They call it the Eternal City ...

[blamebrampton]

Again, I am reminded that it is a terrible waste to use Rome as a transit stop. But it IS always there, and I can come back to see it properly again ... However, before I run out the door for food and a leg stretch, guess how long it took me to get here from Sydney?[Poll #1637488]

Comments

[phoenixacid.livejournal.com]

Lol, I was only kidding about the sitting in an airport thing... unless, you're not weeping in the airport are you?

[alex-s9.livejournal.com]

I haven't been to Rome in ages but what I do remember is disatrous public transport. I suspect that if you go by your own car, you'll get lost soon.

But I do hope it'll be over soon for you.

[potteresque_ire]

*Hands you a copy of "Twilight" so you can weep with a good reason* .... Oooooooooh, my Sparkly Vampire! *sob sob sob* :))))))))

*Huggles you and casts cushioning + Massaging charm on the chairs*

[(Anonymous)]

Being an optimist (yeah, right) I'd say 27 hours. But even 38 hours isn't as bad as the non-stop BUS trip I did as a poor/idiotic young 'un from Cairns to Melbourne. FIFTY HOURS - one change at Brisvegas - was enough to scar me for life!

Enjoy Roma,

Charlotte

[nenne.livejournal.com]

Rome is fantastic. You must see it sometime.

My husband told me that when he traveled to NZ he needed 36 hours, so I guessed 33 hours from Sydney. Am I right?

[nenne.livejournal.com]

Well of course they have disastrous public transport! Can you imagine making a subway system when you have to do all the digging of tunnels with a tea spoon and a brush? Everywhere they dig they find something that is interesting from an archaeological point of view. ;)

[vaysh11.livejournal.com]

Oh God, you are so close!!!!!! And I hope you are not actually sitting in some windy airport of the world. *hugs*

[symetric.livejournal.com]

lol, no. i really do hope you're not sitting in some airport, weeping. that is not cool. i imagine you've already arrived...? *huggles*

[kareina.livejournal.com]

So, why is it that more than half of your friends who have voted so far all have the same warped sense of humour to say you aren't there yet? (or is it that we all have the same level of faith in airlines to get you where you are going?)

[pingrid.livejournal.com]

Welcome to Europe! :D:D

[mahaliem.livejournal.com]

Picked the shortest time but am absolutely horrified by all the choices. *hugs*

[arcanetrivia]

*points up* This. I'm very amused that currently 59% of us have picked the last option.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Australia has many things going for it -- conveniently located for Europe is not one of those things, alas! And it was 38 hours, oh my puffy ankles :-(

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Not this time, that was last trip, when snow shut everything day after day. But after 38 hours, it feels like forever!

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

The buses are not so bad, but you do have to know where you are going. I often pick my hotel by what I want to see and just walk, it is actually quite a decent walking city, but very segmented. With so little time today, I just did the Diocletian Baths and attached museum, which was really very very good, I can;t believe I have always walked straight past before.

I have trains for the next few legs of travelling, so that should be fine, then Pisa to London, which is usually fine, then London to Sydney, which is fraught with danger but at least I am not facing a Christmas deadline this time.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

this is true! I remember looking at the maps of proposed Rome train lines when I was a little girl, then I looked at them two years ago when I was here last, and they were practically identical in plan -- except for the bits where they hade decided they would have to move them because what they discovered was too important ;-) But the busses are really not too bad!

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I can one up you there, I packed Jilly Cooper's Jump! as it is enjoyable enough to actually read, and silly enough to feel not guilt at leaving behind.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?????

I did Lismore to Sydney by bus once and thought I had lost my mind, but apparently there actually IS a replica Ulhuru along the route. Hideous stuff! And yes, it was 38 ;-)

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I love Rome, and am hoping to have a couple of deays here next week before I need to be in Firenze, but I am off to Viterbo and may end up spending them exploring the Lago Bolsena region, as I do not know it at all.

As to your guess, you would have been spot-on had it not been for delays in Singapore that meant I had to catch a later flight from London to Rome. Alas, 38.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I waved as I flew over Germany, at both Berlin and Frankfurt for Cats!

And in a comfy hotel room, about to sleeeeeeeeeep like the sleepy ;-)

[vaysh11.livejournal.com]

Ah, with you being in Europe, I get the pleasure to tuck you in. *tucks in* :)

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

HEE! Every one has no faith in airlines. Which I have to say is often justified ... But BA were great at finding me a new connection when my flight from Australia was delayed by two hours in Singapore. SO much easier than the great Getting Home Saga of 09.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

A little of A, a little of B ... Also, if you would prefer Pisa, I will be there on teh 10th and 11th ;-)

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

You are all very familiar with both the state of modern airlines and my travel luck. Happy to say it was only 38 hours, and I arrived WITH my luggage!

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Mille grazie! It is beautiful weather in Roma, even if you have to skirt France to reach Italy at the moment due to strikes (no one is shocked ;-))

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

*Is comfy. Gives good night hug!*

[phoenixacid.livejournal.com]

Thank goodness! *squishes*

[alex-s9.livejournal.com]

Good point.

Still, I think it has more to do with Italian attitude.

[alex-s9.livejournal.com]

I have a friend who went to Moscow (from Gdansk) by train. I so envy her - I love the trains, they're my favourite means of transportation.

[mayela-delarue.livejournal.com]

I have done Ballina to Sydney by Bus which is about 15 hours, Albury to Kyogle by 2 trains (Kyogle station is only the length of one carriage, the train had to stop and let one passenger off, then roll forward 2-3 cars to let me off - yes my Mum worried when the train took off without leaving a KT on the platform) which, I don't even know how long the trip was but I arrived at about midnight after spending the entire day in transit. Our school snow trip from Kyogle to Jindabyne was long enough on the bus but had an extra 6 hours added on the way home when the mini bus I was on had to stop at Woden for a student to have his arm stitched back together after a ski met arm incident. But the clincher was the 56 hour trip from Waco Texas, via bus to LAX and then the flight home to Sydney, complete with an 8 hour wait at Sydney airport for my Dad and sister to pick me up - oh and I hadn't slept the night before my 5am departure from Waco. So very memorable. I was hesitant to pick 38, in the hopes I had grossly overestimated. Oh well, you're there and in one piece, that's the main thing :)

Oh and yes, the replica Uluru is a Leyland Brothers World monstrosity that I've driven past many times but have never stopped at. Much like the giant Oyster at Taree which is now a car dealership. Though I have been inside the Big Prawn and looked out through it's eye.

[mabonwitch.livejournal.com]

Eep! My longest travels are shorter than your shortest option! California to Barcelona only took 24 hours. Train from the middle of California up to Washington that Time I Lost My Passport While Visiting Family also took 24 hours.

...Glad this didn't turn into something like the winter last year.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

That is the standard by which all trips are currently judged ;-) I was trapped in terminal 5 at Heathrow again, but this time everyone was in a good mood and doing their utmost, so this trip is definitely better so far!

And I KNOW! I console myself that I am excellently placed for New Zealand and Fiji, and I do love NZ ...

[kareina.livejournal.com]

I have no idea if I would prefer Pisa, I've never been there. I know that I loved the beauty of the pretty much all Gothic architecture of Siena. Other than Pisa has a tower that hasn't finished falling yet, I know nothing of it. But then I knew nothing of Siena before I went there for a meeting and then didn't have time to explore or visit museums. Feel free to encourage me one direction or the other, or try to get me to do both, if I've been working hard enough to justify two days off, and you are staying somewhere with floor space for an extra person...

[ladyjaneva.livejournal.com]

Rome....I've never been to Rome....*sighs longingly*

Hope you had good special socks for your poor legs and ankles...and a good mattress in your hotel :-)

[(Anonymous)]

In my defence I was only 19 at the time and airfares back then were not nearly as affordable as they are now.

[(Anonymous)]

PS: And @mayela, that's one shocking trip. Shudder.

Charlotte