Work trip to Rome, Italy - 13th to 15th April 2008

The second trip in a week to the city that used to be the capital of the world (or something), and that used to rule a big part of it. After a 36 hour turnaround back in the UK, I was back at Heathrow Terminal 5, and this time, had the chance to get a better look around. After this experience (and I admit that if they lose your bag, it won't be this good), I can thoroughly recommend the place. You are through security inside 5 minutes, the shopping and eating experience is amazing, and if you are able to use lounges, these are a brilliant place to spend time - better than most offices, I would say. When I go on holiday through here next, I aim to do it properly - hopefully I won't have had a bad experience to sour it by then!

The celebrity spotting continued from the trip last week, Victoria Silvstedt was on the plane out to Rome. I was at the desk next to her at passport control, so the guy checking my passport really wasn't paying much attention, he was much more interested in the person at the desk next to him instead.

Back to the same (expensive) hotel as last time, and this time I got a (free) upgrade to a Rome view. Whilst they are a bit cheeky to try to charge an extra €50-100 for an upgrade, on top of their already very steep room rates, the view was admittedly very impressive. Looking out over the whole city, you could see pretty much all of it, every major landmark, and the place just looked majestic as you stood on the hotel room balcony looking at it. At night, you even got a completely different but equally magical view, seeing the city lights twinkling in front of you - so 2 great views for the price of one! Looking in the wardrobe of my room, the rack rate for the room was €935, so it was lucky there was a decent view really!

I was in a meeting for pretty much all of this trip, so didn't see anything of Rome at all this time. On the way back through the airport, I did spot Lembit Opik and his Cheeky Girl girlfriend - Rome seems to be a pretty popular place with assorted minor celebrities! After the sightseeing trip last week, this is definitely somewhere I'd like to return to in my own time.