Contiki: Roma: Advice from the Bartender

I arrived in Rome via bus from Siena. I was not a happy camper; I didn’t want to leave comfortable, quiet Siena and be stuck on a bus and various hotels for 2 weeks. I vented in choppy Italian to the bartender at the Rome hotel; he was a delight and had a few words of advice…basically, “make the most of it.”

There were 42 people on the tour; mostly Americans from: Florida, D.C., California, Arizona, Maryland, and Kansas. Also, many Canadians, Aussies, a new Zealander, a Japanese woman and a couple from Singapore. Contiki “specializes” in hosting tours from 20-35 year olds and most people assume this means the tour will be mainly singles. However, half of the group was married, newlyweds or just engaged. Occupations include: Travel Agent, milkman, chef, forensic biologist, accountant, doctor, acupuncturist, pilot, pharmaceutical sales, engineer, teacher, etc, etc

Cossette, my roommate…28 years old, Cuban from Florida…I like her and we had some good laughs and stories. The funniest thing that we realized after about 2 days into the trip was that every single person on the tour had some sort of “issue” they were working out and even more, many of us didn’t want to be on the tour but it was too late for us to cancel. This became funny to us and Cossette and I thought Contiki should use a new marketing slogan: Contiki – We’re here for you. Marco, our tour manager, also seemed to be a great therapist for many of us. So…anyway, Cossette…she was feeling a bit homesick because she was missing a new boyfriend…one that she met AFTER she booked the tour with contiki. This was the case with two other girls on the tour….okay, ya…this tour had gotten off to a “good” start.

So the first night of dinner in Rome…did I mention the food was not good?…anyway, after taking Italian for 5 weeks, I was delighted and tickled at dinner time with Contiki we learned how to say “Buon Appetito”… okay, everybody together now…B-U-O-N A-P-P-E-T-I-T-O. After that, I snuck to the bar and ordered a grappa.

Well, I thought this trip would be a great time to catch up on my blog, so I brought my laptop…but the hotel in Rome did not have internet access. Hmmm…well…talked to a nice, good looking fella at the front desk – Marcello – he let me use the computer at the front desk and he served me a little espresso “for such a beautiful woman.”…okay, well that makes me feel better about the no internet connection.