the hotel. Being fairly tight with my budget I missed out the classic 3D extra film, but the even the normal film included going back through time and also a mini roller coaster style seating so while you viewed you moved with it so I guess in the end I only did a 4D but thats me.

What I wasnt expecting was that when it rained in the movie the sprinklers from above let out tiny jets of water and when it showed rats swarming over the place they had special wires in the seats that shot up your leg and gave your the eeriest feeling I have ever had in a musuem. It is amazing the power that the mind has over the body, especially if it has visual or audio help it can convince you of just about anything.

The film was also quite informative going back to the birth of Rome with the twins and the wolf, the erection of the Colossium right down through the ages, even including the birth of the Renaissance and the painting of the sisteen chapel.

After finding a much more affordable place to have my very first Italian Pizza I made my way via the subway to the stop where the Vatican City is, only to end up getting caught up and following a crowd that I realised before anyone else that whoever was leading was probably not actually going to Vatican as we were not going in the right direction.

Leaving the ignorant masses at a corner I checked my map and then after taking a mini detour to take some photos of the fort that was very nearby I corrected my trajectory and headed off to visit the Pope and see if he was in.

When I arrived I saw how magnificent the place was, with a ring of pillars four deep perfectly erected and topped with statues, with a few fountainns all leading up to the main building. I also saw the other tourists, waiting in line to get inside, or at least I tried to see but the line was so long that by the end going into the building they seemed too small to be people, more like ants from an airplane window and so feeling stupid I just gave up as I had no desire to wait two hours or more in a line just to see the inside of a church and a well painted ceiling.

It was my own fault, I had been reliably informed with plenty of time in advance and yet had chosen to ignore it, so this should have been expected, but it was still a minor dissapointment.

When the few spots of rain fell I almost hoped for a downpour to scare away the others, but it didnt last, so much so in fact that soon I almost doubted I had felt anything at all and wondered if it was all in my imagination or not.

Truly giving up I headed back to my hotel where I crashed for a couple of hours before heading out into the early evening to grab a bite to eat and try a movie in the nearby cinema. Having already had my two top favourite Italian meals it was time to try the Spaghetti and I was a bit deflated when I couldnt find any with mince, so I had to order a mini three course in order to get my daily ration of meat.

Just before heading off to watch Gran Torino I got chatting to a friendly Aussie and then was most annoyed at the Italians for not putting any adverts or trailers on before the movie, either that or for starting the film before the time as I was no more than two minutes later than the time on the ticket and already the film was in full flow.

It was a good film and a sad film, with not the ending I was expecting at all, but when I left out I found that I was in a very happy mood and was even hoping, skipping and spinning around as I walked back to my hotel room.

Having already made my plan to travel to the airport tomorrow night, as it was the only way of reaching the check in desk at that early hour in the morning, I decided to get a good nights sleep and also figured that tomorrow I would do as little as possible as I would be carrying around my rucksack for the whole day.

Tomorrow is my final day

Well my long and epic journey is now only a day away from being completely fulfilled, but it is not over and as long as I am in good health and memory it never will be.

In total it was 90 cities in 34 countries and using 39 flights and too many buses, coaches, trains and taxis to count accurately thus it definetly covers both 'around the world' and 'trains, plaines and automobiles'.
Also, as it started off with a ferry to Amsterday so when adding in the few tour cruises that I took I guess that even if I cant claim to have 'sailed the seven seas' I still can say that I did my fair share of water travel.

One of my early ideas which never came to fruition was going up in a hot air balloon, but I was never near one when the price was right, and the other was to cross from China to Europe via the Trans Siberian Express but it was just too cold and too expensive and I would have had to stay in Beijing ages in order to sort out the visa requirements so in the end I decided to head south and go via India instead.

I never did quite get to Morocco, Timbuktu in Mali, Argentina, the Galapagos Islands, Canada, Halifax Island in the U.S.A., Easter Islands, Ayres Rock in Australia, Bali in Indonesia, Philippines, Japan or Petra in Jordan but they are all places that require a lot more patience, money and time than I had to dedicate to them on this trip.

In the end it was only in Egypt that as a whole I was never rained on once, but I did try to never let it get me down too much and to always pick myself up again as soon as the weather cleared and go have another go.

A few people have asked me what my favourite part was, but on a journey such as this this is an almost impossible question to answer as each city and country held its own appeal and merit.

Holland was the first place that I reached, so was good to say that I have officially started and Rome will be the last so it was will be both a relief and a fullfilment to say that I am now was finally on a flight home again. Colombia was the country in which I visited the most cities and Mexico was the country in which I remained the longest.

Well known landmarks like Christo Rey ( Christ the Redeamer ), Manchu Picchu, Chichen Itza, Taj Mahal, Sydney Opera House, Great Wall of China, Ankor Wat, Grand Canyon, Panama Canal and the Vatican City are all places that I passed through and are definite highlights not to be missed.

But then there were the simple things like being the first tourist in the day to walk around Copan Ruinas, getting an authentic Thai massage at the temple where the first school was created, or visiting my first Disneyland theme park in Hong Kong and going on a Winnie the Pooh ride which whisked me back to being a kid all over again and cannot be ignored.

Then too were the many good friends that I met, both those planned long in advance and those I spontaneously just happened to rub shoulders with along the way and soon became on first names basis with, each a memory I will cherish for many a year if not forever.

No man can see or do everything but as a small child I had a dream, a burning desire and a grand idea to travel all around the world and although it took over 20 years from the very first time I thought it just might be possible I never gave up, never lost hope and didn't even speak of it to most people til it was close to coming true.

Some people dare only to have small dreams while others shoot for the moon and never quite make it. My dream was big but was doable and now the only thing worrying me is what does a man do when he has accomplished his lifes one biggest desire, and how will everything else compare to his past achievement?

I hope you have enjoyed my words and photos over the last few months and that maybe my true story will help encourage others to be bold enough to have dreams and not give up or turn back just because things look to be a little rough ahead.