Pfew, that was a close call!!

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My point of view...by Jen

Sigh, we are in Rome. We have deviated from our original plans. We were scheduled to be in Sorrento, the Amalfi Coast in Italy.

But we are in Rome. I HATE Rome.

So, we have been traveling for a few days now. We took an overnight ferry from Santorini to Athens. Hopped on a train from Athens to Patras (port city for traveling from Italy to Greece). Then we took an overnight ferry from Patras to Anacona, which is in Italy. Then we again, planned to hop on a train and head to Sorrento, which is south of Naples, which is south of Rome.

Everyone take out your maps of Italy and look this up. It will make more sense. 😊

We got to the train station in Anacona (it was like a 3km walk in the swealtering heat with our packs and all of our dang groceries because we are too broke to eat out all the time...). We were hot and sweaty, but no worries, we made it.

We waited in line at the ticket counter and when we got up there, we requested tickets to Sorrento. The train ticket man (referred to as 'the man' from here on out) nodded, and started typing away. We repeated it one more time, just to be sure. He nodded again. He then showed us our tickets and where we would have to transfer trains and whatnot. The ticket said "Trento." Laura asked one more time, "Sorrento is the same as Trento?" He assured us that yes, it was.

Looking at the tickets, we had to change trains in Bologna. At this point, we were in Anacona. Bologna is further north than Florence, almost all the way to Venice. We are much closer to Rome at this point. I think outloud and say, "It seems weird they would send us all the way to Bologna (a few hours North) just to send us all the way down past Naples (lots of hours South). Isn't Bologna pretty far north?" Laura reponds with "Bologna is centrally located."

Ok I think, in the middle of italy, yes, but it is still very far north. But Laura does not seem to think anything of it, so I just kind of let it go.

We make our way to the platform and we wait. We wait for probably a good 30-40 minutes and Laura eats lunch and then heads off somewhere. Just before she leaves, I ask to see our tickets again. The ticket says something about Verona (VERY far north) and Torino and I just don't feel great about it. I ask to see the book.

Laura leaves.

By the time she comes back, I have come to the realization that we purched train tickets to the wrong place. We were headed north, near the border of Italy and Austria. Hours by train in the completely opposite direction!!

Good thing I checked the book!

We head back to the ticket counter. "Ohhh" the man says, "Sorrento..." Well, apparently trains don't go to Sorrento so we would have to take a train to Naples and then bus from there. We wouldnt be to Naples till fairly late and then to figure out the bus would be a pain.

Plus, it would cost 66 euros each. Which translates to roughly $100 a person just to get there! We both looked at each other and said at the same time, "Rome!"

We waited some more for now our train not to Verona, but to Rome. It was almost 3pm, and our train was supposed to leave at 3:10. I start thinking again (Laura is still oblivious!) that its weird that the train isnt on the tracks yet. Just at the same time, a TrenItalia man comes up to us and tells us we are waiting on the wrong platform for Rome. Good thing he decided we looked lost and came to help us! We would have missed our train!

And so here we are. In Rome.

Safe and Sound. And we know where we are. 😊

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Photos

ATVing in Santorini
So fun!

Santorini
Its so beautiful!

Red Beach
Red Beach, Santorini

Chocolate Cake!
We (ok, LAURA) was so excited she couldnt even wait till we got to our hostel to open it!

Comments

[Jen and Laura]

Lies, lies, lies!!
Okay, can I just say that this entry makes me look like a total fool on more than one level!! Seriously, Jen you told me to relax and stop being to paranoid about details so I did and now I get in trouble for NOT thinking about enough! There is just no way to make you happy is there!?!?

[Megan]

I personally really enjoyed that story. Think of all the stress you saved by not noticing, Laur!