Roma: Good Luck - Bad Luck... Two sides of the same coi

Rome Sunset in December

As the end of their friends' visit drew nearer, Rob and Beth began to make arrangements for the next part of their journey-Sicily. They had ventured north to meet Lori and Dave in Rome, but now it was time to chase the sun once again.

Riding the regional

On a Saturday morning, as the four of them set out to tour the Coliseum, they made what they hoped would be a quick detour to the train station. Unfortunately there was a large number of people milling about waiting for their turn so Rob and Beth suggested that Dave and Lori go ahead to the Coliseum and get a place in line. Hopefully by the time they rejoined them it would be time to go into the Coliseum.

The Coliseum

Rob and Beth were discouraged with the large number of people waiting in line. They pulled the number B499 and looked around. "Now Serving A387"…It was going to be a long wait.

As they wandered among the crowd a TrenItalia employee approached and offered assistance. She suggested that perhaps they could purchase their tickets at one of the self-service machines. Although they were reluctant as she was unsure if one could purchase a couchette through self-service, they thought they would check it out while they waited for a free agent.

They approached the machine and hesitated as, naturally, all instructions were in Italian. Immediately a man came along and helped them with the instructions. He guided them, almost impatiently, through the instructions. He moved so quickly that Rob and Beth had very little time to process the prompts they were asked. Because of this impatience they headed down the wrong path three times and needed to restart the electronic questions each time. At some point in the middle of the experience Beth wanted to dismiss the man as she was confident they could figure out the process on their own. Furthermore she was concerned that they were not actually getting the correct tickets. However, her Canadian politeness was stronger than her concern of offending him and she continued to let him assist.

"We want to be in the same couchette." she reminded him.

"Sì. Sì. No probleme."

As they removed the credit card and the freshly printed tickets, the helpful man started talking to them in fluent Italian. As they tried to understand what he was saying while they thanked him, it became apparent that he understood about as much English as they Italian. At the same time that they were questioning why the two tickets had different car numbers the man's hand came out and, with what little Italian they had, they understood that his story was that he needed money to travel to Barcelona and he would appreciate a token for his help.

Despite his reassurances that the tickets were fine, they had significant doubts and having that bitter feeling of being scammed, they walked away wishing him well but without contributing to his so-called trip to Barcelona.

With tickets in hand, they approached a TrenItalia personal and started to express their concern over their newly purchased tickets. He led them to a ticket counter, bypassing all of the other waiting passengers, and helped them exchange their tickets for a private couchette - which is what they were looking for all along. They did need to pay for a ticket upgrade, but that is what they were expecting. They profusely thanked the two employees and as they rushed out to join Lori and Dave at the Coliseum, they noticed the "Now Serving" sign was only at B423. Although there was some angst involved, time-wise they felt they were far ahead of the game.

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Hours after Lori and Dave departed for Canada, Beth nonchalantly asked Rob about the whereabouts of the train tickets. She had left them on the bedside table. Immediately she sensed the panic in Rob as he scrambled around the apartment. With concern ringing in his voice he admitted, "I think I recycled the tickets!!! I thought they were the ones we used for Orvieta!!"

They both searched in vain through their luggage, the apartment, the currently forming garbage and recycling. As 2012 drew to a close, they both reluctantly acknowledged that the tickets were not to be found in the apartment. However, Rob was confident that he could find them in the outside recycle bin as they had just deposited the bag of recyclable material that morning.

Couchette for four to Sicily!

As the fireworks began across Rome Beth donned rubber gloves and Rob grabbed a broom handle. Soon they found themselves each with their head and arms inside the small openings on opposite sides of the recycle bin. Each maneuvering a long stick among the paper recycle looking in vain for the morning's cast off. Although they spent two hours searching they had no luck. However, as they searched they were acutely aware of the magnitude of the fireworks around them. Not only were there major displays in the city centre, many individual residents were also setting off fireworks to announce the start of 2013. The smell of gunpowder was thick in the air they walked through. Dejected, they made their way back to their apartment in the first hour of the New Year.

Arrival in the new
Sicilian residence.

After a restless sleep they set out on New Year's Day to the train station to find out their options for addressing a lost ticket. After a surprisingly short wait in line, they were informed that if they purchased their ticket online they would be able to replace it. However, since they purchased it in person, despite the fact that their names were taken, there was no way to trace their tickets. Fortunately they were able to purchase new tickets at a reduced rate. This time they walked away with 2^nd class tickets and would have to share the room with two other individuals.