Rome-Frankfurt-Vancouver (Oct 28-29)

We took Metro to train station and took train to FCO airport. We had booked the Welcome Airport hotel 3 1/2 kilometres from the airport. We booked this hotel because they said they had a 24 hour shuttle. The hotel was supposed to pick us up and did not show up. I asked a man to call the hotel and the hotel sent a taxi and told us where to meet the taxi (they do not have a shuttle, just use taxis). After we got to the hotel we asked for a taxi to be booked for 3:45 am the next morning and confirmed the reservation a couple of times. We did not know that although the hotel was close to the airport it was very isolated. After we got settled into the hotel we took a bus back into Rome, a 2 hour ride. The ride into Rome was very enjoyable going through beautiful farming country and small towns. In Rome we had lunch and did some shopping and then took the bus back to our hotel. The driver going back drove so fast that we had to hang on and it was not that enjoyable.

The next morning we got up and waited for our taxi and no one came. There was no public phone and no one around. Fortunately there was internet and I called the taxi company on my IPod. They said they had no reservation and wanted to send someone out at 4:30 but I managed to get them to send someone right away. It was a scary standing in the dark with no one around worrying about getting to the airport. The check in for our flight opened at 4 am and we needed to reserve seats (could not reserve ahead). We did manage to get some good seats. We had a 6 hour lay over in Frankfurt (it was $300 each cheaper). We looked at the shops and had something to eat and visited with other people so it was okay. We had a long 10 hour flight to Vancouver and were glad to get there. I stayed overnight and took 4 hour bus ride home the next day. Unfortunately my husband had a fire in the kitchen (see blog "fire at home") so we are still coping with repairs.