Pompeii Today: Bill Jennings

My bag

I'm a big fan of my bag, which was made by a company called Ultimate. Unfortunately, it's very difficult to find information about these bags. Why don't you try Googling "ultimate bags" and sorting through the mess?

At any rate, I bought this at REI last year, and I think the name of the bag was "photojournalist". It's a sturdy thing with plenty of pockets, a space that fits my laptop, two waterbottle holders, and a lot more. It converts from a shoulder bag to a backpack. I love this bag.

As you can see, there's a narrow pocket in the back with one snap closure. It's roomy enough for you to slide a couple of magazines, a guidebook, or a digital camera. That's also where the backpack straps are at.

The front flap has a zippered pocket that can easily carry your airline ticket and/or passport if you want it tucked away. It also has a buckle for keeping the flap closed.

As you can see, there's one main pocket, which has a laptop holder and an interior mesh waterbottle holder. There's also an interior mesh zippered pocket on the flap, but I never use that one.

Toward the bottom, you can see the exterior mesh waterbottle holder, and the separate pocket. I use this lower pocket for pens, my camera, my ipod, and Altoid tins. It has a pen holder and an interior zippered pocket.

Both the main pocket and the lower pocket have two zippers, each with red bungee straps. When I was on the metro, I tied the straps together and never worried about pickpockets.

This last picture is so you can get a sense for the size. It's not as roomy as my big messenger bag or my laptop bag, but it's roomy enough. It's the perfect daypack and carryon for me. I usually carry maps, at least one notebook, a guidebook or two, some pleasure reading, maybe a magazine, as well as my iPod and digital camera.

Train and Metro Resources

Just spending some time visiting the English language TrenItalia website.

For example, I found a EuroStar for Florence (Firenze in Italian) leaves Roma at 6:30 and arrives at 8:06. If you just want to spend one full day in the city, there are EuroStars that depart Firenze at 8:53 pm and arrive back in the city at 10:30pm. A full day, but I'm sure you can hit some of the highlights. These one-way tickets cost € 29,44 for second class or € 42,35 for first.

Also, a Eurostar for Napoli leaves Roma at 6:45 and arrives at 8:38 am. There are return trips leaving Napoli at 8:30 and 9:22 pm. These tickets are € 22,21 second class, and € 32,54 first, each way.

Meanwhile, here is the English language official page for the Rome Metro system. The Casa La Salle, which will be my homebase in Roma, is located next to the Cornelia stop on Metro Linea A. The Metro runs from 5:30 am until 11:30 pm (until 12:30 am on Saturdays). 

A single Metro ticket is € 1.  A day ticket is € 4, a week is € 16 and a month is € 30.  I highly recommend the weeklong ticket, because the Metro is the best and cheapest way to get around the city.

Airline Comfort

Two airline travel links:

• DailyCandy Travel: Surviving Coach in Style -- some general tips.


• SeatGuru.com The best site for choosing airplane seating.