A note for anyone landing at Fiumicino with hours to kill before a hotel will look at them. It worked well for us and I have not seen it raised here. Our flight from Auckland came in at 6.40 on Thursday morning, which is a cruel hour to arrive anywhere, and our room was not available until two in the afternoon. We did not fancy a lobby and four cases, so we arranged a private transfer with an hour of driving built into the run in. The driver took us along the Circus Maximus and then stopped for ten minutes at the orange garden on the Aventine, which at half past eight was nearly empty and already 27 degrees. He delivered us and the luggage to the door afterwards and had a quiet word with the front desk on our behalf. My wife valued that considerably more than the sightseeing. I would offer one caveat from our own experience. We had been awake for thirty hours and I retained almost nothing of what the poor man told us about the Forum. If you are coming off a long haul, take the hour as a gentle introduction and leave the history until you have slept. We walked the same ground on Saturday and it made a good deal more sense the second time. The cost was in the region of 130 EUR for the two of us with the extra hour included. A plain transfer had been quoted at 75 EUR, so the hour itself came to about 55. I should add that we are travelling independently this time, which is unusual for us. On a ship day I would not attempt it at all. You are back aboard by half four and the arithmetic does not work.
