Another First

There are going to be some many firsts in the next three years, both with a new baby and with a foreign country.  Last week I had my first gas pumping experience.  I am sure this sounds silly as a 32 year old who has been getting gas in my car for half my life!  Every gas station (or at least 99.9%) is full service.  I have become a big fan of full service gas stations.  It provides jobs for people and it is nice to not have to get out of the car (especially with the little baby). 

There are several parts of the gas experience that are different and require a little planning. Gas is very expensive. We are lucky enough to get NATO gas coupons which means we get to pay about half price for gas.  Because we are planning in coupons, you must tell them the exact amount of liters prior to pumping.  For example, you don’t want to say fill it up and get 46 liters because you then have to pay cash for 1 liter or lose 4 liters using the coupons.  This means you must know how many liters you want before you pull up.  Sounds simple, but you must figure out how many liters are in a gallon, how many gallons in your tank etc. After several attempts, we have figured out that we have approximately 65 liters in our tank.  I watched once to see how much it would cost in euros to fill our tank.  It was 125 euros.  That means it is $162 to fill our gas tank! Luckily, we pay 50-75% less with our coupons, depending on the euro to dollar conversion rate.

Back to my first solo gas adventure!  I pulled into the local AGIP (gas stations that accept the coupons) and successfully asked for 40 liters (in Italian!!).  Of course, the attendant spoke to me in English but at least I tried!  I got my 40 liters and gave the attendant a tip.  And then he told me he could change the coupons.  I was very confused because I got 40 liters and gave him 40 liters worth of coupons, I didn’t need change.  After asking him what he was talking about, he said “you give me coupons, I give you cash.”  He wanted to buy my coupons, which is not allowed.  Obviously, someone is selling the coupons because they would not be asking if they weren’t successful. 

So even though I felt like I was sixteen again (Parsons, get ready!!) I am proud to have successfully filled my own gas tank!!