Rome to Austin

This post is written by Katie, about her return from IROS 2015 in Europe.

Today was a super long day that began with me waking in my The Yellow dorm bed in Rome at 4:25am and ended with my arrival in Austin, TX 19 hours later.

I had packed most of my belongings the evening before, so I was able to quickly move my bags out to the makeup/hairdryer area in the hallway to finish packing without completely distributing my sleeping roommates.

The Yellow was a pretty awesome mega hostel.  Their property is split across many adjacent buildings on one street near the Termini train station.  My 4-bed female dorm with shared bath with on the 4th floor of a building across from reception and down the street from the bar and lounge.  The room had no air conditioning (as advertised) so we would leave the window open at night to allow cool air to come in.  The Yellow advertises itself as a party hostel, so often party noises would waft in through the open window, but with ear plugs I slept fine.  The other women in my room were all solo travellers, and although some did seem to stay out late and party, everyone was very friendly and respectful in the room.  The bar served pretty good value meals, and €2 wine during their noon-9pm happy hour.  I enjoyed sitting in the lounge next to the bar – the sofa was really comfortable and there were plenty of power plugs and USB charging outlets.  My only complaints would be: (1) sometimes the staff seemed more interested in chatting with each other than with helping you and (2) their pricing scheme is a bit slimy (on arrival I found a sign saying that if you booked on their website and entered their YELLOW5 promo code, you got a free upgrade AND if you extended your stay at reception you got 20% off – I understand the scheme, but I felt a bit cheated when I read it at check-in).  It’s definitely a party hostel, but it created a fun vibe to be around and did not interfere with my sleep.

Makeup/hairdryer area outside four female dorm rooms at The Yellow

 Cute sign marking the rooms at The Yellow

I made the quick walk to the Termini station in my flip flops since my other shoes were still soaked with my incredibly wet trip to St. Peter’s Cathedral the previous day.  I had bought my €14 train ticket the previous day, which was completely unnecessary because I arrive 25 minutes before the train departed and the station was really empty.  I showed my ticket to enter the tracks area, and then I validated my ticket in the machine and boarded the waiting Leonardo Airport Express to FCO.

Super empty Rome Termini station at 5:05am

I’ve written up most of the rest of my journey from Rome to Austin, TX via London Heathrow for a flight review article.  Hence, I’ll link you to the article instead of relating it here!

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