The most amazing part about travel are the moments you know will change the trip and, ultimately, your future. Such a moment arose again in Avignon as Brian and I pondered our options for moving eastward. Being behind in time and distance and pretty clearly needing to move east fast, we decided to ride some trains toward Italy. TOWARD Italy. What a thought. What a difficult circumstance to find yourself in huh? Nice, Milano, Genoa, Torino, Etc! Where do we go and where will it put us in relation for the rest of the trip.
Arriving at the train station with no ideas other than east, we approached the ticket vendor with Cecily and inquired about the possibilities. Marseille. Nice. No Torino. Milano. How much? Extra for bikes? Local trains? How many stop overs exactly? FOUR?! OK OK. And once again, how much for two people?
Milano, Italy. 6 trains (including subways) and 13 hours of travel later, we arrived to the warm smile of Nadia, thank goodness! Although the initial legs were difficult to maneuver since the trains were late and the day was hot so we sweated for about 8 hours, it was the final leg which I was convinced would not even occur.
Arriving in Ventimigilia, the final train station stop, Brian and I hopped aboard a train after asking the conductor and being told that the train does not allow bicycles. We loaded our gear and bikes and stood by them waiting to see what would happen. Of course, another conductor insisted that bikes were not allowed on this train. I walked over and showed my ticket and he said, no, they arent allowed. I crossed my arms, he began making phone calls and eventually 3 conductors were arguing with us as we stood above them, bikes behind us on the car, unmoved and showing my ticket for boarding the train which I claimed we had bought at the local station. In a moment of fight or flight, we chose fight and the conductors relented finally and amazingly and allowed our storage on the train and continued passage forward to Milano! Brian and I both agreed that we had reached a mental stage after many trains and awful travel that "you will have to drag us off the train to get us out of here." An exciting moment to ensure our continued travels and now our preparations for a new and lengthy biking portion of our adventure. Many more mishaps and difficulties to come. Stay tuned!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
http://frugaltraveler.blogs.nytimes.com/
not sure which places you are headed, but wanted to send you this link. give the dollar/euro comparison this should help. though, i think some places you are going aren't yet in the EU so this may be irrelevant.
keep on chugging! (meant that bike-wise not drink-wise)
Krisztian
We hope that argument with the 3 Italian conductors added to your international vocabulary.
And we would also like take Spanish and French lessons from you as long as you stick to the truly elementary stuff.
Forza Azurra !!
Well said.
Post a Comment