Today’s the day!! Our trip to Italy starts, and we are both very excited about it. We’ve been preparing for this trip for months, even years.
Leg 1: FLG – DFW
We got up very early to catch the 7 am flight out of FLG airport to Dallas. Our friend Marcy was nice enough to pick us up from the house and drive us to the airport. We decided to check our bags to Rome, so we don’t have to haul them around everywhere. All we have to worry about is our brand new matching little backpacks.
It was a beautiful day in Flagstaff. As per usual there was no trouble getting through the security check, and we made it to the gate with plenty of time. The FLG-DFW flight was right on time, and it got us to Dallas without any trouble. Our travel day got off to a GREAT start.
Courtesy of our credit card perks, we have access to airport lounges, and we found one close to the departure gate in the Dallas airport. So nice to sit in a comfortable chair rather than the airport benches with snacks and drinks close by.
Leg 2: DFW-FCO
The flight from Dallas to Rome left right on time, and we had an uneventful flight over there. We had booked the window and aisle seats. The strategy is that you leave a middle seat open, and hopefully on the travel date nobody will have claimed that seat. If it works, then you have 3 seats for two and you have some room to stretch out. This strategy hardly ever works out though, and inevitably someone will walk up to our row, pointing at the seat between us. Usually, one of us will take the middle seat, and the stranger is usually very happy to inherit a window seat. This time though, neither one of us felt like taking the middle, so we traveled with a stranger between us.
Having arrived on time at the Rome airport (full name “Leonardo da Vinci Rome Fiumicino Airport”), we found our way to the baggage carousel. After the monitors said that our flight was all done, the carousel was about empty, and our bags were nowhere to be found. The “customer service” guy (a lovely Italian fellow who likes to keep his communication very short and brusque, with no eye contact) did a quick check of our baggage tag and waved us away, saying that our bags were unloaded and are on the belt. We went back to the belt, and to our great delight both of our little roller bags came out of the chute.
On to the trains we go! It’s always fun to figure out transportation, I always enjoy that part of traveling. It took a while to figure out, but we eventually found the ticket machine and got our tickets to the “Leonardo Express” that would take us to the “Roma Termini” station.
One thing we both noticed is that the “service” staff at the airport were not the friendliest. First the baggage claim guy, and then this woman by the train ticket machine. Very little eye contact, and you get a bit of an impatient attitude like you’re especially stupid for not being able to figure it out yourself. We do understand the sentiment (tourists can definitely be SO stupid and obnoxious), but it’s not so nice to be on the receiving end when you need some help.
We decided that it’s probably a cultural thing, we’ll probably run into lots of that sort of attitude, and not to let that spoil our excitement. We had our bags, we had our tickets for the train, we had directions to the hotel, we are ALL SET!! We’re in Rome baby!!
When in Rome
The Leonardo Express took us from the airport to the “Roma Termini” station in about half an hour, with just one stop on our way there. We were surrounded by all sorts of tired-looking people, all filled with anticipation.
From the station it was a 20-minute walk to the hotel, and we arrived there around 10am. Given the early time we were expecting to just leave our bags and walk into town, but to our surprise, our room was ready for us. We were able to check in and put our stuff away. It was nice to be able to change into some fresh clothes, because it was HOT and very humid in Rome. We would have been miserable walking around in our travel clothes.
When Sara booked the hotel, she must have mentioned that this trip was for our anniversary, because the hotel had made us very cool towel swans.
Our hotel, the “DoubleTree by Hilton Rome Monti”, was very nice. Super friendly staff that was very helpful and patient. The lobby has nice comfy furniture and a few tables. You could easily order a coffee and sit there for hours with a book. From the lobby, you walk into the restaurant where they have a breakfast buffet in the morning and full dinner service in the evening. There was a coffee shop where you can get coffee (obvs) and pastries, but also alcoholic drinks. The breakfast buffet was awesome, we ate there every day. For lunch and dinner, we usually found something in the city.
Then there is the rooftop bar, which we visited just about every day. Our standard order was the focaccia bread appetizer with some sort of light cheese spread, and of course Aperol Spritzes, our drink of choice for this entire trip.
