Written Works by Hosun Lee London Travel Journals   ROME: DAY ONE To Boldly Go Where Everyone Else Has Already Gone Before by Hosun Lee With spring break dawning, I thought about where I'd spend my ten days of leisure. I wanted to go to Italy, since several of my professors recommended it (they were the same ones who were disappointed that I wasn't studying in Florence. They gave me the same kind of look your parents would give you if you told them you decided to spend the rest of your life finding the best way you can blow yourself up. "Oh, so you're going to......London? And not Florence?!") Initially, I was going to travel to Greece and Italy, but upon taking the advice of Georgia in the office, I decided to maximize my time in one country, and see as much of it as I can. So on a cold, blistery day, myself and my anonymous roommate went to Campus Travel and purchased two return tickets to Rome. I exchanged my money at Barclay's before I left, since from past experience, I've found that you usually need money as soon as you hit the ground. 1500 liras is approximately equal to a dollar. Our tickets were on a British Airways flight leaving on Thursday night from Heathrow Airport. The trip to the airport was easy. We took the Piccadilly line from Earl's Court, a quiet 35 minute ride. We had to make sure which terminal we were going to, since the four Heathrow terminals are miles away from each other. The trip to Rome was wonderful. It was the first time I had been on a British Airways flight, and after this, I don't know why I'd want to fly on any other airline. The seats were incredibly comfortable. We were flying coach, but we had a lot of leg room, and even leg rests. The chairs were soft and comfortable, and the backs had real head rests. We also got complimentary copies of the day's papers. The icing on the cake was the meal. I have no idea what it was, except that it involved curry and a lot of flavoring. It was the best airline food I've ever had. We paid about £5-10 more because it was a British Airways flight, but the money was well worth it. Finally, we even ended up getting into Da Vinci Airport about 20 minute early. Then our little castle crumbled. The queue at the passport desk was HUGE. The line for the E.C. citizens was quick, you just walk through and nod your head. The non-E.C. line was unbelievable. There were at least 100 people in the queue, and it kept getting longer. I estimate that my roommate and I were at the airport for an hour altogether. It would probably have been faster for us to go back to England, apply for E.C. citizenship and get back in the queue. After about 30 minutes, the Italian Passport Authorities decided to add one more person to the desks, so they now had two whole people handling the passports for a crowd that blossomed into 200 people. I'm sure that the agent who handled my roommate and myself was a nice person, but he really seemed to hate the entire world. He scowled whenever he saw an American passport, and he would either ignore the fact that you're alive, or spend an hour asking you why you're being such a twit. Then, the next problem hit us. My roommate and I had a slight disadvantage in Italy, partly due to the fact that neither of us spoke fluent Italian (actually, we didn't speak any Italian besides the words "spaghetti" and "mafia," which unfortunately don't lend themselves to casual conversation when you're a tourist. Unless of course you're planning on dining with people who want to kill you). However, we were able to find a gentleman at the help desk who was able to help us out. He said that we're screwed. Well, not literally. However, we got free around midnight, and the rails and cabs were virtually non-existent that late. So he recommended that we go to Stazione Tiburtina and take a cab from there. Well, actually, he said that we could TRY to take a cab from there. The airport is linked to the city by a rail service. After about five minutes, we were able to figure out how to use the ticket machines (a ticket cost 7,500 liras). It was about a half hour trip to the station. It turned out that the information desk official was right and wrong. He was right about the fact that we didn't have a chance in heck of finding a licensed cab at that hour. He was wrong about the station though. Stazione Termini was actually the closest station to our hotel, and most likely than not, it'll be the closest station to wherever you're staying. Fortunately for us, we were accosted by a "taxi cab driver." We decided to ignore the fact that he looked like he wanted to mug us and that his car resembled a cab only in the sense that Jim Carey can be considered an actor. He was so nice, that he only charged us 60,000 liras (about $40) for a three mile taxi ride. Wheee! This would begin my history of being extremely gullible in Italy. NEXT: Ninjas! Machine Guns! Giant Dinosaurs! And Comets! (Well, not really, but it sounds a lot more exciting...)