May 20, 2018 - A Harrowing Trip from Rome to London

We were sad to leave Rome and excited to be on to England.  Our flight from Rome's Fiumicino Airport (about 20 miles south and west of Rome) was at 7:30am.  With such an early, international flight, we decided to try to be at the airport at 5:30am, which meant we needed to catch the 4:40am shuttle bus from Termini Station to the airport. 

The subway doesn’t start running until 5:30, so we had to take a taxi. Though we had looked into several ways of getting a taxi at that hour, we had no idea how difficult it would actually end up being.  That morning, after much more time than we had anticipated (checking nearby taxi stands, trying to call cab companies, and even asking some people who got in a car accident in front of our apartment to help us call a cab), we finally hailed one.  Usually, a cab to Termini would cost 10 euros ($12) or less, but because of the hour and our numerous large bags it was 20 euros ($24) to make the 1.5-mile journey.  We arrived at Termini just in time to see our bus drive away! We decided the next bus would be too late, so we counted our prepaid shuttle bus tickets (15 euros) as a loss, and took another cab from Termini to the airport (48 euros).

Due to an increase in belongings since we left Utah (How could that have possibly happened?!), we had to check an extra bag beyond the three checked bags we already had. I tried to do so online several times the two days before because it would be less than half the price at the airport.  Frustratingly, the online system wouldn’t let me add the extra bag. I called the Airlines a day or more before our flight, but they said that I could not add it over the phone either because our tickets had been booked through a travel agent. This was maddeningly frustrating.  When we got to the airport, we found out that it would cost €90 ($105)!  Apparently, the airline (Vueling) can only take your money if it is exorbitantly more expense for you.  Not cool!

When we got to London the passport check station required going through a warehouse-sized room full of people waiting in line, that took well over an hour to navigate. When we got to the front, the border agent sincerely almost did not let us through, questioning our staying in England for three months without specific documentation confirming what I would be doing here. I had assumed that our three-month stay in England would not be a problem for us, as Americans are allowed to stay in Great Britain for 6 months on a tourist visa.  Because of this, I had not obtained any documentation to support our stay in England.

Conversely, long before we left for Italy, I had done extensive work to document our Italy trip in order to try to get visas for us to stay in Italy for six months.  Our original plan had been to spend three months in Rome and three months in Sicily, all the time working with MEDU.  However, despite significant effort and investigation on my part, I was unable to find a way to get visas for Heather and Hannah to stay the additional three months.  Because we were unable to stay in Italy for six months, we changed our plans to spend three months in England instead. 

As part of all the work I had done to try to obtain visas for Italy, I had collected several letters and other documentation to justify our stay in Italy.  When we were unable to get the visas, I had considered throwing the documents away or at least leaving them at home, because I assumed I would not need them.  Luckily, I decided to throw them in my luggage just in case.  I never used any of those documents while in Italy.  In the days before we left Rome for London, I again considered throwing the documents away, as we were extremely tight on space and way over the luggage weight allowances.  I also seriously considered at least putting them in my checked bags.  I'm SO glad that I did neither of those two things and eventually just put them in my carry-on luggage with my other documents (We did not get our checked bags until after we passed through the border check.).  

I'm convinced that the main thing that saved us was that I had a letter my boss at BYU (Steve Smith) wrote for me when I was trying to apply for Italian visas, saying that BYU approved of the sabbatical leave, that BYU would continue to pay my salary the entire time, and that I was required to return to work for BYU for at least one year after the leave.  I also had a letter documenting my health insurance coverage and fund we have in the bank.    

The passport/border agent seemed rather miffed that we had paperwork for Italy but none for England. Again, I just figured that we wouldn’t need it because I had learned that Americans were allowed to be in England for up to six months on a  tourist visa. She was not impressed, but, after consulting with her manager and asking us several more questions, including several questions about what Hannah was going to do for school, she let us through.  It was nerve-wracking to consider that we might have to abandon all of our plans and return home!  We were sweating more than a little.

After that, we took a crowded train from the Gatwick airport to downtown London, with all of our bags (three large checked bags, three large carry-on bags, three overstuffed school-type backpacks, and one additional handbag).  As seating was extremely limited, I stood in the entryway of the train car with seven of our bags for an hour. We then took a taxi from downtown London to our apartment. 

As you might imagine, by the time we arrived at the apartment, we were extremely thrashed!  However, even with all of that, we couldn't help but note that we still had a much better day than any refugee has on a normal day!