It was 2014 and we'd been back from our round the world trip for seven months at this point.
We'd just about managed to recover and get to a good point financially again and clear all of our leftover debt. So
we decided it was about time we booked a trip, small, not too expensive. So we decided on Italy since we'd never seen
Rome. We got convenient flights here from East Midlands even if we did have to fly with the awful Ryanair and via
as it'd turn out the awful Ciampino airport. Speaking of which no one was allowed to check in until 2 hours before,
however the queue for check in was longer than two hours at all times meaning that by the time people were able to check
in they'd almost missed their flights. This issue was compounded by the fact that check in staff had to keep running
away to scan boarding passes for flights due to take off. Even once we'd checked in and got ready to board we were simply
all left for 25 minutes on a bus on the tarmac with no AC roasting in 35°C sun. It was certainly not a pleasant experience
and still one of my top worst airport experiences. Anyway I digress. We had 4 days here in Italy with much to see.
During our time in Italy we visited Rome and took a train ride over to Pompeii to see the destruction caused by the eruption
of Mount Vesuvius. While in Rome we visited the Colosseum using a little known trick to enter via the gardens and thus skip
the long ticket line while entering the actual Colosseum . We also visited the Castel Sant'Angelo, the Vatican and St. Peter's
Basilica including the long climb up to the dome top. This Italy trip had been a nice little re-introduction to us travelling
the world and it had been enjoyable to be laid back tourists for a little bit after such a different year before hand.
From here we caught a flight back to East Midlands and ended our short Italian trip.
