Our First Roman Experience

As we walked out of the baggage area (with all our luggage thankfully) we were greeted by tour guides and taxi drivers offering rides. We had read that tourists should be cautious about riding in unofficial taxis, which can be a recipe for being ripped off - so I wasn’t going to just except the first ride that came along. However, before I knew it, this guy started talking to me and asked where we were going and the next thing I knew he was booking us on a shuttle service. He needed to find a few more people to fill the shuttle then we could leave. I noticed that he had a ID badge on, and was working with a Shuttle Service kiosk in the terminal so I figured he should be legit, though when I told him I thought the rate from the airport to the city center was supposed to be 40 Euros, he said no, taxis would charge up to 75 Euros (which didn‘t jive with what I had read).

A couple of British women were added to our group - and that was it apparently, a foursome (which didn’t seem like much of a group). Then before I could question things further we were being led to our shuttle. I was expecting a large white mini-bus, or something like that, thus I was surprised when our luggage was being loaded into a Mercedes luxury car! One of the British woman, who seemed like an experienced traveller, started talking to the driver in Italian, and tried to get a lower price, but 50 Euros for each pair remained the deal. I felt a little more comfortable knowing we had a Italian speaking tourist on our side!

So Beth and the two London woman squished into the back seat, because of my larger size I got to sit in the front. And we were off like a shot. I had always heard about Roman drivers, now we were experiencing it - driving like we were in race (speeds were often around 130 kms per hour), darting in and out of traffic, and yet the driver seemed totally relaxed and in control - to tell you the truth I never really felt in danger during this wild ride in from the airport.
Our driver explained to us that today was the day of a big bicycle race in Rome - the Italian National Championship or something like that. This race was throughout old Rome and many roads were blocked off, making it difficult to get anywhere in the old city. I wondered if this was a bit of a story to take us on a wild goose chase, but I quickly found out he was telling the truth as we saw barricades and police at many intersections. Driving in old Rome with this guy felt like being in a car chase scene in a movie. One specific moment I remember we found ourselves heading down a railway track (with guard rails on either side) which provoked one of the London woman to inquire about this with the driver, to which he replied by shrugging and saying “There are no police watching.” We did seem to get to our destination quickly however, and the driver got us fairly close to the hotel (which required him to argue with some police officers at a couple of intersections). The luggage was unloaded, the London woman went one way to their hotel, and Beth and I walked the other way about a half a block to ours.

We arrived at the De La Ville Roma, checked in, were ushered up to our room (using the tiniest elevator I’ve ever seen!) It is a lovely room, very nicely decorated though a little small - though we should get used to that, I suspect rooms over here are generally smaller than what we are used to in Canada. We set our luggage down, took a deep breath and said “We made it, we’re here, this is real, and this is our home for the next day.”