Guess how much you’ll be charged for 6 months parking at Fiumicino Airport?
Well, I’m too embarrassed to say but it’s over a NZ$ grand – ouch.
We bought the Audi when we had exciting Italian plans back in October but a few spanners were thrown in the works. Luckily, a buyer appeared, Jack from Dublin, he saw my ad on Subito, an Italian used car website and the process began. Meanwhile, messages in Italian from the car park people said La meccanica non funziona – which doesn’t need much translation. And more spanners; the car park company we used had gone broke and this one had inherited their cars – and their rates were ‘different’ and they were talking ‘penalties’. So, as I sat on the plane to Rome I had all sorts of questions on my mind about the condition of the car and the cost of parking. And Jack had paid a deposit. Would I have to refund him?
Hey, there’s a happy ending, I managed to get a shuttle to AIR CAR Parking, which took a while because I was waiting at the ARRIVALS area by the Terminal and they pick up from the DEPARTURES level, who would have guessed! We poured some petrol in the beast and started the car with jumpers. A young Italian guy there helped me. I bought a new battery, washed and vacuumed it at the local ESSO and headed into Roma Centro repeating to himself ‘Just keep right, keep right . . .’
Italians drive fast, they crowd in close, they toot if you’re too slow, and there’s a lot of them packed-in on the road. Temperatures are in the 30’s, but 40 minutes later I arrived at my hotel in San Lorenzo, and luckily, found a park. The next day I was to meet Jack Mulcahy and change the ownership papers, but for the evening, I went for a wander around the local parks and breathed a huge sigh of relief . . so far so good.
