Rome wasn’t built in a day: Day Six

I’m finally recapping the LAST day of my trip back in May.  Lol.  This post is hard for me to reminisce.  As a result, I had to take some time off from my friends in order to reflect and move forward.  The day started out late.  The groom stayed behind to take care of business, and the uncle of the bride decided to help him.  Our road trip crew got smaller, but off we went.  We were heading back to Rome.

We didn’t mean to head out late but it’s inevitable when you’re traveling with a group of people.  Our 4 hour drive meant we were anticipating on arriving close to rush hour.  Rome is a very busy metropolitan city, and the traffic alone can be hectic.  I knew my friend had a lot on her shoulders driving us down there, along with the fact we couldn’t help out because none of us knew how to drive stick shift.  But we made the commute as light-hearted as possible, snapping away pictures of the countryside and enjoying stories about the wedding that we might have missed.  

Our makeup artist friend had a hotel reservation in the center of Rome, not far from where he originally was located on day one.  It was my turn to pay for the hotel this time since my roommate on this trip took care of night one.  Our air b&b was also located in the center of Rome.  We didn’t want to book anything too far away from the Roma Termini station since that was our way back to the airport the next day.  Of course, this was one of the stressful parts of our trip.  Once we entered Rome, my friend warned us about the driving zones within the center of the city.  Because of the size of our group, along with our luggage, we didn’t want to park too far away in order to walk the streets with so many things to carry.  This part alone took over an hour, and it was wearing down our patience.  We finally settled on an indoor overnight parking garage and decided to cab it to our hotels.  I jumped in the same cab as the makeup artist so I could help him check in his hotel, and the girls took my luggage with them and went to check in our air b&b.  

Now we were back on track!  We decided to meet up by the Spanish steps so we could continue to sight-see as well as shop around for any souvenirs.  Again, time was slipping away from us due to lack of communication.  The other group was taking a while to meet up with us and we weren’t sure what was going on.  I finally got a hold of my friend and she told us they were on their way.  Me and the makeup artist were under the impression that maybe they decided to hangout on their own and meet up much later, (which would have been fine) since we were waiting around for a bit.  I decided to call back my friend to see how far along were they, and that’s when she mentioned that her aunt was having a hard time keeping up due to knee problems.  Whew!  At least we were now in the loop.

After being apart for close to an hour, we were finally together and trying to decide what to do next.  My hotel rommie wanted to check out some stores, and I wanted to grab a few souvenirs for my mom.  My friend was impatient due to the large crowds, and the makeup artist wanted to sight see.  My friend’s aunt needed to rest, so I sat with her on the Spanish Steps for a bit while everyone checked out the shops in the surrounding area.

Once they were done, we decided to venture out to the Trevi fountain for some picture taking.  Luckily it was not as packed as the first day we were here, but everyone loved snapping away.  My friend was again impatient due to the crowds, but I figured if we took our time we would be able to enjoy more of the experience with the others who have not seen the sights.  We slowly made our way to the Pantheon but arrived too late to go inside.  It is a pretty impressive structural building and I enjoyed my first encounter here.

Next we were on our way to the Piazza Navona.  At this point I stayed behind with the aunt while the others rushed over.  Again, I wasn’t sure what the plans were, so I was under the impression that we were chilling, but everything seemed rushed.  I knew we were going to have dinner at Ba Ghetto again (me and my friend dined there in March) but that wasn’t until later.  Well “later” was creeping up on us and we were not aware of what time it was.  The Piazza Navona was a very busy area that we lost two of our travelers.  We couldn’t find them anywhere.  We walked around the massive fountains but there were so many people here.  It was hard to locate them.  AGAIN our patience was being tested and it was getting the best of us.  I’m not sure any of us on this day were really enjoying ourselves.  It’s frustrating looking back on this.

Once we finally found everyone we had to head back.  My friend needed to retrieve some makeup from the makeup artist back at his hotel.  With the aunt not being able to move so quickly, we decided to walk back to the Spanish steps (me and her) while the others rushed to his hotel.  His place was located on the top of the steps barely two blocks away.  It took us some time to get there, and we even climbed up the steps to take more pictures while waiting to hear back from them.  My friend called me to let me know that they were going back to our air b&b to get ready since the reservations for dinner were at 9pm.  She advised that we take a cab back to the air b&b to meet them there instead.  Again, another frustrating incident of this day.  The cab driver dropped us off at the address we provided, but I’ve never seen the air b&b since I never checked in with the girls earlier that day.  The aunt lead us to a hotel and we rode up the elevator, but then she got confused.  I tried calling my friend but they were not answering.  The makeup artist called me because he just arrived from getting ready at his hotel.  He said the girls ran out of his hotel and he stayed behind.  It seemed that he was at our air b&b but no one was answering the doorbell.  It was then we me and the aunt realized we were at the wrong hotel.  A hotel employee ran up the stairs and yelled at us because we didn’t close the elevator doors correctly and it wasn’t allowing it to go back down.  I was getting upset on how this day was turning out.

When we FINALLY found the correct air b&b (which was an apartment complex) the girls were already dressed and ready to head out.  I told them to leave without me.  I had to get ready as well and was upset that they wouldn’t answer our calls earlier (they definitely jumped in the showers back to back).  I needed some time to recoup, but they insisted on waiting on me (which I hated).  I had some friends from Amsterdam that happened to be in Rome the same time we were here.  They wanted to catch with me over drinks.  I wanted to skip dinner and hangout with them but my friend wanted me to join them instead for dinner.  I went along.  I wish I hadn’t.

Dinner believe it or not was fine.  The food is always delish at Ba Ghetto and I was feeling good off the wine.  My Dutch friends wanted to know what time I would be done with dinner.  I told my friend I was going to join them for a bit.  The crew was going to go back to their hotels to get some sleep.  This day was indeed exhausting.  The rest is history.  I jumped in a cab and headed to Campo di Fiori to meet up with my friends.  There I enjoyed a glass of wine  and we talked about our time here in Rome.  I did not feel I was out long, but of course, some might argue that claim.  In the end, the night turned out disastrous for me and probably for the rest of the crew.  I wish I could have done things differently, but as they say, you live and you learn.  I think the only lesson I could pin point for me is that I should have followed my instincts and did my own thing after the wedding.  As I’m getting older I’m realizing it can be draining being around so many people.  I miss my time traveling alone. 

Back in Rome: Day One

Well it’s been a few days since I’ve been back from my vacation.  In all actuality it wasn’t a vacation at all.  To sum it up:  had a few hours of sleep; rushing from here to there; packing in too many activities all at once.  Not to mention sharing an apartment with 7 people while getting ready for a wedding at the same time.  Yep.  It was pretty stressful.

But there WERE some beautiful moments.  Moments I will never forget.  Moments I WISH I CAN FORGET.  I’ve been dealing with a lot of emotions over the weekend.  Overthinking as usual ( typical Gemini) and haven’t really come to a conclusion on why things turned out the way they did.  I was pretty drained being around so many people, too.  Needless to say, I miss traveling alone, and feel somewhat anxious about me traveling with other people in the future.  Have I reached that point of just enjoying my own company and not “needing” anyone around?

The plus side of traveling with others is they sometimes bring out the best in you.  And you get to share some amazing moments as a group.  Feelings are “enhanced” because someone is there feeling the same thing you are.  It’s nice.  The downsize is, sometimes one bad mood can alter everyone else’s.  It’s hard to navigate away from it when you are stuck together for the rest of the ride.

I’ll recap Day One quickly, because that’s how that day went in general.  I landed in the afternoon and rode the train in from Fiumicino airport to Roma Termini station.  This was the first time I have done this.  I have rode to the airport before, but not the other way around.  When I got out, I was completely overwhelmed.  I knew our hotel was nearby, but had no idea there were going to be so many people around.  Again, I’ve been to Rome before but this was something unreal.  I messaged my friend who had arrived the night before from LA to come meet me because I felt I would get lost.  Luckily she was up and met me in no time.  The hotel wasn’t far away, but with Italy’s small signs, I wasn’t in the mood to go in circles.

Once back at the hotel I showered up and we got ready.  I managed to sleep in on my flight so I was ready to start my day with everyone else.  In the past, I would have terrible jet lag and would have to nap but this time I wanted to keep going.  We decided to walk to sightsee which was a great idea.  We found Eatly not far from the hotel and we grabbed some espresso.  Then off we went again.

We made our way to the Spanish Steps because my friend wanted to check out the Louis Vuitton store.  The Spanish Steps area has mostly high end retail and luckily we found the shop but they did not have the bag that she wanted.  We continued to sight see.

We ended up at the Trevi Fountain (which reportedly has another Louis Vuitton shop nearby) and the crowd was insane.  The amount of people here was nerve wrecking.  We witnessed a heated altercation between two men, all for a photo!  I really thought these two would duke it out.  The energy was too much and we decided to leave the area.

By now we were growing hungry.  I did some research on gluten-free restaurants since my friend has a restrictive diet.  I noticed we were nearby one of them and we decided to check it out.  Taverna Barberini was pretty empty, but we concluded we were walking in during siesta.  Luckily they invited us in and we had the place to ourselves.  The chef reassured my friend that everything is gluten-free, so we ordered a pasta for us to share.  It was delish!!!  I was amazed because it didn’t taste differently at all.  My friend enjoyed her meal very much.  It felt good knowing she could have pasta here in Rome.

We felt better after our late lunch that we decided to continue with our sightseeing.  We came upon Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II (Altare della Patria) and I noticed the gate door was opened.  I’ve been to this monument before but never got a chance to go inside.  We quickly ran up to see if we could get in. 

The view from the top is amazing!  You get the panoramic view of the Piazza Venezzia and all of its hustle and bustle.  We took a ton of pictures before witnessing the changing of the guards.  I’m pleased we discovered this on our way to the Colosseum.  

The Colosseum had some construction going on around the perimeter but it didn’t alter the view of its majestic structure.  We were now catching the sunset of Rome and it looked beautiful!  After taking more pictures we noticed the metro station and decided to take it back to our hotel.

We had another person that was flying in later that day and he reached out to us once I was connected to the wifi.  We were all going to take the train down to the southern region of Italy.  We decided we should meet up so we could introduce ourselves as well as form a plan for the morning commute.  This was crucial since we luckily had tickets for the fast train.  Of course we got a bit lost but we found each other and headed over to the train station to get familiar with our surroundings.

As most nights in Italy were short, we decided to get up around 6am to head out no later than 7:15am for our 8am train.  Looking back, I realize that commuting is a stressful situation when you are in another country.  You can’t make any mistakes.  You are on your own…

Three flights later...

I have been back from my trip and feel I am finally adjusted to my life again.  Last week was tough one for me.  I was in a bad mood all week and it wasn’t going away.  I always get this way after a trip.  I know in my heart I will make some changes for myself in the future because I cannot keep putting myself through this over and over again.  I just don’t want to be in Chicago anymore.

Where do I want to go???  Well that’s a good question.  For the most part, most of my friends have moved out of the city, whether it’s to another city or deep in the suburbs.  I miss my friend a lot in Italy, but cannot figure out if I could live there.

Since I’m currently not involved with anyone, the thought of taking two years off and traveling the world on my own REALLY EXCITES ME!!!  I would love to do long term travel, but again, haven’t figured out the logistics to making it happen.  I know there are vagabonders out there who do this type of thing all the time, but I can’t help but question if I could live the gypsy lifestyle.  I like to think of myself as living a simple life here in Chicago but let’s face it, I would have to make some major adjustments living on the road.  I don’t know if I could handle it.

One of the things that surprises me the most is how much I enjoy my time alone when I do travel.  But the maximum time I have done this is 7 days alone.  I have always met up with my friends somewhere along the way.  To be a vagabonder, I probably would be friend-less much longer than that, and again, question myself if I could be away from the people I care about.

So that’s where I’m at!  Lol.  I have been thinking about this all week and have settled my into my life again.  NOW I am ready to recap my trip to Europe, AGAIN!

I had received a voucher from that airlines that had me stuck on Iceland for a day back in December.  My voucher is good for one year, so I decided to use it to see my friend in Italy.  But of course there was a catch.  The only flights coming into Italy from that airline was to Milan and there were blackout dates.  I couldn’t fly into Italy when I wanted to.  Me and my friend were trying to figure out how to make this work for us.  I told her that this airline had plenty of flights to Paris jokingly and that’s when the idea popped up.  My friend looked into domestic flights .  “There’s flights for $200 coming up from Paris to Rome and that’s when I booked it.

Now the hard part for me comes up.  That means I would have to fly into Iceland AGAIN, have a two hour layover before jumping on another plane to Paris.  As if that wasn’t enough, I had a three hour wait before jumping on ANOTHER flight from the ticket I purchased to head to Rome.  Everything had to line up perfectly and because of that, I was a hot mess.
My nerves were getting to me.  I couldn’t sleep prior and I had bad dreams about this plan.  I absolutely HATE flying but I knew it was coming up.  Luckily I had friends nearby who tried to keep me calm.

To my amazement, all 3 flights were on time!  WHEW!!  I was a little frustrated my 3^rd flight from Paris-> Rome had me check in my luggage because they claimed it was “too big” (although on my other 2 flights I threw it in the overhead).  Once I grabbed my luggage my friend was calling me to let me know she was outside.  I was relieved.

I had a cup of coffee right there in the airport because I had to adjust to my time in Rome.  Luckily I slept well on the 2^nd flight coming in, but it still wasn’t enough for me.  I needed a pick me up.

My friend informed me she booked a place not far from the Vatican so we could be close to all of the action.  The problem with this is trying to find parking.  Rome is a very busy metropolitan city.  Trying to find a legit parking space took us a while.  We drove around the block for over an hour.  This was getting frustrating again.
Not to mention, we still had to meet the owner so he could drop off the keys to us.  That alone took another 30 minutes.  At this point we were in the heart of rush hour and just wanted to get rid of our luggage.
I also had to break the news to my friend that I had to wash my hair.  Lol.  She usually gets ready very quickly but I’m a human turtle.  It takes me longer to get ready.  After an hour of showering up, getting dressed and doing my makeup, we wanted to hit up the town.  It was now 8pm.
We decided to call an uber to get us close to the Spanish steps.  My friend did not want to move the car and I understood.  Luckily a Mercedes came and picked us up in no time.  Off we went!

There were so many people on the streets.  As usual, Italians love to take their passeggiata after work, even in cold weather!  Temperatures were in the mid-40s that night, but that didn’t stop them.  It was Saturday night after all.

We found the Spanish steps and took a bunch of pictures and decided to look for the Trevi fountain.  I HAD NO IDEA HOW BIG IT WAS!!  Even in the movies, it never looked that big to me.  Lol

so many people!

At this point, we knew we wanted to eat.  My friend had some trouble remembering the location of a restaurant, so I had suggested grabbing a cocktail first so we could kill some time.  Unfortunately, due to the cold weather, some rooftops I looked into were still closed for the season. 

We walked around for a bit and found a boutique at a corner. People were walking in and out.  It grabbed our attention so we decided to check it out.  The party turned out to be an art showing.  We enjoyed the art work and even had some appetizers before we headed back out again.

We took a chance on another suggestion and went to a hotel bar.  Their rooftop was closed too, but we took the opportunity to look up other restaurants because we were hungry.  This hotel bar was super pricey (even for a drink).  We decided to leave right away.

Luckily, the restaurant we chose was a popular one that our new cabbie recognized.  He drove across Rome to get us there and we found it right away.  Of course, there was a wait, but the owner was very sweet and gave us a complimentary Prosecco while we waited.

Ba Ghetto was a delight!  It gave me and my friend a chance to catch up.  Once we were seated we enjoyed our night.  I miss her very much.  After dinner we decided to take a walk around to find a bar, but gave up shortly because we were just too tired.  Lol.  Oh well.  We knew we had a long day ahead of us in the morning, so we called it a night.