TOW Moments: Road To Roma

Augustus once said, "I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble."

Rome, what a wonderful city. There would be tens of pages describing how great a journey to Rome is.
But why don't we say something else?



The city is such a mess.
Seriously.


Oh boy, I got a long story to tell.



Chapter 1 - Public Transportation

If you travel on your own to Rome, you would have to use public transportation in the city, because you think that is really convenient and cheap, sure the experiences of traveling in other countries would also suggest you to do so, wouldn't they?

You've just made a mistake.

There are only 2 subway lines in Rome, which covers only quite few areas of the city, if you wanna go to somewhere else which is not covered by the subway, you'll have to take the bus. And here I can tell you, the time gap between the buses, in other words, the time you have to spend in each bus stop, awaiting, would be at least for 30 minutes. But subway is fairly alright, the time gap is approximately 5'30''. But don't get lost down there, the subway station is build in the way just like a pyramid.

So imagine, you live somewhere far from the city historic center without a connection to subway, which I would explain why you do that later, if you planed go to Vatican, where you have to get there very early, let's say 8:00 am, you must get up between 6:30 am and 7:00 am. Because counting with the time of changing buses and subways, you simply have to get up that early.

And that was only the assumption under the circumstances of only one time changing buses, and if it were more than one, well, add each one an additional 30 minutes.

And yes, right, one more thing: don't wait in the bus stop like a plant if you have already standing there for nearly an hour. Take a walk to the further 2 or 3 stops. Sometimes the buses "improvise". The roman drivers are so cool, they would change the route for all the passengers if they simply don't like the old ones all of a sudden.This situation happened twice in two nights we spend in Rome. Pity for the poor passengers who might be still waiting in the bus stops which were in between the old and temporally new routes.

Uh yes, and don't forget this: wave you hands frequently when you are standing in the bus stop, otherwise your buses would not stop for you, even the stop you are staying in is exactly where the buses should stop.

It's not a joke.




Chapter 2 - Accommodation

Well, it's Italy, what do you expect? Take your pocket inside out with every single coin for your accommodation fee.

Better than Venice, we don't have to worry about the price would be €200 for a no-star small guest house, but there are handful of hotels in Rome, 3 stars as they acclaimed, decorated as 1 star hotel, located in the area looked like crap, charging you €300 a room for one night.

This just gets started.

The price system for the roman hotels is such a slicker.We found some hotels, 3-star, near the Roma Termini, good location, nice rooms, €3000 a room for one night.

Now run out of your door and screaming, loudly, which would be not a problem for me.

Ridicules prices like €200 for a person, €2000 for a double room, and so on, you name it.

Normal prices would be €200-€300 for a double room in a no-star/2-star/3-star hotel. Try those little pensions and youth hostels, but a great chance you may regret for this choice due to a shabby room with no WC/bath, meanwhile sharing one small room with strangers after a long tired trip from a one-day city tour.Which I would also explain later why you would feel like that.

Lucky for us, we get a 4-star hotel with a unbelievably wonderful discount price. Yeah we know people, and so do you. So use every possible resource you can get, search as much information for hotels as you can, check the hotels far from the city center or Roma Termini(like I said before), you would fix your accommodation problem in Rome,most likely. And rule number one of finding a place to stay: NEVER, NEVER EVER TRUST THE HOTELS LOOKED SUSPICIOUS. Even just a little bit. Or without any traceable information or recommendation from other pre-visitors in Rome. DO NOT TAKE THOSE! There are handful of cases that people got robbed in the hotel room in Rome, the hotel took absolutely no responsibility afterwards, and there is nothing much the police can do about it either. So do be careful and cautious.

Good luck.




Chapter 3 - City Tour

Like I said before,a one-day tour in Rome could already be really exhausting, despite the issue of annoying public transportation, the crazy crowd people is also an issue.

In winter, in summer, no matter what the season is, come to Rome, you have madly crowds waiting for you. Spanish Steps, my most favorite spot in Rome, well, there are no steps. There are only people. Piazza Navona, the beloved gathering spot for tourists and native people, well, they are telling the truth. Trevi Fountain, where you might only see the waves of people heads instead of the fountain. Pantheon, you could be pushed from side to side among the shoulders but just cannot moving forward to the entrance.

And be aware of those street people in Rome who are dealing their little business all the time. Don't casually answering their greetings, before you realize, next thing which might happen to you could be that you are holding some ugly souvenirs coming from nowhere and four guys speaking barely understandable Italian-English on your face, try to take your money out of your wallet.



OK, don't get me wrong, relax.What I've tired to say is there are some problems might be those unhappy bugs which are buzzing around your holiday in Rome. Fine, let's say you might be pushed out of the bus during the evening time after one hour waiting(which by the way, stay away from the glass door or window in the bus, we really saw one window of a bus is crashed by the crowded people inside), you might spend like over €1000 to have a pleasant half-week journey, you might get lost or stolen in the subway station... Hey, don't take that for granted, those cannot always happen to one person,right? Besides you are acknowledged now, who says you are not an expert for an urban trip in Rome?

See, after the 3 days trip we made in Rome, I can still say, lead yourself a road to Rome, it's a wonderful city for a memorable journey in Italy. Check those photos we took, you'll see how we feel.