this is how we rock it

this is how we rock it

Rome, Ciampino Airport Hostel. 3 stars (out of 5).

This is how we rock it after the sun goes down. On better nights. Due to my ah-hem brilliant planning and grand ambitions to save money, there were nights on the calendar marked out for airport camping.

Here was the plan: If our plane touches down past 11pm, we spend the night at the airport and get into the city bright and early the next morning. Plus point? We save a night on hostels and start out early the next day! Or, if our flight is an early one in the morning, we go to the airport the night before and spend the night there. Plus point? We save a night on hostels and skip the morning rush.

BUT. All that was based on the assumption that airports are open 24hrs. Ha! Boy, were we ever more mistaken. When you fly budget ryanair, you'd better do a double-check.

Well, our first night at the airport was actually unplanned. After missing our flight from Paris to Rome (and believe it or not, that was the SECOND one we missed on the trip [and oh, we missed two in a row>]), we spent a night at a friend of a friend's who was really nice to put us up at such short notice. Not wanting to impose on her any further, we decided to spent the next night at the airport since our flight was early in the morning.

So we caught the last bus to the airport, and sat down to wait for the passengers to clear so that we can find a nice spot to sleep. Well, the crowd did clear after awhile, but apparently we were supposed to clear WITH them! The security guard came up to us and told us that the airport was CLOSING. Yes, the AIRPORT was CLOSING.

Glenn and I just stared at each other in disbelief - airports actually close??

Well, apparently at Paris-Beauvais, they do! We prolonged our stay for as long as possible, and then dragged ourselves out into the cold reluctantly. But not before I overheard another American backpacker imploring the French security to allow him to go change into warmer clothes before getting out. It must have been the strangest occurrence for both of them as I, an Asian girl, stepped up and brought down the language barrier one notch. Very proud to speak at least a teeny weeny bit of French! :D

This same American dude later huddled with us on the alfresco tables of a restaurant that was closed for the night as we waited for morning to come. He even took a video of this once-in-a-lifetime-experience. Hahaha.

And as for me, I've never had a more excruciating 6 hours in my life before. NO ONE EVER MENTIONED SPRING NIGHTS ARE FREEZING! Out in the countryside, with nothing in the vicinity except the airport and its carpark, the temperature goes straight DOWN at night. And this was the moment when I took out my fleece blanket (wise foresight of Yiting) and went AH-HA! See! I told you we needed a blanket. (Glenn was complaining my luggage had waaaay too much rubbish.) But even that had its limits. I was literally trembling the whole night even though I had on every single jacket/sweater in the luggage.

When 6am neared and the airport staff reopened the waiting lounge, I almost burst into tears. Which is why I went ahead to order "tea" - which is really a cup of hot water and a Lipton tea bag - without even asking for the price. Oh, you don't even wanna know how much that cup of hot water + teabag cost. Let's just pretend it saved me from hyperthermia.

Paris, Beauvais Airport Hostel. 1 star (out of 5).

That was the first time we had to spend the night outdoors. I say "first", because that was not the only time, unfortunately. A few more days into our trip, we got chased off an Italian train. And it was not even because we were trying to cheat the system. We bought the tickets proper and STILL got chased off the train!

So here's what happened: When you buy a regional (the cheapest) train ticket in Italy, they issue you an open ticket, and you're supposed to validate the ticket at a machine at the station. Don't ask me why they do it way; I don't understand either. But anyway, we hardly ever did that because there's a conductor on every train who'd punch your ticket all the same. So basically you never get to re-use a ticket.

Then, as we were going from Venice to Milan, we had to run for the connecting train (because Italian trains are notoriously late, even after Mussolini), and of course we didn't validate our ticket. Happy and proud that we managed to catch that train, we settled back to take a nap. And when the conductor came to check our tickets, we just gave it to him without a second thought.

This was when I witnessed a transformation from human being to asshole. He glanced at our ticket coldly and stated flatly "Not validated. Pay fine. 50 euros." Mind you, both our tickets added up didn't even cost 50 euros! So we tried to explain ourselves, telling him that we had to rush for the train, and this has never happened before. We even took out our stack of punched and unvalidated tickets to show him. But the now-asshole of a conductor just insisted that we pay the fine.

"You no validate ticket, you pay fine. In English. Behind. You no understand? 50 euros. No pay, no train. Get off."

WHAT AN ANAL ASS! Fine, I told Glenn that if he wants to play by the book, we'll play by the book. The plan was for Glenn to get off at the next station, run to get the tickets validated, and then run back on to the train while I hold the door. You want it validated? THERE YOU GO. IN YOUR FACE!

But we were obviously not the first geniuses who came up with this scheme because that asshole got off the train, scanned the platform, chased me off the train, AND STOOD AT THE TRAIN DOORS BARRING US FROM GETTING BACK ON! He insisted that we didn't pay for the train ride, and so we couldn't get back on! Before we had a chance to say anything else, THAT ASSHOLE WAVED THE TRAIN DRIVER OFF!

And there we were, stranded in the middle of Italy between Venice to Milan, in the middle of the night. There were no more trains back to Rome (midpoint), and the next train to Milan was at 6am.

What did we do? We sat in the dingy waiting area on the uncomfy chairs until the security guard came to tell us that they were closing. By then, we weren't even surprised anymore. Hey, if airports close, of course train stations close too. We just shifted to the park right outside the train station, chose a bench and sat down. Actually, Glenn sat down to watch the stuff, while I lay down to make myself comfortable, hoping to catch forty winks.

But then I had to pee! Like, I really, really desperately needed to pee! There aren't too many moments in life when I get annoyed for being a girl, but this was definitely one of them. HOW TO PEE WHEN THE ONLY TOILET IS IN THE TRAIN STATION RIGHT? Well, when you need to go, you need to go. You just find the nearest big tree, and tell the boyfriend to watch the surroundings for you. And pray he doesn't ditch you the next morning.

So when I finally relieved my poor bladder of the enormous pressure, and tried to settle down to sleep, I heard a loud gushing sound and jumped up at once. Just when you think you've had the shittiest shit, life hands you more shit. No, it wasn't rain, thank God, but the SPRINKLERS in the park went off!

We panicked for the longest time, trying to shift here and there, and then we realized that our bench was the ONLY bench in the park that wasn't going to get wet. Thank God for small blessings in life. THANK GOD.

See, this is why Rome-Ciampino gets 3 stars out of 5 - there's shelter, there's an actual toilet and there's floor space to camp out! By the time we reached London-Stansted airport, we were wowed to tears - THERE ARE ACTUALLY CHAIRS TO LOUNGE ON! We were so happy that we spent 2 nights (in 4 days) there. 5 stars out of 5!

~

Having been through all that, here's some advice I have for all you adventurous travelers. Here are some things they don't quite tell you in the travel books.

1. AIRPORTS DO CLOSE. So check this website first.

2. If you ever need to spend a night in London-Stansted, there's this one secret place that's totally awesome... It's almost as comfortable as my living room couch! Ask me in private and I'll share the secret! (:

3. Italian train conductors are exceptionally anal on the last trains - probably because they think travelers have no choice (i.e. take the next train instead) and will have to pay the fine. So make sure you have everything in place. Just validate that damn ticket.