Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Chapter One: Rome (and British Airlines)

When I booked my ticket for this trip, I was outraged to discover that British Airlines charges a fee if you want to reserve your seat early. However, I'm not as upset about it anymore for the following reasons:

1. Customer service: After I got to the airport and realized that my suitcase was 5 pounds over the weight limit, I put some stuff into my carry-on tote to lighten the load, and it worked. Unfortunately, one item was my toiletry bag, full of liquids that are over 3 ounces (I freaking hate this TSA rule), and I didn't realize this mishap until my bag had already gone through the carousel behind the ticket counter. Fortunately, the ticket agent was really nice about it, and got a baggage handler to bring my suitcase back up, in order for me to put my toiletry bag back into my suitcase, saving me from having to spend $60 to check another bag.

2. Pretty roomy seats on BA!

3. Pretty good in-flight entertainment selections. I watched "Thor" for the second time and finally saw the last scene at the end of the credits, the latest X-Men, "The Conspirator" and 1/4 of "The Young Victoria" (for the 10th time) on the 8 hour flight to London.

4. Free wine! It was pretty terrible, and I wasn't even thirsty, but I got some anyway because it was free.





Here are some pictures of my home in Rome:




The living room. The apartment owner said that I could use the bike if I want to. The weather is supposed to be great while I'm here, so I may take her up on her offer.




The kitchen and dining area.



The den.




Bathroom #1. The hot water heater is broken, but a plumber is coming tomorrow. Because of the inconvenience, the apartment owner said that she would refund me 50% of the daily rental price for two days. The gadgety thing under the sink is the washing machine. After the Paris fiasco, where we didn't know that the washing machine was a washing machine + dryer all in the same machine, and we ran the clothes again and again because the clothes kept coming out mildly damp, I always ask now, about whether it's a single or combo unit.



My room. The entire apartment is furnished in Ikea, but for some reason, it doesn't look college ghetto like it usually does at home.




Bathroom #2, in my room. The thing on the right is a urinal, not a sink.




The owner was nice enough to stock the kitchen with juice, fruit, bread, jam, cereal, milk, etc. This is my first meal in Rome: untoasted hamburger buns with marmalade.




Light switch situation for just the kitchen/dining area, which is similar to the light switch situation for every room in the flat. It took me ten minutes to turn all the lights off.




In case you're curious what 65 pounds worth of stuff looks like, here you go. (Not an exaggeration. The bag was a flat 50 and the duffel had to have been at least 10, pushing 15.) I'm fairly certain that I can fit inside of my suitcase, if I curl up into the fetal position. I'm also fairly certain that dragging around half of my body weight throughout Europe is going to be problematic for me on a number of different fronts. I was so, so, so, so happy to discover that the train station I got off, and this flat has escalators/elevators, because I've discovered that those are hard to find in Europe.

The adventure begins tomorrow, but I have absolutely nothing planned for Rome yet except for the Vatican Museum on Friday night. I'm setting my alarm for 10am but maybe I'll snooze until 2? (Michelle, don't die at the thought.)

Location:Via dei Foscari,Rome,Italy

4 comments:

  1. I told you not to take all 53468996422 pairs of Doc Martins!! Haha, =p. And oh btw, it takes like 24689007543345 hours just to get into the Sistine Chapel. You might have to set your alarm for 1.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I would sleep until 3:00... why not?! Yay for 50% off since you'll be sleeping anyway--no need to wash up! Reminds me of all your cost savings efforts months ago. you made it! oh, hope you don't mind the FB post.... it'll be fun to talk english a little :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. ...but the untoasted hamburger buns with marmalade, surely, is college ghetto.

    ReplyDelete
  4. whoa...the lights are out of control!

    ReplyDelete