Grrrrrrr... LOVE italy, LOVE italians, HATE how slack the customer service is. Can anyone help Aitch find an apartment to stay in for a week in Rome at the end of May?

[AitchTwoOhelicopterfraek]

sorry about that, it's naff when you put your own name in a title but i'm a bit desperate.

anyhoo, i know, i know, i'm rubbish, i always go to Rome but you know a holiday is about me having a nice time and i know the city so well.

so i'm looking for CHEAP accommodation (under 100 euro per night) in Rome for between the 27th May and 4th June.

i've found some great places on a website but when you email they just try to upsell you to more expensive accommodation and so far have taken 72 hours to get back to me anyway so it's most frustrating. i've phoned and emailed etc but they couldn't care less really...

does anyone have any recommendations? (at this rate i'll be forced to ask my Italian mates which would be fine were it not for the fact that they would instantly invite us to stay with them, the generous bastards, and it would be awkward refusing but all i want to do is potter around just the three of us).

really it needn't be nice, just fairly central. dd can sleep in our bed if necessary so we don't need a lot of space, i'd rather spend money in restaurants than on accommodation that we'll just be flopping into anyway.

areas? navona, colosseo, spanish steps, trastevere, campo di fiori, anywhere really. preferably not st p's as it's a bit antiseptic round there.

if anyone can help me that would be FABULOUS. i've looked here www.rentalinrome.com and here www.homelidays.com mostly so far, so any good websites (with some actual fookin customer service) would be really helpful.

. Can you not keep anything in, Aitch? Have you got some rehydration stuff?

i can ask for all their contact details i suppose and say my pals will come and take a look for us. although i happen to know they are in Brussels at the mo, such eurotrash they are.

Sorry, Aitch, but as someone else said, those twisty stairs are an accident waiting to happen. They both look nice and clean and seem to be pretty well priced! I paid a little less, but it was well out of season.

C

can I just add because the owner hadn't payed the maintenance company on time, the electric was cut off with on Friday and it didn't get put back on till Wednesday. No power in kitchen, no hot water, candles at night. Joy.

Apart from that it all went well.

have just recently returned from my first trip to Rome and had a fabbo time, loved it, loved it, loved it. What shocked me though was the graffiti and litter, strewn newspapers lying in the gutters and most of all Rome is like a giant ashtray, its full of ciggie stubs - yuk! Have they no pride?

Anyway, nowt to do with what you're after ...

and noe this is depressing...

say it ain't so.

aw, you are a superstar rabbit. i've found another page with other things for kids, and DH has reminded me that our pals have three under 6 so will have some ideas... der.

the translation link didn't work for me, empty box
but good that they have some T&C's

I am a very sceptical person. So excuse my nature.

Oh, fuck that site, Aitch. What the hell do Romans do - breed in the suburbs? And some of his advice is a bit "Duh" frankly - ooh - it had never occurred to me that the child might want to nap! Italians seem to worship at the shrine of children - people in Bologna were practically dropping to their knees in front of LittleHab - even the carabinieri stopped their car to wave and say Ciao. And yes, she is gorgeous, but even so... There are fewer "special facilities" but I reckon that's because in Italy children are just part of life and so you just get on. Baby changing limited (though public library handily had baby changing), but we coped with toilet floors and portable changing mat. Yes, it'll be busy, but so is London, and no-one tells you not to take a 2-year old there. And there's traffic - well, you're hardly going to have her running in the road, are you? It's a capital city and popular tourist destination. And you are a parent and person with common sense. It'll be fantastic. Plus, didn't you say your friends there had children too? Sorted. Stuart is, I think, a bit of a worrywart...

I thought you knew Rome, or is this just your first visit with a child?
We couldn't believe how child-friendly Italy was and are going back this year for our first visit to Rome. I've been watching this thread avidly and have contacted the same 2 appartments you have. Don't panic - for the week after you so leave them clean please!
I'm so excited, I didn't know where to start so have visited every site this thread suggested, haven't booked yet though!

i do know it rather well actually, i think stuart just threw me momentarily, he seemed so certain that it was a Bad Idea. (his name is almost certainly pronounced Stooart and he will be a prissy american homosexual. apols to all you big bearish american homosexys out there but come ON).

i think the cobbles with a buggy will be a pita, but my vision (get this, i have a vision) is of pootling around locally in the mornings at the nearby market, having lunch courtesy of mkt and pizza pane/suppli/olives/delicious things then siesta-ing and then going out for minor sightseeing and major eating in the afternoon/evenings. apart from Big Days Out, natch.

we may go to the beach, it's about an hour or so away by car as i recall, or there's certainly an aquapark thing. and a couple of kids museums etc. plus dd will enjoy the ICE CREAM and PASTA element enormously.

i'm deffo swinging towards the trastevere one now, because there's a supermarket nearby and there aren't that many in Rome centro. so we're cool for nappies. (no, i don't think i can be arsed potty-training her in a month... or can i? is that even possible? i may ask Cod).

anyhoo, i couldn't care less about the churches (apart from the one i was married in) and seen st pete's a zillion times, so if we stick to the big ruins/parks/piazzas dd'll be able to run about a bit.

although... lalalalaaaaah. she doesn't have a passport and it's a month away. shit. is that going to be REALLY BAD?

oh and yes, first time with a child (hence no passaporto, eek) and had changed name to amuse Lulu and the fish and forgotten to go back.

have found cobbles a good way of getting dd to sleep, oddly.

i don't think dd's slept in her buggy for, oooh, a year now. i wonder if she might start again packed with ice-cream and under the hot italian sun? probably.

will i take a totally knackered maclaren that doesn't recline or the jane carrera? it's the one thing ryanair won't charge me extra for, apparently.

Get your passport organised now!
Your vision of your holiday sounds very like mine and is very similar to one we had in Florence 2 years ago.
Take no notice of Stooart!

i've got the forms all pre-printed and filled here, i just need to sort the payment etc. and do i need an appointment for dd? i'm on it on monday.

You don't need an appointment. I'd pay the extra and get the check and send service at the post office. Is her photo very lovely?

right. you're SURE i don't need an appointment for a brand new passport? my sister was absolutely definite. and too right i'll pay the extra for check and send, i'm an utter moron when it comes to forms. i filled them in online, actually, and they sent them to me. it's when i'm faced with hand-writing i fall apart.

Adults may need appointments now - just got LittleHab's before we went away. Oh hang on then, I'll double check.

Here - from the horse's mouth:
Passport interviews are a new part of the application process to protect an individual?s identity. They are required by all customers, aged 16 or over, who are applying for a passport for the first time.

child passport info