Train to Milan

(Mom this one is for you)

Mike and I wound up staying up until about midnight researching the best way to get to Milan. Turns out we were going to have to start at 4am and jump three trains to get there. What a pain! Not only were we completely drained from the day’s events but we were going to have to get up in a few short hours and stay alert on the trains so that we don’t miss our stops. Around midnight I suggest to Mike that we walk down to the train station and buy our ticket now so we can just hop in in the morning. The station was only a few hundred meters away so we walked down together. We find the automated machine. In Italy they have ticket stands that need Wi-Fi to function. For some reason the dang thing just did not want to work. Finally we give up and head back to the room to pack. We prepare everything to grab and just go in the morning. By this time it is almost one when we finally crawl into bed. Mike was out in seconds, but I had a really hard time sleeping. The bunk above me had clothes of a female traveler but she never showed up. Her belongings were there for two days… untouched. All I could think was who was she, and was she ok? Why were her clothes neatly folded as if expecting to return? I am sure I was just so tired my mind was creating anxieties from the violating events of having our bag stolen earlier that day. Whatever it was, our cheap hostel, that was a bit creepy from the start, was now a place I could not wait to leave. It seemed darker that night, and if wasn’t for Mikes light snores I defiantly would not have slept a wink. Thank goodness he was there. I felt safe around him and knew we were going to be ok. We were team California!!!

I woke up from a bad dream around 3:00am. Great, there was no way I was falling back asleep so I quietly laid in my bed and tried to think of the happiness and adventure I had experienced the past couple of days in this amazing little town. Funny, even though the hostel was cheap and creepy, and we had our things stolen, I still loved Cinque Terra more than any other village I had visit in Italy. I think about the hike, swimming in the Mediterranean and jumping off cliffs with 2 amazing Californians. The little villages still hold their old rustic Italian culture, but life by the sea has made them more mellow and welcoming than I had experienced in other parts of the country. No matter how this ends, I must return to Cinque terra one day.

At 3:30 sharp I wake Mike up to leave for the train. We quickly wash up and head down to buy our tickets. Of course the dang machine was still malfunctioning! Every time I try to purchase our tickets the machine starts yelling at me to “Insert your card.” The recorded voice is that of an Italian accented woman speaking English. It repeatedly says “insert your card”over and over. Mike and I deliriously tired start laughing really hard. I almost couldn’t talk. It’s as if the machine wants any criminal waking around within a miles radius to know… hey someone here has money.. go rob them!

Well the ticket office didn’t open until 9am and we would never make it on time. “Mike” I say, “Lets just jump onto the train. I mean if the ticket man comes around we will just tell him the honest truth, or bag was stolen and we have no money.” He laughs. That’s a great way to go to jail here… the Italians take train jumping really seriously. “Lets do it!” He says still laughing at the machine going off in the background. I figured since it was so early in the morning the likelihood of us getting caught was slim. Italians typically start work late in the day and end early, the chances of there being a ticket man on the train at that hour was slim.  I was right – we made the first hour train ride without any sign of a ticket collector. We got off at our first stop and went straight to the automated machine to buy a ticket. I purchase the ticket being extra careful that I got the right ones. You see I was paying for both of us, and there are no refunds unless you take the ticket to a ticket office to exchange. As I mentioned before they don’t open until 9am, and its still 5am at this point. I had been traveling for 2 months at this point and every penny counts as a traveler.

When I give Mike his ticket and look it over to double-check the times. “Mike I bought the wrong ticket! How could I be so dumb! I must have been so nervous and tired that I touched the wrong button!” Mike looks at the ticket “You bought the wrong ticket alright…Wait… Gema! You bought us a direct ticket to Milan! This is a speed train ticket! We are going to arrive there at 8:30 instead of at 9:30! It’s ok, we are ok!” He must have seen the worry on my face because he gave me the biggest hug and told me how this is the best mess up I could have ever done.

We get on the Italian speed train, it’s a train made by the Germans, and this means its fast, very fast and very nice with wonderful gray leather seats for comfort. I think to myself how much I love the Germans and we take our seats assigned by the ticket machine. The train is completely empty so we lay back and begin to relax ready to sleep since we no longer have to jump trains. Just then a little old lady walks in and you can tell she is tentatively looking at each seat number looking for her seat. Sure enough she is assigned a seat right in front of us. This means less legroom for Mike and I on a completely empty train. Why!!! Of all luck! Mike and I try to ask her to take the empty seats somewhere else and she replies in really broken English that she is worried someone else is assigned to those seats. Mike and I look around the train astonished. The train is completely empty! Annoyed but too tired to care I sit down at the window seat and start to make a pillow out of my jacket. Mike decides he needs legroom and moves to the seats just across the isle and does the same. I look out the window and can just see rays of sunlight starting to peak out. Within moments the train starts moving and we are fast asleep....

Note: I am sorry for the delay, I went into areas with little internet and then traveled by train less and less as the trip moved on. I am now able to continue to write, and promise am finishing my entries as we speak.

Lots of love!

xx