General information about visiting Rome

Assalamualaikum,

Hai hai semua!! How are you? Phewwww, now only I have time to share with you about my recent trip to Rome last weekend. But err, I think I have to separate the story into a few entries because there are sooo many interesting things to tell. So please bear with me yea!

Okay let's start the warm up first, shall we? I nak cerita pasal our trip to Rome secara general dulu lah. Later baru masuk cerita pasal tempat-tempat melawat yang super cantik yang ada kat sana. We were there only for the weekend (too little time to explore everything). I would suggest you to spend AT LEAST 5 days there, termasuk jalan-jalan, shopping apa semua.

A welcoming greeting from Aeroporti di Roma.

Our Rome trip was a very last minute decision. Bila last minit tu paham-paham la kan, mana nak dapat flight/train tiket yang murah? We were very lucky because our flight searches brought us to this one online ticket seller, Flugladen.at. The price comparison feature helps us to find tickets at the cheapest price. So, once the tickets were confirmed, we went like, okay, this is serious, WE ARE GOING TO ROME!!

Thank you Flugladen.at. You made our dreams come true.

Next, we booked our hotel through Booking.com. Our main concern every time we travel is, an accommodation that provides microwave or kitchenette. Sooo, we narrowed that down in our search, and finally we decided to stay at Aquarius Inn (near central station) because that was the cheapest we could find. Masa tu pasrah je la, macam mana pun rupa tempat tu pun tak kesah, maklumlah nak tumpang makan and tido je pun. I'm gonna tell you more about this place in a separate entry. :)

An Italian Bed&Breakfast at the center of Rome. Highly recommended!

Flight tickets? Checked. Hotel? Checked. Sooo next thing to do is to plan the trip la, apa lagi kan? We have less than 48 hours to include everything in our itinerary, so we have to utilize our time to the maximum. Tak boleh buang masa walau sikit pun kalau tak nanti confirm menyesal. huhu. Bila dah balik Malaysia nanti memang harapan je la nak pegi Rome tu kan. Tak pernah berangan pun sebenanye. Eh tipu. Berangan tu ada, cuma ala-ala mat jenin je la. hehehe. :p

Bila dah naik flight, kena fikir jugak cara macam mana nak get connected to the city centre (Termini Central Station) to/from the Fiumicino Airport. There are three ways of getting to the central station from the airport; train, metro and bus. We chose to ride on the bus (Terravision) because it is the cheapest (16€ for two return tickets) and the travel time is around 40minutes. Bas sentiasa ada you can even buy the ticket before boarding, cuma kalau beli online murah sikit la. Selagi boleh jimat, kitorang jimat. hahaha. :p

The online ticket, and the boarding card you need before getting on the bus.

Termini Central Station. Lebih kurang macam KL Sentral la.
Train, metro, bus semua ada kat sini.

Underground Metro station at Termini.

Dari segi living cost pulak, I reckoned Rome has quite a moderate life. Not too high nor too low. Kira boleh jugak la nak survive as compared to Copenhagen yang mak datok mahal bukan main tu. Tapi kalau dah nama pun matawang Euro, walau murah macamana pun, kita tetap akan kena bayar mahal dalam RM kan? So kitorang takdela berbelanja sakan sangat kat sana. Utamakan yang perlu je. Kalau tak perlu, pejam mata and jalan terus tak pandang kiri kanan. hihihi. :p

Umm, what else? Ohhh ya, kalau korang pegi sendiri (without tourist guide) and rely solely on the public transport, go grab a 1-day ticket that will cost you 6€ per person. Naik la bus ke, tram ke, metro ke bape kali pun tak kisah, ticket will only expire at midnight. So berbaloi sangat la. Tapi kalau untuk family yang bawak anak kecik or senior citizen, I think public transport is not a very good choice. Too crowded, pastu nak kena naik turun tangga yang sangat banyak. Better hire tourist guide yang sediakan transport or consider renting a car!

The 1-day ticket

The ticket counter. Practically the same in almost every country around the world.

Outside Colloseo Metro station

Perhaps these are the things that you might need to know before planning on your trip to Rome. If you ever have the chance to visit Italy, please please make your time to go to Rome. You'll never regret, trust me. Terlampau banyak keindahan yang boleh dihayati dalam kemusnahan satu empayar yang besar satu masa dulu. I will show you more about that in the next entry yea? 

Till then, have a good night people.

Assalamualaikum.