Roma Rants...Fiumicino, the worst!

Just before leaving Bratislava, my teammates and I took a side trip to Rome, Italy for a few days. I have an aunt living in Rome who very graciously offered us free accommodations so we decided to take the opportunity and go. I've only had time to post my updates now because i was busy during Holy Week and preparing for my family's trip to the US soooo it's late, but hopefully still interesting. :)

Before I recount my trip to the eternal city, Roma, I will first rant about the airport. Because in all the airports I've been to... this is BY FAR the worst (yes, counting crowded domestic airports in the Phils). And I'd rather get this rant out of the way before I start talking about Rome, lest it ruin the memories.

We arrived in the Fiumicino (Leonardo da Vinci) Airport a few minutes ahead of schedule. However, we were made to wait about 10 more minutes in the plane as they couldn't seem to find someone to operate the stairs that would be connected to the plane. Thinking it's just a slight oversight in airport management, I let it slide. Little did I know that Fiumicino had a few more 'oversights' in store for me.

I already drew up a schedule, and we were supposed to catch the 1450 train to Tuscolana to meet up with Tita Mildred. Our schedule was packed pretty tight so every minute counted. I thought we had plenty of time to spare as we were out of the plane by 1420. But while waiting for our 1 piece of checked in luggage, it took another 40 minutes! Really, how long does it take to unload luggage? I was already getting impatient, and it was pretty obvious to my officemates, long story short, we missed the 1450 train, and barely had enough time to catch the 15:20 train. We finally met up with tita Mildred to begin our Rome adventure.

But before I continue, let me get the rest of the story off my chest... on our way back to Bratislava, Tita Mildred's husband, Tito Enrico, was kind enough to drive us to the airport. We were in pretty good spirits, and relaxed and excited to get home. We were able to check in without any problems, and then we headed over to the security check... and it was chaos.

There were hundreds of people crammed together, making their way to the security scanners at the very front. I have no idea why the airport didn't think of organizing this place.. I mean, how hard is it to set up some tape to mark a queue? After some struggling, we finally saw the semblances of several queues. So, we followed the line, with a few people cutting here and there. We were there for a while, following the slow moving line, but at least there was order.

And then. a few metres from the scanners, THE LINE ENDS and it was chaos all over again! I just can't forgive the fact that they couldn't do such a simple thing as to continue the queue all the way to the scanners! Was it too much to ask? Our bags were heavy, and patience was running thin as we had to force ourselves to stay in line. And of course, there were so many people trying to cut in line. This one woman even shoved her child in front of me to try to cut in! Out of patience, I still put my things on the conveyor and raised an eyebrow at her for good measure. Her child was practically squished by the guy in front of me, but she didn't even care just as long as she could get an opportunity to cut in line, what a horrible woman.

Anyway, I finally made my way past the damned security check. I even saw someone collapsed on the floor, probably passed out from all the pressure. It was already borading time according to my watch. But at least we were through, and we still had time to board, so we thought our troubles were over.

So we head on over to our gate, we arrived just in time for an announcement to sound that the flight to Bratislava was actually boarding in Gate X instead of Gate Y. I forgot the exact numbers, so we transferred from Gate Y, to Gate x, and stood in line.

Now, we were expecting to board, but noooo, we had to stand there like idiots WAITING FOR ANOTHER 30 MINUTES! No one even said anything, there was a girl in the counter, but she wasn't doing anything, not telling us that the plane wasn't ready to board yet... so we just stood there, waiting.

I was so pissed and annoyed and tired and I couldn't believe how our very short Rome trip could be marred by this completely annoying experience. It alsmost ruined the entire trip for me, and it probably did for my travel mates... worst airport really, you need a lot of patience for this, and I can't understand why they can't improve it.

Wow...this is a long post for a rant, but at least I'm done. Next post, living la dolce vita in Roma!