Lost Money

Tuesday, May 27

Today we leave our beloved Roma. We take a quick walk to the Pantheon to enjoy 
this historic building, and then prepare for our train and rental car trip to 
Montepulciano. 


We travel by taxi to Termini station, the big train station of Rome. But I'm 
confused. Nothing looks like I remember. Hmmm...this is Temini, there are signs 
all around acknowledging this....but where are the trains??  I soon realize that 
this is not the front of the building that I'm used to using. 

A kind young man looks at our confused faces and tells us to follow him. I 
explain that we need to print our tickets first (we had purchased them online, 
received a code, and were to print them at the station). So he has us go up and 
down stairs to go to this weird, somewhat isolated location to get our tickets 
printed. But the ticket machine works, so why should I worry?  I'm starting to 
realize that this is going to cost us, but he seems so sincere and is even 
helping us carry our luggage. After a couple more jaunts up and down stairs he 
looks at his phone to check for some information and takes us to a track 
where he deposits our luggage.  "How much?" I wonder?  This will definitely be
worth ten euros, I figure. John is talking to the guy and asks Larry for a 
twenty. "No!" we say...we had never actually asked for his help...so ten should 
be fine. Then the confusion starts. John pays him and he leaves. "How much did 
you give him?" we ask John. "Eighty euros," he replies. What!?!?!?

This still isn't feeling right to me. Even after paying 80 euros for the help, 
this isn't the way I found our platform last time. We're way out at the end of 
the train line, and I know that they don't even post the platform numbers until 
15 minutes for departure (this is about 25 minutes prior to departure). So I 
tell them I want to go check this out with my own eyes. Larry and I walk to the 
area where the boards are listing train information. Now this place is looking 
more familiar!

What I find out is that we were on the wrong platform far removed from where any 
train would be boarding. I send Larry to go get John and Jacque...and what do we 
find out?  Another "kind young man" has addressed them and is trying to offer 
them some help. We've been conned...big time!  And they're trying to gouge us 
for more!!  What a racket!!  And I think of the poor foreign travelers who would 
have continued with their scheme with one con artist setting travelers up to be "helped " by their buddies...and helped again....and again...until they miss their train!!  What a 
racket!  I'm even thinking the cab driver was part of the scheme, because we 
should have never been dropped off where we were. 

John is feeling down in the dumps. But such is the way with travel...sometimes 
you get taken or some other mishap occurs. Yesterday we were out and about and 
Larry was wearing his traveling pouch under his pants (after the attempted 
pickpocketing he suffered in Paris last time; see Metro Shmetro entry from 2012)

and he went to pay for sandwiches. 

He returned his money to his pouch...or so he thought...and found out later that 
he had missed the pouch and had lost money down his shorts leg. Such is the 
expense of traveling!  Take the bad with the good.

Jacque and I intend to lose money too.  But we're hoping it's when we're SHOPPING!