My € 85,00 ($110.00) Cab Ride in Rome

So let’s start off with my week. A complete lack of sleep, I’ve been stressing over midterms for classes that I don’t need as well as putting myself in a multitude of emotionally stressful situations. So I figure, what the heck, spring break… that should be fun, right? Should be easy:

1. Get on a train from Florence to Rome (~€33,00 for the fast train, €14,00 for the slow train)
2. Get to the airport in Rome (~€8,00 bus ride)
3. Get on flight (€61,00)
4. Arrive in Sofia

Not too tough, right? I guess I left my head somewhere else. The train ride, which I delayed to only necessitate sitting in Rome for about 3 hours instead of 6, was full except for first class tickets. OK, fine, I’ll pay €58,00 for the train, I don’t really have much choice if I want to go, do I? Also being smart I figure “I’ll get my ticket with a connection to the Airport that way I don’t have to worry about that when I get there.”

I purchase the ticket, sit in my first class seat next to a woman who apparently had just gotten done raiding the gothic Gucci and Louis Vuitton (I didn’t see any bag, jacket or item that didn’t have a designer label), was a germophobe and I believe spent about half of the trip putting on makeup. Lovely, I’ll try to get some sleep. Oh wait, they offer you peanuts and water every 30 seconds, and then come around to check your ticket. Screw the sleep idea. I have also found that first class really isn’t that comfortable. What a joke.

When I arrived at the Rome train station I figured I would get my connecting train, smart, right? OK, get there, sit down, relax, got to the airport in no time. Now I need to find out what gate my flight is at so I can go through security. Looking at the monitors….. nothing. At this point I’m freaking out thinking “where am I? Did I go to the wrong airport? Where is a sign that I can look at? OK they don’t use signs here.” I pull up Microsoft AutoRoute and figure out that, yes, I am indeed at the wrong airport. Great.

I find the nearest taxi driver, ask the price to go to the other airport, some confusion, but the answer was €40,00. That sucks, but it could be worse. I walk inside to see if I can find some personnel to ask for alternatives. They direct me to the taxi booth, which informs me that the ride will cost €85,00. Ummm what?!?!?! That’s not exactly a cheeseburger and coke. I argue a bit that the taxi drivers outside said €40,00 which apparently is only into town and since the other airport is out of town, that would be an incorrect fare. Great. I have two hours until my flight leaves and I’m stuck 30km away from the airport I need to be at.
With some reluctance I agree to the fare and hop into this gigantic Mercedes van, which is where I sit now, in 5mph traffic, 40 minutes into the ride and no sign of the airport yet. I know its exit 23, but where the heck am I??? I’m starting to actually believe that this is a €85,00 fare and I’m not just being ripped off. Lessons of the day:

1) Know that Rome has two airports and they are very far away from each other,
2) pay attention to what airport your flight is at,
3) get more sleep,
4) don’t be a moron.

I guess the good part is I will never make this mistake again. At least I afforded myself plenty of time for such stupidity.

This will not be my only taxi fare in the next week. I was really hoping for somewhat of a relaxing, moderately cheap trip away from all the things I do not like about this program. So far I just want to go back to Florence, sleep and forget about this spring break thing.

Overall one-way trip to Sofia cost: €204,00 ($268.26). For that price I should have just flown from Florence.

Update: Taxi drive time: 53 minutes. Time remaining to catch flight: 78 minutes.

Update 2: I’ve decided this is the longest day of my life. It seems as though an eternity has passed between all the events today.
When I arrived at the airport the departure schedule showed a flight leaving to Sofia with a different flight number at 7:30 with no flight at 8:25. Since it was 7:05, this was a little scary. I waited impatiently to check my bag where the woman told me there were some problems so it was pushed to 7:30/7:40ish. I then stood in the long line for security the entire time thinking “it’s 7:25, I’m going to miss the flight.” The actual gate was a mess as well. According to the display they were boarding for Sofia, however in reality they were boarding for London. Long story short, our flight was delayed and we left 40 minutes late.

Update 3: I'm actually in Sofia now, but I'll update later!