Day 9: Arrivederci Contiki!

At the Colosseum. Note: that bottle of water was NOT

mine 😷

Last day!!! 😭😭😭😭 Going to be a sad one to write but as they say in Mastermind "I've started so I'll finish".

Still feeling a the effects of all the alcohol the night before (sign of a good night, am I right), it was one last early start for a bit of morning sight-seeing before my flight home. There was a bit of faff with my luggage as I had to kart it all down and pay 3 Euros to use their lockers; I couldn't leave it in the room as everyone in my room was checking out the same day as me.

Once that was sorted and I had some breakfast, it was off with Andrea, Steve, Marnie and most of what was left of the group to the last big sight we had yet to see in Rome: the Roman village and the Colosseum. We had another faff getting there: we got to Termini (the main train station in Rome) and found that all the metro lines had been closed that day for renovation work - and the busses were choc-a-bloc full as a result....
I didn't blame Darius for saying "**** this, we're walking" - luckily it didn't take too long, about 20 minutes on foot. If we had got one more offer to go on a tour bus however, I would have feared for our sanity....

When we finally made it down, we were first shown around the Roman village, which is still having parts of it discovered today, making it hard to expand the metro. I love ruins like these, as people who know me well enough would know, so despite thinking I had to get back in time to get my luggage and get to the airport, I was having a blast! We even got to see where Julius Caesar's ashes were scattered after his assassination.... Of course it is now just a lump of rock as the other's rightly said, but it was still incredibly cool!

Walking around the village we bumped into a lot of people trying to sell us water for only 1 Euro - word of warning, DO NOT get one, no matter HOW hot it is. According to our tour guide, they steal the bottles out of bins and refill them for profit 😨

Mooving right along.

At the Colosseum itself, I will need to give another warning about the security line. It's just like an airport. In fact, I'd say it was WORSE than an airport because there at least you are constantly moving! You're not stuck in the queue for ages because the venue is at max capacity and you have to wait for some groups to leave before you can go through despite having a reservation!!

But we FINALLY made it!

If you have been living under a rock and don't know what the Colosseum is in Rome, it is the Ancient Roman version of an arena, mainly used for gladiator fights, fights with large wild animal and other forms of entertainment, often free to local citizens.
Obviously, there's now a significant cost to get in, and instead of fights, they hold concerts (in fact, they held one there the night before, hence the metal poles and stuff everywhere).
Also fun fact, there were so many exists, everybody in Roman times could get out of the building in 6 minutes in case of an emergency! A dream for fire risk assessors for a building that big!

Being fancy with a panorama

Well, it's big, but I understand what Benji meant, as he had already seen the Colosseum before the Contiki trip started. He said to me it may not be AS big as I would expect it to be - it certainly does not take you forever to walk around it that's for sure. Having said that though, and the metal scaffolding, it is still an incredible building, which I am extremely glad I saw and took lots of pictures of with Andrea.

It was time though to leave however, so I found a taxi, and after saying goodbye to Andrea, Marnie and Steve (miss you guys loads 😭💕), went back to the hostel. I actually had a very nice taxi driver take me back (dun dun duuuun!!) who was also very patient with my rubbish Italian and allowed me to do one last bit of practise. Grazie mille signor!

Back at the hostel, I picked up my bags and walked my way over to Termini with the screenshot I had taken off google maps beforehand - only managed to get lost once - and got the train to Fiumicino Airport, which took about 35 minutes. Typical when I got there after all that I was super early and waited around a long time. Luckily I met a South African guy who was on the same flight as me and we chatted for a while - a fair bit about Dr Who too after he noticed my backpack!

The flight was at 5.30pm European time to London Gatwick, landing around 7.30pm British time. Once I landed, it was on the train to Tooting to my best friends flat, where she was waiting for me with a beer and pesto chicken pasta. I told her as many of my adventures as I could before we had to go to sleep (she was working early the next day and I had a train to catch back to Manchester Piccadilly) - this would be a fab point to say a big thank you Hannah for letting me crash. Enjoy the wine 😉

So there you have it!!! I'm feeling a bit wistful writing all this as it is all coming back. I'm definitely glad I wrote down a lot of notes beforehand overwise I don't think I would have remembered half of it - in fact, I'm ALREADY making people remember half the stuff we did 😆

To round this up, I want to recommend Contiki to you guys if you want to do some travelling anywhere in the world for a few weeks. You get to meet people from all over the world, explore places you've never been to before and for what it is, it is amazing value (well mine was at least!). Mine covered for:

•  Accommodation - the trip guides organise all the beds and stuff for you so all you have to do is follow the guidelines they give you beforehand and turn up
•  Breakfast and some evening meals - they don't offer lunch and other evening meals though so you can have some flexibility throughout the day
•  Travel - this doesn't include flights, but think how much it would cost for all your train and bus tickets from place to place
•  Activities. Some were already included like Auschwitz, others were add-ons like the Salt Mines and Colosseum, but totally worth it! The most I had to pay was 40 Euros ish for the River Cruise - think how much it would have cost normally! 

One of my fave pictures - taken at the Salsa club in Krakow

And finally, I want say a few thank yous:

• To Darius, our Trip Manager, thank you for knowing a little about a lot and organising everything for us
• To Tiago, our driver, thank you for keeping us safe
• To everyone on the Contiki group, thank you for being fab, sassy, making me laugh and being genuine friends. Gonna miss you guys loads, you know who you all are and enjoy the rest of your travels for those of you who are still out there ❤❤❤ 
• And finally, I must give a big fat thank you to Claire, a good friend of mine from back home who knew what I was looking for and recommended Contiki to me immediately. It's not a well-known firm in the UK, unlike Australia, so if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have done this. Thanks Claire, I owe you a drink at our next Supper Club!

If you're not sure about doing anything like this, take the plunge and do it! It has been 100% one of the best things I have EVER done, certainly in the past couple of years! If you have the time, try and do some more even after the trip is over for a few days. Part of me is kicking myself for not doing that, but the other half is saying "Don't be silly, you need sleep". 

I am definitely going to plan to travel more, and while Japan is still my dream country, I am going to make every effort to make Australia 2020 a reality. Any Aussie Contiki pals reading this, let me know when is the best time to visit/anything I'll have to see - I'll probs need about 3 weeks, especially as I would love to New Zealand as well (gotta see the Hobbits!). 😍

And so, with a tissue in hand and Porky Pig voice ready: That's All Folks!