Leaving Italy

Today was primarily a travel day, as we would fly back to Dublin. But our flight wasn't until the evening. In the meantime, we still needed a second suitcase, one last meal in Italy, and to return the rental car. We had this odd (large) window of time between checking out of our Airbnb and going to the airport. Cristina didn't just want to spend all those hours at IKEA. Alessandro suggested visiting the Abbey of Grottaferrata, very near us, for free. Problem is, it closed at noon and reopened at 3:30.

So the night before, I came up with this plan and sent the breakdown of the day to Cristina and Bella through Whats App:

9:30 Scarpamondo opens - I'm there when they open to buy suitcase
11:00 pack up and check out of airbnb, drive to abbey of grottaferrata
12:00 Abbey closes, find restaurant for leisurely lunch
2:00 Head to IKEA
5:30 Eat meatballs, leave IKEA, fill gas tank
6:00 return car
6:30 shuttle to CIA (Ciampino Airport)
9:30 flight departs
11:30 (Dublin time) arrive, get bags, catch taxi

So I launched the plan into action. I was at Scarpamondo by 9:30, but I went to the Ipercoop near it first to check on suitcases there. I got a few other items, but no suitcase. Then I went to Scarpa and got the suitcase we needed. Both stores were in a mall, and it appeared that the mall opened at 8:30. An extra hour would have made this plan a lot easier. As it was, I didn't get back to the Airbnb until about 10:30. There was no way we were going to get the suitcases packed in 30 minutes, but Alessandro had another guest coming, so he couldn't let us stay late. We threw everything into the cases, even though they were way overweight, got them into the car, and checked out. 

We drove to the Abbey, since it closed at 12. While Cristina looked around, Bella and I brainstormed our baggage issue. We finally decided that we could get away with just paying for an extra carry-on. We could find some kind of duffel bag at IKEA.

The Abbey closed and we headed to IKEA. Our first deviation from the plan. IKEA did have an underground parking garage (yay) but the parking was way more crowded than Florence had been (boo). We managed to find two empty spaces next to each other, parked in one, and laid our suitcases out in the other. For about an hour, we played the suitcase game: arranging items, closing up the bag, weighing it, then figuring out what can go in another bag to lighten it. Ryanair is more strict on weight and size of baggage, but we knew that was their racket and we were playing the game. We got a few strange looks from IKEA shoppers going to and from their cars, but that didn't bother me.

Cristina was getting hangry and needed coffee (as we all did) so we got to a good place with bag weight and went inside to get a coffee and buy a bag to use as a carry-on.

For some reason, when we got our three cappuccini, they also gave us a small cup of milk. Not sure why.

We found the bags and settled on a little backpack that had a removable dolly for wheeling around an airport. Perfect size, and it was on clearance for just €24.90. When we got to the check out though, it rang up for €39.99. We asked, and the guy looked it up and said no, it's €39.99. Annoyed, we walked back to the place where the bags were to double check the item numbers. Maybe we had seen the wrong item. Sure enough, the bag should have been €24.90. We're budget travelers in every way. We weren't just going to let this stand. We took photos of the sign that had the marked down price, and then went back to the cashiers and showed the same guy the photos. He had to call over someone else and they had to make some calls and enter a bunch of codes and stuff, but we finally got the bag for €24.90. Victory.

We headed towards the area of town where the Abbey was to find our last restaurant in Italy. First we stopped at the Airbnb again to give Alessandro our refrigerated items that we thought we might eat, but realized we were not going to be able to. Glad they didn't just get chucked in the trash. 

Near the Abbey, I made sure to pay for parking, and we walked to the restaurant, called Fondi. I got a pizza sampler with fries, and the girls got pasta. Then we walked to a gelato place and the girls got their last gelato in Italy (I was too full).

Last gelato

Finally, it was time to top off the tank and return the rental car. I couldn't get the gas place to take my card, so I gave up and found another place near the rental return. I just paid for full service, so I wouldn't have to deal with the card issue again.

We turned in the car, and because we had full coverage, all he needed to see was a full tank. We shuttled to the airport, checked our bags (perfect weight), got our boarding passes, got through a ridiculously short security line (not complaining), and found a place to sit and wait. Oh, I forgot to put my Swiss Army knife in one of the checked bags and didn't realize I had it in my pocket till we had checked the bags and were emptying out rpockets at secutiry. I thought I'd have to surrender it (i.e. throw it away), but I just put it in the bin with the rest of my stuff and played coy. They either didn't see it, or didn't care. So I didn't lose my knife, which I got in Switzerland in 2014. 

Waiting to board

Now we don our Ireland apparel. First time I'd worn long pants since June 24.

Goodbye Italy!

The plane left about 30 minutes late, but that wasn't bad all things considered.

We got to Dublin around midnight, collected our bags, and got in the taxi line, which moved efficiently unlike the taxi line at Ciampino on June 24, which felt like forever ago. Our taxi driver was a former chef who'd lived in Ireland for about 20 years. I think he was Pakistani. He made it to the Airbnb address in pretty good time, but we had a hard time finding the actual house because we couldn't see the house number, it was dark, and there was an RV blocking our place. The driver waited until we found it for sure, which was nice, but also resulted in another €3 to the fare. I think the total fare was around €24.

The Airbnb was pretty tiny, and the sofa bed wasn't made, which was annoying. The place was definitely just a no-frills airport stopover kind of place, and a bit overpriced, but at least the shower was hot and the beds were moderately comfortable. I had a hard time falling asleep, despite being very tired.