ITALY BLOG AUGUST 30th and 31st, 2025 - FLYING TO ROME

 

8/30/25 and 8/31/25– Our 2025 trip is finally here and starts promptly with a 5am wake up call. We get a ride to the airport from our son-in-law, Kaveh, and make it to our gate with two hours to spare. This first leg leaves at 9:13am for Philadelphia, so far so good.  

We land early (thank god because there’s a guy sitting in the middle seat between Sharece and I that is very annoying) and have a three hour layover before our next flight to Rome. During the wait, we do take advantage by ordering a Philly Cheese steak Sandwich, and it definitely doesn’t disappoint.

We finally board the large 787 Dreamliner and enjoy the Premium seat upgrade for the eight hour journey. I watch one movie to help pass the time, but otherwise try to get as much rest as possible. It’ll be morning when we land and don’t want to crash too early on day one.

Two meals and a leg cramp later, we land safely around 11:20am. Customs is a bit of a wait, but our legs are moving and we breeze through the self checkout lane without a hitch. We also find an UBER that takes us thirty-five minutes to our hotel for cheaper than the taxi rank.

We make it to our hotel (Relais Forus Inn), check in and almost don’t leave. Our bodies are so wore out and tired that it feels good to sit and relax for a bit. They even provide us with a complimentary bottle of red wine and two glasses of white wine. I was not happy with the 7 Euro per person/per night city tax charge in cash though. 56 Euros is quite a bit extra to pay on top of the regular rate, but the hotel is not at fault and nothing we can do but pay it as a tourism fee. Keeping to our first day mentality checklist, we change clothes after a thirty-some minute break and head out for our first destination of Domus Aurea.

The walk is not far from our hotel, only thirteen minutes, but we’re immediately met with a mound of steps to climb. Once at the top we realize that section is closed off and need to walk completely around the complex for the entrance. We are able to take some photos of the outside excavations, but decide against paying the 28 Euros per person to enter. Doesn’t seem to be that much of anything and we have bigger fish to fry.

Continuing down the block, we arrive at Basilica San Clemente. The church is free and quite interesting by itself, but we opt to pay the 10 Euros to enter the underground areas. The cool, moist air is quite a reprieve from the 85 degree heat outside, so well worth the price of admission for that alone. Overall, not much to see in the underground section but some artifacts and empty rooms with wall engravings still present. Still interesting none-the-less since we haven’t done this on our previous trips here.

Famished, we find a rooftop restaurant not far down the road and order carbonara and a margherita pizza. We opt to stay inside as it feels quite cool and the view of the Colosseum being partially blocked anyhow.  I did get a photo through their see-through tent, although with not very good results. Right before paying the bill, I literally fall asleep with a slice in my hand, I’m THAT tired. But as soon as we leave and see the Colosseum up close, my mind, soul and body rejuvenate all at once.

Our tickets to enter are not until tomorrow, however, it includes going into the Roman Forum and that’s exactly what we do. There literally is no line to enter, mostly because it’s closing soon, which we didn’t know until AFTER we have our tickets scanned. It feels a bit on rush, but interesting to note that we’ve done this before and didn’t mind the brief refresher. We also didn’t have the sun backing down on us the entire time, and the evening glow off the ruins is magical to see.

Our legs and back are now shredded enough to call it a good first, productive day. After getting some gelato, we brave the ten minute walk to our hotel and do everything we can to keep from crawling into bed right away. Somehow, we make it to 10pm.

Side note: Our hotel bathroom door looks just like a shower slider door that doesn’t seal shut. Not sure why hotels opt for an open bathroom concept as we’ve seen this trend before, but it’s extremely annoying when it’s not in the original photos during booking. Also, the internet keeps going in and out to where I have to log off and back on each time. Hey, at least we are close to everything.