I left London at 2am and caught 3 night buses to luton airport and boarded my plane to Rome at 6:30am. It took a few hours to get from the airport at Ciampino (it is 45 minutes out of Rome and I landed there because I caught cheapo Ryanair) to the campsite where I would meet up with my tour group. Before meeting up with them for dinner I took a bus to Vatican City. The architecture was cool, everything is on a massive scale and there was a fantastic collection of artwork and religious artefacts inside - I need another few hours to take it all in properly. I also ran out of time to see the Basilica but my feet were really tired by then anyway and there is over 500 stairs up to it and a fairly big queue to see it. Once back at camp I was introduced to everyone - there are 40 people on tour and they have been on tour for 2 weeks already - going to France, Spain & Switzerland - I joined at Rome as I have already been to France & Spain. There is 27 girls and 13 guys. About 5 couples - one of which are on their honeymoon. Everyone is great and everyone gets along. Our tour leaders - Jas, Matt (Driver) & Kimmy (Cook) are fantastic - heaps of fun and a good sense of humour.