Welcome to Rome 😠

While our journey to Naples from Rome was lovely (highly recommend the train... was very pleasantly straightforward and stress-free after all our airport experiences), our first introduction to Rome was less so.

Within 30 minutes of stepping off the train, I had my phone stolen. We'd known this was a risk, especially in very touristy areas and on crowded Metros (i.e what we needed to ride to get to our accommodation), and had been discussing those risks with the boys that morning.

However, between the very obvious TOURIST target painted on us (bags front and back etc.), likely some complacency given our lack of issues to date (including in Naples, also flagged as high risk), and the fact we were on an incredibly packed Metro (literally had to push ourselves and the kids on and off), it wasn't till after getting off that I realised I'd been pickpocketed somewhere between Roma Termini and San Giovanni.

Lesson learnt: just buy the Metro tickets rather than using tap-and-go, so you don't need to have your phone in a nicely pickable pocket.

Given how much we rely on our phones, this was a real pain (not to mention the cost of getting a replacement at short notice in a country of whose language we have only a handful of words).

We did actually manage to track my phone to what was likely a phone repair shop (near a Metro station... one star Google review... might paint a picture) and even contacted them to see if they would admit to anything. No luck there (we're legal!), and despite the temptation, we didn't think it was worth the risk of just showing up at the storefront (it also just looked like a residential block on Streetview).

I also attempted to report the theft (despite knowing it wouldn't be much use). When we flagged it with police/security (not sure which kind) at the Metro station, they seemed to indicate that we needed to make a report at the police (carabinieri) station. So, after making it to our accommodation and indentifying the location of the nearest carabinieri station, I walked 20 minutes there (with multiple missed turns) using hand-written notes based on A's Google Maps.

I arrived at the same time as an officer was heading in the gate, but was waved off and directed to the buzzer. After buzzing the intercom and making an initial greeting in my very limited Italian, I asked if they spoke English. To which I got... "No". And a click as the phone hung up. So I gave up on that pointless endeavour and moved on to the next one. Good thing I wasn't trying to report a kidnapping.

After doing what I could to ensure the phone was secured (and later sending a wipe command... may or may not work), getting some advice from our AirBnb host, and lots of googling phone models and Italian retailers, it was off to the closest shopping centre (thankfully only a 5 minute walk away) to get a new phone (and some groceries).

MediaWorld (similar to JB Hi-Fi in Australia or Best Buy in North America) apparently doesn't have a great reputation, but they had a decent selection of phones. They also had staff with knowledge levels of their products similar to their foreign equivalents (i.e. not great).

We were very grateful for some assistance from one of the English-speaking staff, who helped translate what we wanted to the phone staff, to whom we could give our google-translated list of base requirements (e.g. eSIM compatible and headphone jack... Oh we don't have any models that have both of those — despite the fact I'd already found at least one that did).

Eventually I found/picked a phone that hit most of my requirements (still no headphone jack, but those are gradually going the way of the dodo — new USB-C earbuds added to shopping cart). I forked over many more Euros than I wanted to, then we headed off for groceries.

After the always interesting shopping-in-a-foreign-supermarket experience (somewhat dampened by phone-induced stress/rage), it was off to make a very late dinner and start the very very long and rage-inducing process of setting up a new phone, trying to get my Australian SIM blocked and transfered to new eSIM on new phone (still waiting on that one... you need to receive SMS verification to do the transfer... a bit tricky when your phone has been stolen — and there is a 48-hour hold on changes that might allow a workaround — a sensible if frustrating fraud-prevention measure).

I also needed to buy and set up a new European eSIM (can't transfer cheap eSIM deals from a stolen phone). That was its own ball-o-fun, as when properly tested during the next day of sightseeing I had no data. Much googling and redditting later that night I discovered many roaming eSIMs have an issue in Italy with APN settings not being automatically applied correctly... one manually added APN later — at about 10pm — I had data. Thank goodness we had wifi at our accommodation.

So, 36 hours after having my phone stolen, my new one is mostly up and running. Still no banking or payments access (need SMS verification to set those up again... hey Australian banks, how about you try a secure, transferable, network agnostic OTP system like the rest of the technology world?), and still no Australian number (no point trying to SMS me at the moment... and if you get a call or SMS from my Australian number... it's not me!). But fingers crossed by around 2am Sunday morning (Italian time), I might have that sorted too.