1/25 Amanda comes to visit!

Nothing in the city runs on a schedule!!!

My friend Amanda's flight was coming in at 5pm on Sunday and I was going to meet her at the airport to bring her back to my apartment.  I left my place at 3:30pm in order to give myself enough time to get there.  The airport is outside of the city and it costs 40 euro or about 55 dollars to take a cab there.  I decided to take the 11 euro train ride there instead so that I could save money.  The main station called Roma Termini has a train that runs every 30 back and forth from the airport.  I was told that the train stop by my apartment also would lead right to the airport so I thought it would be easier to just jump on there rather than trying to get all the way to the main station....WRONG!!!  I got to the stop around us and of course the ticket office was closed because it was Sunday.  When that happens you simply buy your ticket from an automated system.  One of the options on the kiosk was the airport.  So logically, I bought that ticket.  The problem with the tickets are that they don't say which gate you need to be at for the train.  So I decided to practice my Italian and ask around.  No one seemed to know.  One nice man helped me figure out that I needed to still go to Termini station before I went to the airport.  So I waited for the train to come that takes me to Termini.  The train is supposed to come every half hour.  35 minutes went by and I went back to check the schedule.  For some odd reason, the train took a break from 1 until 5:30pm on Sundays!  I needed to pick Amanda up at 5, so that was not going to work.  I ran to catch a bus that would take me to Termini.  (Mind you I had already boughten my ticket)  I got on the bus that said "Termini" thinking that it was taking me right to Termini.  45 minutes later, I arrived at Termini.  The bus had just come FROM termini and I needed to get on a different bus.  I ran inside to try and find what gate was to the airport.  I asked the main ticket place and the man said that the train had left 3 minutes ago so I would have to wait another 30 minutes for the next one.  It was already quarter to 5 and Amanda would be in any minute.  I asked him what gate number I needed and he said 25, but that I needed a ticket.  I showed him the one that I had just boughten, but I guess you can't use that ticket at this station.  I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW ROME HAD MORE THAN ONE STATION!!!  They are all the same trains, but because I was getting on somewhere else I had to pay another 11 euro ( By this point a cab sounded great).  I waited for the train and hopped on.  Amanda called and said she got off ok so I had her meet me at the train stop at the airport.  We lifted 200lbs of luggage onto the train and headed for Termini.  I had looked up keeping her big luggage at the station so that we didn't  have to try and bring it all back to my place on the bus.  There were signs that showed a luggage bag and a key above it.  To me, this would be a sign that points to where you can lock your luggage up.  Apparently, it means something different to Italians....because the sign didn't lead to anywhere.  I tried asking someone where we could go to do this and no one understood my italian.  I felt really bad for Amanda because she hadn't sleep in two days and the station was huge so we were walking around with 100 lbs of luggage each.  Finally I got someone who could understand my Italian and we were headed in the right direction.  When we got to the area where baggage drop off was, there was a sign pointed down meaning to go downstairs to drop it off.  The only problem was that they were doing construction by the elevators so we couldn't go down.  I saw a booth for Avis the car rental place so I went over to ask.  There was a sign that said "No information about Trains" in front of the booth.  I asked how to get down for bag drop off, and the woman just pointed to the "no info" sign.  I explained that I knew we had to go downstairs but that I wasn't sure how to get down.  She sighed and then explained where another elevator was.  Amanda and I dragged the suitcases down to the other end of the hall and got in the elevator.  Once we got in, the buttons wouldn't work.  We sat in the elevator trying to make it go up or down and it didn't want to do either.  So we got out and Amanda found escalators to take.  Well I have a big fear of escalators from when I fell down them so I wasn't about to try and take me and 100lbs of bags down one of those machines!  Our only other option was the stairs but I knew that it wasn't possible so I said a prayer and braced myself.  I stacked the two bags on each other and rolled it on.  That went well except that now I had to get on!!!  The bag was going down fast so I hesitantly stepped on.  I was leaning really far because I was 3 steps behind the suitcase.  Amanda thought that it was the funniest thing in the world, and I almost peed my pants!  We finally dropped the luggage off and headed home on a bus.  Our long adventure made us hungry so we grabbed Amanda's first taste at Italian pizza.  She said that the trip was worth it, even if she just got to taste the pizza and leave.  I wasn't able to show her around Rome much because I had class and it was raining really hard, so she is planning on coming back after she settles in at Florence.  I promised her that her next experience in Rome would be MUCH better!!