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Prepare yourself for what you're about to read - the beginning of this holiday was very eventful.
Our first sign should have been when I saved Louise's life, only three minutes from Pittville (where we live). The four of us (me, Louise, Kelsey and Kelsie), were on our way to catch our first bus from Cheltenham to the airport at about 7am. Louise apparently forgot how to walk and about face planted it into the sidewalk. She would have skinned both knees, hands, and her face. Luckily I saw the whole thing and grabbed her arm - woot! Then, our MegaBus didn't arrive until two minutes before departure, talk about four stressed/worried travellers. Anyway, we made it to the airport only to sit and entertain ourselves for about three hours whilst our gate opened. p.s. Pringles are the most effective tool for cheap entertainment.
We make it to Rome a bit later than expected and set off to find our hostel. (haha - what a joke in itself). We wonder up and down the main road for quite some time and happen to find four other people who are also looking for the same hostel - Happy Days. We still can't find it, and randomly, I happen to look on the inside of a door frame and find a button to ring up to Happy Days. I push it, obviously, and it lets us in. Now where? Through the next door into a courtyard with an outdoor elevator? Up the stairs to the left? Or up the inside elevator? Anyway, after panic, confusion, and wanting to peace out, we figure out that we need to go upstairs to the sixth floor. We walk through the door and that's when the real fun began. We are greeted by about 10 older men, drinking and eating in the kitchen, three girls on the computer, and some guy demanding us to step inside this little room. There was no lobby area, or any proof that this was a real business. He made us pay in cash and got change from a coffee mug. There were no room keys, no locks on the doors, no locks for our belongings, no wifi, no anything except a mattress and a comforter. At this point, none of us had dinner so we're starving, it's about 12:30 at night, and we're 4 young, scared, American girls. We get about 2-4 hours of sleep and head out the next morning bright and early.
The next day we enjoyed the Vatican, the Coliseum, the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps. They all were so amazing. We met up with our other American friends, Emmitt, Carson, Fish, Erika and Erika. Whilst going through the Vatican, my right flip flop broke, so I was walking barefoot until this nice lady helped me out. She didn't speak English very well, so at first I thought she was trying to steal my broken shoe (haha whoops). But, really she was trying to show me how to fix my problem. She took my shoe and my hair band that was around my wrist, bent down to my foot, and used the hair tie to hold my shoe on my foot. She was a genius! But then I felt like I was wearing Jesus shoes, if that was appropriate? After we got done, we picked up our luggage from the coat room (since we couldn't leave it at the hostel) and I was able to put on some real shoes.
That night, Emmitt and Carson walked us back to our hostel because they wanted to see what it was all about. We had obviously talked really highly of it, so they wanted to see how awesome it was in comparison to their cute little bed and breakfast down the road. We walk through the door with no questions as to who the guys are, or if we even belong here. We open our door and boom - Kelsey doesn't have a mattress. Now this might not seem like a big deal, "she can just sleep on the other bed." But, there were two other people in our room who the guy didn't even know they were here! The night before he had barged through the door checking out our room and noticed their stuff. He asked if we knew whose it was, and when we said no, he replied with "hmm, I only have the four of you booked for this six person room." That's weird because their were EIGHT beds set up. Anyway, Kels and I go out to the front desk to ask where her mattress is and what their refund policy is, and this is the conversation:
Me, "hiya, um, my friend here doesn't have her mattress."
Guy, "She doesn't have a mattress?"
Me, "no, that's what I just said. Her mattress is missing from our room."
Guy, "alright, let me go check."
(We walk to our room, and inside..)
Guy, "hmm, you're mattress is missing, I'll go get one."
(He goes next door to the other room and grabs one of their mattresses, brings it in and throws it on her boards)
Guy, "so, do you have your sheets?"
Kels, "no, I didn't even have my mattress."
Guy, "well you see, my cleaner cleans every Monday, so he must have just left your stuff over there. His mother isn't very well, so he had to go back to Italy to be with her. I will go find your sheets."
(It's a Wednesday, so nice try with the cleaner excuse. We're in Italy. and, the fact that somebody can come into any random room and remove a mattress, A MATTRESS is enough to make us leave. He comes back and is putting her bed together. We all have our stuff packed and ready to leave)
Me, "so, what's the refund policy? We don't feel safe here and are going to find another place for the night."
Guy, "You're that upset that your mattress was gone?"
Kelsey puts in her two cents.
Me, "right, what's the refund policy?"
Guy, "well, you have to email me 48 hours in advance at lksjdfefehfkehf at gmail.com."
Us, "I'm sorry, at what?"
Guy, "if you email me, you can get your next night's stay free."
Me, "we aren't here for a fourth night."
Guy, "then, you won't be able to get any money."
(We all walk out.)
At this point, we are all beside ourselves. We don't know whether we should cry, laugh, sit and stare, or what. So, thankfully, the guys walk around with us for about 45 minutes in the middle of the night whilst we try to find a hotel to stay at. We tried a few but they were either way to expensive, or didn't have any room. We found a sign down this road; Carson and I decide we'll go check it out and if it didn't work we were going back to their bed and breakfast and would crash on the floor and pay their guy in the morning. Right as we walk up to the door, the little man was about to go up the elevator. He unlocks everything for us and tells us the four of us can stay for two nights for 100 euro each. YES! We move in and live happily ever after. :)
Our third day, we toured some more. Re-saw the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps and went to a few of the famous squares and the Pantheon. The weather wasn't the best, so we sat and people watched.
Gelato was our favorite part about the trip - we got it at least twice a day. We also ate a lot of pizzas, pastas, and breads. Rome turned out to be very nice and probably my favorite in terms of sight-seeing.
Our only other fear, what are these next two hostels about to be like? Let's take on Venice.
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