In my line of business I hear a lot of stories about airports. And dealing with Fiumicino (FCO – Leonardo da Vinci Airport in Rome) surely had a lot of stories written. So, in short, I was absolutely terrified when I had to take an EasyJet flight from Rome to Athens. And since my experience with Italy in the previous week was that most people don’t speak (or don’t want to speak?) a word of English, I just had to relay on the fact that I do understand Italian but I don’t exactly speak it. However, I travel with my fiancé who also speaks some Italian (enough to get around with).

Anyway, we decided to take the bus from Termini Station at 4:30 ish a.m. We figured it would take an hour to get to the airport and then we’ll have 3 hours to find the terminal and gate. We did arrive in due time but, of course, finding Terminal 2 proved to be a bit of an adventure (went through Terminal 3, asked someone to get to Terminal 2 and there we were).

Security check was easy. They only asked for the boarding pass. Of course, took my netbook out , the toiletries and everything I had ON me (belt, rings, bandana) but something still “beeped” so I was patted down.

We easily found the gate and then explored a bit the area. There are cafes and shops available.

Be careful that some gates are located quite far away from the security check so you’ll have to do a bit of walking. That was the case when we had to take the flight to Timisoara (Romania) from gate H13, a good 30 min walk from the security check. Ideally, walk to the gate and then decide whether you want to get something from the cafes or shops.

Since we traveled within the EU and Schenghen zone for the Rome to Athens flight, the passports/ID cards were only checked at the boarding gate. On the arrival on Fiumicino from a Schenghen zone, if you are an EU citizen, your passport is not checked. If you come from a EU country which is not in Schenghen you will go through passport control.

For the Rome to Timisoara flight, we went through pass control (and the usual treatment for Romanians – aka tossing the ID card after inspection). They also check the ID card along with the boarding card before boarding the plane.

Getting to / from the Aiport

After three bus rides (on Terravision) I’m determined to take the Leonardo Express train from Termini Station next time. This time we were on low(ish) budget so paying 6 euros (Termini to Fiumicino) and 8 euros (Fiumicino – Termini- Fiumicino) per person was a good bargain and we allowed for plenty of time to get to the airport. The ride is about an hour.

Leonardo Express takes about 20 min and the fare is 14 euros one way. Another option is the train from Tiburtina Station. This one takes close to 30 min and costs 8 euros one way. We did pass through this station on our way from Vieste and found it to be much dodgier than Termini, so there is absolutely zero chance to ever catch a train ride from there.