Sailing and A Traveling Nightmare

Wednesday 15th of April

We woke up before five o'clock so we could get ready to take a train two and a half hours north to a town called Follonica. It was there that we met up with a couple who we had arranged to take us sailing.

We found out that they were Scottish and had just moved to Italy recently. We had a lot to talk about with them on their beautiful 42-foot sailboat.

The morning was not very windy, but eventually we were able to turn off the engine and rely solely on the wind and sails.

The water was beautiful, and we enjoyed baking in the warm sun.

Three hours and 22 nautical miles later we were in a small bay of the island of Elba. It was a very pretty place.

We stopped for lunch here, which the couple had put together for us. It was definitely our best meal in Italy. We anchored for a little while longer before heading back to the marina in Follonica.

The entire day was absolutely relaxing. It was such a treat after all the running around we did in Venice, Florence and Rome.

We got back in to the main center of Follonica around 7:30 pm. We found an interesting place to eat, complete with a large and friendly Italian man. He talked us into getting the lobster ravioli with artichoke sauce.

It was surprisingly tasty.

We inhaled our entire meal in less than ten minutes.

After we were done re-fueling, we went to the train station. It was here where the group of six was splitting up: Nick and Jill to France, Billy to Greece and Blake, Kathryn and myself to Cinque Terre.

The first to go was Nick and Jill. We waved good-bye.

An hour later came Billy. See you later.

Then finally, at 12:10 am, it was our turn to hop on a train.

The first train was only about a half hour long. After that ride, we waited almost two hours in a train station on cold marble benches before our next train came around 2:30am. The anticipation to get on the next train was intense. The 2:30am train would last for two and a half hours giving us a good amount of time to sleep. We were so excited.

Then.

2:30am rolled around. Our train pulled up. We were still all smiles at this point.

We walked on the train, and every space was full of people. It was a cabin train, and all the cabins were full. No seats - not even in the two-foot aisle. And yes, we did have reservations for this train.

We squeezed past the crowd in the aisle to get to the other side of the car, all the while knocking people out with our many bags.

We took a seat by a door. Kathryn and I sank into what little space was left of the floor.

We stared at each other. And laughed.

"Is this seriously happening right now?"

To our right there was a man using the bathroom as his seat. He thought it was great fun to play peek-a-boo with us.

We were not amused.

The next two and a half hours dragged by. We slept standing up until the last twenty minutes when we managed to get a seat. I sat next to a couple girls from San Diego. They were also not having a great night.

We reached the next train station a little after 4:30 am. There were no benches in this train station, so we made our camp right next to the homeless people staying there for the night. They were smarter than us - they had sleeping bags.

I have developed a great system of sleeping on cold train station floors. Here it is:

1. Use a daybag or purse as your pillow.
2. Lay on your side.
3. Use your book bag to rest your legs on. This will save your legs from the cold, evil floor.
4. Wrap your scarf around your body like a blanket.
5. Use your coat as a blanket as well. (I couldn't do this one... remember? No more coat!)

I slept well until 6 am.

Then we got up, drank some coffee and took our next train to our last stop: Manarola of the Cinque Terre.

Once in Manarola, it started raining with strong winds attacking us.

We could not check into our place we were staying at until 11:30, so we slept in the visitor center while we waited. We also searched for an ATM. (It was at this ATM in Italy where I lost roughly $70. Thank you, ITALY!)

Eventually we checked into our room, and the owner of the place was the most welcoming and hospitable Italian we had met.

Once we were in our room, we took a three hour nap.

Our night of dreadful traveling was over. Thank goodness.

Throughout our taste-of-hell (that's how you would describe it too if you were there... trust me) traveling experience, I actually had a positive attitude. "I will never do this again. This is only a one time thing. I will never do this again in my life..."

After my nap, however, I looked back and thought 'Oh my gosh, that really was not fun. That stunk.'

Then I called my parents and told them how much I missed them and how homesick I was.