Arriving in Rome - Sept 18, 2019

I don't like to fly - I'll just say that right up front.  But when I checked on cruises to Europe, this wasn't the right time of year to get there, or trust me, I would have done it!  However, this Delta flight on an Airbus 330 was just as smooth as could be, not a single bump for the 9-1/2 hours from Atlanta to Rome.

The good part of flying TO Europe is that you are mostly on the plane during the night - you leave in the evening, have dinner on the plane, sleep (more or less) for a few hours, have breakfast on the plane, and land mid-late morning.  So somehow it's just not that hard to adjust - for me, anyway.  I get lots of issues (car sickness, for example!) but I have never really suffered from jet lag.  

Arriving in Rome after 9-1/2 hour flight

We arrived in Rome about 11:30 am local time, and breezed right through customs and baggage claim.  DH had had a rough flight because he got sick with a migraine, so he was following me through the airport in a daze. We found the man sent by the hotel to pick us up, and without speaking a word of English, he motioned for us to follow him, chucked our bags in the car, and proceeded to take us on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. DH turned shades of green (even worse than ME) as we lurched and swerved through the streets of Rome, before we were finally deposited at an nice little Inn on a shady street in an improbably quiet, residential neighborhood.

And here I will have to note that the nicest place we stayed at, in the whole three weeks we were in France and Italy together, was this very first hotel, the Suites Farnese Design.*  As soon as I booked the reservation a couple of months before our trip, the manager sent me a personal email, in English, asking for our flight number and offering to have a driver waiting for us when we arrived (for an extra fee, but at the going rate for a taxi.)  The room was huge, with a small private balcony overlooking a little courtyard where we were served cappuccinos and a light breakfast in the morning.  

We took a short nap, then hit the streets - we were in walking distance of Vatican City, right in the heart of Rome, and just a couple of blocks from a main road where found plenty of restaurants.  However, we ended up defaulting to a "touristy" place because - face it - we were tired, hungry, and went for the easiest option, the one where they spoke English and you didn't have to think too hard about what you were ordering.  The quality of the food wasn't great, but we didn't care.  (More on that HERE)

We did a little walk about, but didn't venture too far that first day, and got a good night's sleep.  Day 1 in Rome.


*NOTE: all reviews are strictly from my own experience, I'm not shilling for anyone, or getting anything for clicks on these links.  Just adding the links FYI if you're interested.