Arrival in Italy

Just arrived in Italy and I’m trying to get away with communicating using my phrase-book Spanish. I’m not really sure what Italians would prefer to experience, poor Spanish, Irish-English or spontaneous sign-language.

I arrived there at the Rome Airport train station this evening. I’d planned to take the train, that’s why I went to the train station. They leave every 30 minutes and the next one was at 17:38. So I went over to the ticket desk – it was 17:35. The man by the desk spoke decent English but wanted to sell me a ticket for a shuttle! (Strange, I can’t imagine getting a ticket in Ireland for a taxi or a shuttle from the same person that sells train tickets.) When I asked if I could take the train I was told I’d have to wait 30 minutes… or else I could take the shuttle now, for an extra euro. The train was on time, I was told, so the doors had been locked to prepare for departure!!!

“I’ll take the shuttle” I said and took out my card. “Cash please”…. “ok… where is the cash machine?”

I went over to the cash machine, swapped the language from Italiano to English and whipped out some fresh Euro. Over to the desk I went… “Can I take a shuttle ticket please?”. “Awww, ohhh, awww, the shuttle has just gone” he said. “When is the next shuttle?” “The next shuttle will be in 30 minutes, or the train in 20 minutes, so it would be better for you to take the train”.

Travel tip #1: Always carry some local currency