Becoming destitute in Rome

So what does sea eagles, no money and my moms beautician have to do with each other!

I will come to that in a minute but our adventure in Rome began with a trian ride past white covered fields - not snow but an amazing ice freeze with every tree branch, leaf and blade of grass coated in white crystals - yes it was COLD outside. Arrive at Roma with our overflowing luggage and compress ourselves into a taxi for a ride of our lives - thousands of people, horns, traffic and the unique italian way of driving. Managed to find our apartment - you could not mistake yourself being in Roma - guilded mirrors, patterned wall paper, ornate lamps - Beaaauutifullllll.

First - had to pay lady for flat but we didnt have any cash so had to go to bank to withdraw some money. Stick card in machine...... declined! What the!!! Needing to pay we changed our last travellers cheques - well not that simple at it took 2 banks and 4 tellers before someone would do this for us. So we now had a place to stay but no money to live. Try to ring bank but due to their 'customer friendly' automated service it would not recognise the tone when you had to dial your account in the phone. shite! Planning options
1. join the gypsies begging in the street
2. give bethany advanced training in pick-pocketing (she seems to have a flair for getting money)
3. despirate call home

This is where the sea eagle comes in. Standing at the tourist info stand getting directions to buy a mobile phone I noticed a man and his son wearing a Manly scalf. Commenting that it is good to see another sea eagles fan we got chatting - the usual stuff - where are you from - how many days are you here - where are you going next. but then all of a sudden the lady next to him says - "I may be wrong but I think I know you - Your the Careys!"

It turns out that she is the beautician for mom in Manly so obviously they discuss LOTS of things (be careful dad - they know too much). A loverly couple that offer to lend us money. We take their contact details and try our last despirate bid to buy mobile phone and contact bank.

Phone works. Turns out our number has been stolen and used in some scam. For the rest of the trip we need to ring a special number while standing at the ATM - they will unblock it for 3 minutes while we withdraw cash.

So in the end everything continues to be great. Will post a bit more about Roma later on. Having fun