Basel to Milan to Rimini by train

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Saturday February 13, 2016 – I am the worst packer. Like, the worst. I travel so often that you’d think it was no big deal anymore. Somehow it’s always a big deal, especially with shoes. Ridiculous. I put a bunch of clothes together a couple days in advance, and packed most of my stuff yesterday, but this morning I was still not 100% done. And at the last minute I changed which daypack I would take with me. This was a mistake. I took the right bag, but the switch cost me. Jeroen walked me to the tram and then walked to the train station. He doesn’t have a tram pass, and figured he would just walk while I took the tram and bought a few things for lunch on the train. Almost as soon as I was on the tram, I realized I had forgotten my kindle, and I was heartbroken. Oddly, I brought two paper books with me, but most of my reading was going to come from the kindle, as usual. This is a train journey, and a full half of my trip is just travel, so reading material is important. How can I sit back and relax without my book? In a panic, I took a risk and got off the tram and got the next one back up the hill. But when I got there, the sign said that the next three trams were 3, 11, and 19 minutes away. Eleven minutes was just a few minutes shy of what it would take to walk home, get the kindle, and walk back, and there was no bus coming in that time. If I missed it, I would probably come close to missing my train. I even started running for it, and then realized it was not worth it. I tried to be my own hero, and failed. I was so disappointed. I got to the station, bought lunch and met Jeroen. As soon as I started to explain what happened, I burst into tears. Poor guy had no idea what was happening. We said good bye and made ridiculous faces from in and outside the train until it left.

It took four hours to get to Milan, and there was some amazing scenery through the mountains on the way. There was also a family of 8 that I was stuck with, preparing and eating their lunch and drinking champagne. They actually offered me some, but wrong crowd. On their way out in Visp, they wished me a nice time on my trip in Switzerland – no idea I lived there – and then the trip was quiet. I brought some grading with me, something I have never done before, and managed to do about half of it on the way to Milan.

In Milan, I walked outside to see the direct vicinity of the station and then wandered around looking for food. I ended up with a slice of pizza for dinner which was not bad. I only had an hour, and the time went quickly. The next train was to Rimini, and it was a little over two hours. It got dark soon after we left and I spent the rest of the time grading. Got it done though, so that is a relief.

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Life without your kindle
I completely understand how heartbroken you are. The Alps looks amazing. We will be in Switzerland in March and hope the weather is as clear.