On days like this, all you can do is laugh!

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Geo: 40.3657, 8.43235

The B&B had vanilla scented shampoo ... it smelled so good that I wanted to eat it! Had a nice breakfast ... see pics. Simple, but with good variety and decent coffee. I ate too much starch again - this is becoming a theme. Ate too much - yet another theme. Dr. Atkins must hate me.

Sat watching music videos a good part of the morning. Great! I am doing this a lot - can't wait to go home and have access to my music again! While it was nice to hear some music, the repetition of videos made it a little less enjoyable.

Planning the rest of my trip - a change of plans! Because of extra time I have as a result of moving quicker than expected, there is no need to finish the Italian segment of my trip in Rome. So ... I will ferry to Civitavecchia instead and train to Rome immediately. I will finish Italy in Florence instead, then head up to Switzerland, Paris, Amsterdam, London and then finally home.

A major coffee buzz started my day as I drank the entire pot - probably 4 cups of coffee. Like the buzz I had in Lisbon last year, but not quite as bad. Off to town. Walked through the tiny municipal market. No wonder there is no one wandering around town - there isn't any food for them to eat here!

Used the Internet cafe to plan a little ... I have pissed away obscene amounts of money on the Internet. But it is an essential travel tool for a backpacker. Once I have a rough itinerary planned, I have an overwhelming need to finalize it and see all the other possibilities. Hence the need to piss away my money in Internet cafes! Also, updating the blog has been a good way of keeping in touch and also to feel grounded at home, in a way.

The nice owner of the cafe started chatting with me about Canada, allowing me the chance to practice my Italian. I would have stayed longer to chat but I had a bus to catch! Had a bad salami sandwich along the way - definitely not the calibre of yesterday's. No flavour, with crappy bread.

There was a bad thunderstorm last night and much more rain today. It seems like there is no warning in Sardinia, other than the clouds. Once it starts, it is a downpour. Drenches everything instantly.

An interesting event on the bus - the windows were all fogged up and I think the bus driver missed the exit. He had to back up on the freeway, with the help of a bunch of students at the back of the bus.

Read more of "Life of Pi" until the bus driver's driving made me nauseous. All bus drivers corner way too quickly, always slam on their brakes, and are generally rough with the vehicle. Now I know how my passengers feel!

Anyway, it's embarrassing how little I read in Calgary. I loved to read as a child, but now? On this trip alone, I have read more books in the past three weeks than I have in the past three years. It's been great ... I've forgotten how much books can teach you about life, yourself, and finding your hopes and dreams again.

Despite his desire to become a Formula 1 driver, the bus driver was quite nice. I missed the Bosa Marina stop so he went back after stopping in the city centre. Gave me hostel directions as I hopped off the bus, too!

Hostel was highly recommended by LG ... it wasn't bad but I can't say that it was that great, either. It was decent, but another bizarre recommendation by LG as there is nothing exceptional about it. It had lockers with locks, but no keys were provided? What's the point? Maybe it's the saucy Sardinian lady working there that garnered the recommendation, who knows!

Another downpour - no big deal as I had nothing to do in Bosa. Crappy beach and a quiet town. Tried to take the bus into town from the marina but I couldn't find a place to buy tickets. LG could mention where to get them of course, but they often forget tips like that. Ended up walking the 25 minutes to town. It wasn't that bad.

Bus travel seems sketchy here. I can't seem to get definite bus times or schedules from anybody. Nobody knows. I went to the bus office listed in the LG guide but it no longer exists. Got caught up in another downpour. Had my umbrella with me but got splashed by a car. Luckily, only the front left side of me was soaked. Days like this, all you can do is just laugh!

Seeing Bosa made me cancel my second night in Alghero. It will be more of the same, I think. Managed to buy a ticket and caught the bus back to the Marina. Schedule showed a 18:25 and a 19:00 bus. It arrived at 18:55 ... was it late or was it early? This makes me even less confident in the erratic bus system in Sardinia. A lot of it is the time of year - tourist season just finished so schedules are starting to change.

LG's description of Bosa is that it is "1/2 medieval village and 1/2 Riviera vacation" and that it is "dazzling, day or night". Huh???!!? Are we talking about the same place here? Back to the hostel for dinner. Hoping for a repeat of the phenomenal hostel dinner in Carcassonne, but alas, it wasn't meant to be. At least it was cheap.

There was only myself and a group of four people. I was going to sit alone at my little table for one ... though dining alone has never bothered me before, it did this time. It was like I was the only person about to sit at the kid's table. You could hear the group of four suddenly stop their conversation, and look at me with pity in their eyes. So they asked me over! Of course, I didn't decline!

They actually discussed it ahead of time - whoever was going to sit down at my table would be immediately invited over to theirs. Matt and Braun were from London (but are Kiwis) and Pierre-Andre and Belle were from London, too. It was later revealed to me by Matt that he had hoped that the lone diner would have been a gorgeous blonde with enormous breasts. Sorry to disappoint, Matt!

Anyway, they were nice people that had met on the flight from London, and also ran into each other in Cala Gonone. From there, they started traveling together. Apparently, it is amazingly beautiful there .. I knew this but decided to skip it because it is very time-consuming to get there and back. Of course, it turns out that I could have skipped Oristano and Bosa, and would have had ample time for Cala G.

Meal - penne with tomato sauce (average) and a type of salisbury steak with fries. Not what I had expected. Apparently, there was supposed to have been a salad course as well, but we never got it. The best part was the melon served for dessert but overall, it was quite mediocre. Sadly, the meal was not as saucy as the saucy Sardinian lady that prepared it.

We played a few drinking games with some huge 2 L bottles of wine that they had bought for 4 euros each. I paid for it later ... despite calling it a night before all the wine was gone, I still woke up at 3:30 in the morning and couldn't sleep again until 6:00. It was probably a combination of the cheap wine and terrible pillow!

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Photos

a
Lady fingers, biscuits, and cake. It's amazing what 3 months of hostel breakfasts will do to you - it makes you think that this is actually a great breakfast!

b
The view from the Marina.

c
The crappy beach of Bosa.

d
This is a lawsuit waiting to happen!