Always Stamp Your Ticket.....

While in Rome, this has been the most important (and expensive) lesson I've learned. Trying to be frugal and live life like a true Roman, we thought the bus, at a cost of 1 Euro, would be the best transportation to take... Unfortunately, not the case.

We navigated our route and unsuspectingly boarded our bus. Like good travelers we purchased our tickets for a single Euro and reveled in our cheap success.... Two stops later, three gentleman, dressed officially, boarded the bus and asked to see our tickets... No problem! We have them right here sirs... We received a frown. The man pointed at a sign, yet all I understood was 75 minutes. Apparently, there was a second box where we were supposed to stamp our tickets the minute we boarded... Great.

I offered up a Euro to purchase a new ticket and we received requests for our documentation.. They hurriedly ushered us off the bus and told us we would be fined... Confusion doesn't begin to express the looks on our faces. We were told 100 Euro each if he wrote us a ticket, 50 each if we paid now... Awesome. We argued as much as possible, assuming we were being scammed. Alas, we were late for our tour and finally settled on 50 Euro total... Moments later we were running down the street, cursing the men in official uniforms.

But wait! We were still late for our tour, we needed to find a taxi stat. I poked my head in a restaurant to find a smiling server and asked him for the nearest taxi stand (you can't catch a cab just anywhere).... He laughed and pointed right down the street... I turned to leave when he grabbed my hand and asked my name.. I explained we were in a rush and he promptly kissed my hand goodbye... So charming.

We finally reached the taxi stand to be interrupted by a parade.... Luckily, a cab came through at just the right moment and we made our tour on time... At which point our tour guide informed us that what happened on the bus was proper law and we had received a deal... Good to know.

So the lesson here is: always stamp your ticket, but even if you don't you might get your first kiss on the hand from a handsome Italian...

PS... I'm still in love with this city.