Today, I nipped out to Rome for the day and it was truly amazing. First, the timings... Easyjet again from Gatwick and it cost £72.98 ✈️
LGW-Rome 06:40-10:15 Rome-LGW 21:50-23:25
No delays (yet! I'm still in the terminal in Rome!) So it was good, but if you do come to Rome - there are several things I will warn you of first!
1. The railway station at the airport is absolute chaos for people arriving in to the country, long queues and broken ticket machines, and it was a massive walk from the plane too (not bother for me but for some it may be) 2. EVERYWHERE is busy, and there are queues everywhere, you can't walk down a street without someone bumping in to you. 3. Street sellers - you will get hounded from the second you get off the plane until you go back by people trying to sell you umbrellas, rain ponchos, bottled water, bus tickets, selfie sticks, charger packs, fake hang bags the lot. 4. Pickpockets are everywhere, and some guy had a card reader in his sleeve and outside the Colosseum was saying "Let a black man and a white man have a hug", then hugging the victim and putting his card reader where their wallet is (this is NOT about race or colour, this is what I SAW)
Now, that aside, I loved it here, I love the hustle and bustle, I got the Leonardo Express from the airport to the Termini station - it was €14 each way and takes you to the main station in Rome. I chose to walk nearly everywhere - I walked about 20 km including all the airport stuff aswell 😂
The weather was warm (20°c) and humid and raining intermittently - that was nice compared to the 38°c I had before.
I did the Colosseum, then walked to the Trevi Fountain, then Vatican City and then I walked back to the Colosseum and got on one of the hop on hop off busses back to the main station to come back. The Colosseum was €20 for a priority security entry (airport style security there, no big back packs and no deodorant allowed in bags either) and the bus was €20, or €15 for one circuit.
Because I ate such a big breakfast at Gatwick, I didn't really need anything to eat during the day, but there are loads of restaurants everywhere as you'd expect, avoid the ones nearest the main attractions as they are pricey!
Rome Airport is amazing for departures too, last summer I was here for 6 hours after my flight home was delayed 3.5 hours, and the shops and seating areas are really amazing, pics below!
So basically that was it, one amazing place, I am coming back in November (quieter I hope 😂) so will do it all again 😁
