Getting to the Hotel from FCO... and What We Learned

Pam had offered an airport transfer to the first hotel for $65 (plus her $50 fee) but we couldn’t see paying that much to get there so early in the morning (7 a.m.?)  We decided to have an ADVENTURE!  Figuring out how to get there on our own, via airport bus, train, etc.  After all, Linda had said that Pam got them hotels near the train station so it was always an easy walk.
   Joan got on the hotel’s website to see where it was and how to get there, as Pam had only given us a small local street map.  Good thing we had those instructions.  We would have never found it!  (Guess that’s the advantage of having a “car pick you up. … but then, we wouldn’t have learned how to “work” the trains and buses.  And did we learn!)  And can we say? It was NOWHERE near the train station: first, getting to the Termini (main) train station on the airport bus (it was only 5€ each versus 14€ on the train), then a Metro (subway) train ride, then a bus, then walking. We had our luggage with us, of course, but we saw people all over town dragging luggage too, so it is a common thing to do.  Good thing we packed light!   (NOTE: It was a 21€  taxi ride to return just to the train station when we left that hotel Monday…we hadn’t wanted to take a chance on the timing back to the train station via walking, bus and train with our luggage, since we had to catch two trains to go to our next stop near Sorrento.)  We don’t call that a short walk from the hotel to the train station.

They're searching for a coin also!

     Joan had read all she could about getting around, finding ATM’s, etc. on Rick Steve’s site, Tripadvisor site, at the AAA office, etc.  Still…….so much was not told us, or many things were just incorrect or missing!   Important things: like it takes a Euro to go to the bathrooms at the train station!  And, no, there are not a lot of ATM’s in the airport or train station…the impression given online is that they were readily available.  But… “No.” 
     Bank of America had said there were NO FEEs for using the ATM from their partner banks:  Wrong!  That had changed March 1^st but many of their bankers did not know it.  Also, the partner bank had also changed its name, as there had been a buy-out.  Hmmmmm…difficult to find anyway but with a new name?
        How do you buy a train ticket?  There are kiosks, and the web has ten or more screen descriptions on how to use them.  Oops – not going to try, we thought.  But…they are not that hard after all, once you can figure out how and what to punch!  What train track do you catch your train on?  Fortunately, other passengers helped us – the few that spoke English.  (No, not “everyone speaks English.”) 
       We were warned (Rick Steves’ site) that in the train station, people will come up to you to “help” you .. but as he says, they are only there to “help themselves” as they want  a tip from you for doing that.  Obviously, we needed help as we gazed around looking for some indication of where/what/how….but we soon learned to say “No” to those people. 
       There are also beggars everywhere at the train station.  We stopped to have a snack and several ladies came through the restaurant area, holding small children and their hands out.  People also stand right by the ticket kiosks and hold their hands out for your change as it falls from the automatic machines.
      Of course, we had been warned of pick pockets, so we had money belts safely under our clothes, and had no problems (we were especially aware since Ron had lost his wallet in Mexico this year.)
      How do you get on the train when there are literally hundreds of people surging ahead – you run from car to car, all of which are filled and spilling out, and finally push your way in … like everyone else, completely jammed together.  Sometimes, people continued to push as the doors were closing.  (Ron said it reminded him of Japan.)  We only saw people line up at the post office and the train station to buy a ticket from an agent and then only because there was a numbering system; otherwise, people just push in.
        How do you pay for the bus?  We were at the city bus stop that first day.  Do you need exact change?  Do you buy a ticket somewhere?  (No place in sight, of course).  A nice young man sitting at the bus stop told us, “Your Metro (subway) ticket works on the buses too!”  Wow!  Who knew that?  What a great deal!
    We had decided though, that it would be an Adventure! and that we would not get frustrated finding the hotel, and we didn’t.  There were too many unknowns to get frustrated, because EVERYTHING was unknown!  We just had to find out how to go and how to do it.
   And we did!

Cost:  13€ total for 2 of us to get to the hotel.  Time:  5 hours. 

Advantages:  We learned SO MUCH:

1)  Do not take the buses at the airport to Termini (main) train station that only charge 4€ or 5€; take the one that is 6€…it is not so crowded and they seemed to come more often (we saw that as we had purchased the 5€ bus ticket and it essentially was impossible to get on, it was so crowded);

2) Finding and working the ATM machines;

3) Became completely familiar with Termini since we searched for a long time for ATM machines;

3) People do not line up but only push and shove their way into buses and trains;

4) There are beggars even in the restaurants, plus all those that come up to “help”;

5) There is hardly any place to sit to eat on the first floor of Termini, but many places downstairs (unfortunately, we found that out too late to use them);

6)  You need to go downstairs to find the Metro system lines;

7)   How to recognize a bus stop;

8)  The Metro (subway) ticket is very cheap and is good for the buses too, within the time limit of the ticket;

9) We were awake and active to begin to overcome jet lag.

Hmmmm…is that all we learned?  Certainly we learned more….