Atfishs4t

Hello,

First I'd like to thank everyone on the board who helped me so much in planning our trip to Rome.

Now...we arrived in Rome on Janury 30, 2003. The flight was about nine hours long and I would suggest flying either business class or first-class if you can get away with it. We flew in coach and it was uncomfortable to say the least. There were some people who had reserved middle row seats and then just adopted the seats on either side of them. This allowed them the room to stretch out and sleep. (I would advise getting the empty middle rows if you can't get First-class.)

From the moment we arrived, we were greeted warmly by the Italian people. From our driver to the Hotel staff, everyone was very cordial and friendly.

We stayed at the Hotel Accademia by the Trevi Fountain. I can't say enough good things about this hotel. The location was perfect. The room was spacious and clean. The bathroom was large with a shower AND a tub. (I actually took two baths while we were there!) There was no outside noise from the streets or the other rooms. The breakfast was very good and had all of the "American" food you could want. The staff (the entire 24 hours) was helpful and kind. All of this for five days for under $500 Euro!

We saw all of the major sites in Rome that we could get to in five days. We walked to most of the sights from our hotel, but we took the buses to the Vatican and the Collisseum. The transportation was easy to get accustomed to and the city buses take you literally everywhere that you want to go.

We took off to a few pubs and met the most interesteing people! We met a couple guys from The United Kingdom and Australia. We also met a few other Americans while we were out and about. We went to a disco pub called Trinity College and danced and drank until about three A.M. The people we met there were WONDERFUL! They embraced us immediately and were very friendly.

This brings me to a point. The people in Rome were SO GREAT! We never felt uncomfortable or unsafe in any way. (We went to Jamaica and felt like we were going to be killed...it was a nice change.) The Italians were friendly, courteous, helpful, etc. I could go on and on with this point...(but I won't!)

The only disappointment that we had was the food. Believe it or not, the food on the plane back to the States was better than any of the food that we tried in Rome. We tried many different bars, ristorantes, pizzerias, etc. but nothing was that good. We have an area in St. Louis called "The Hill" where there is a small Italian community. The food on "The Hill" far surpassed the food we had in Rome.

The flight back to the U.S. was about eleven hours long. (even more uncomfortable than the flight TO Rome, but we got two movies! I have to say that the jet lag and the time difference had me seriously thrown off for about two weeks when we returned home.

All in all, we had a wonderful experience in Rome! We will defintely go back and hopefully we can venture out into the different parts of Italy the next time we go.

If I can help anyone with their planning or trip questions about Rome, please don't hesitate to ask. Thanks again to all of the people that helped me so much!

~Anne

sasi

Just read your note and wondering if you have a web site for Hotel Accademia? Checked Google, no luck. The websites with hotel listings gave 200E a night! Waiting to hear from you. Thanks

kismetchimera

Atfish4t, You must be kidding!!!The food on the plane was better than the food of Rome!! I wonder what kind of Taste bud You have!!!!

littletraveler

Wow, I am surprised to hear about the food too. Some of the best food I have ever eaten was in Rome.

I am curious about the hotel also, the only one I can find near Trevi Fountain is, Hotel Accademia, Piazza Accademiadi San Luca 75, cheapest rate 160E. Is there another or did you just get an amazing deal???

Lee4

Your trip sounds wonderful--I hope to go there myself one of these days! I don't have much experience with international flights, so I have a question about something stated in Atfishs4t's post:

"There were some people who had reserved middle row seats and then just adopted the seats on either side of them. This allowed them the room to stretch out and sleep. (I would advise getting the empty middle rows if you can't get First-class.)"

Here's my question--is there some way to reserve the middle row so that others aren't sitting around you? Or, would it just be pure "luck" as to whether or not the middle row was full?

I would love to know if there's a trick to this or not before I fly across the Atlantic again. Thanks!

littletraveler

Lee, it's pure luck really. When you get your seat assignments you can ask the res. agent to put you in a row where no one else has seats, but you never know by the time you fly, those seats might be taken, and voila, there you are stuck in a middle seat.

When there are two of us flying, we have requested the window and aisle on a 3-seat across configuration, hoping that nobody would take the middle seat, thus leaving us more room. It has worked some flights, and not on others. When it hasn't worked, we just ask the middle seat person if they would like our window seat, and then I move to the middle (or my husband does, whomever loses the coin toss!). The person who originally had that middle seat is delighted to switch to the window, as you can imagine.

We have also checked in the day of the flight and asked to be put in seats in emptier rows, and have had good luck that way.

It is all a crap shoot though, really.

Good luck!

RufusTFirefly

My wife and I also reserve the aisle and window seats. But we keep them whether or not someone sits between us. She falls asleep within 5 minutes after takeoff and usually sleeps through the flight with maybe a bathroom break or two on a long flight.