Michele and Drew's Excellent Spanish Adventure: “Tschuss” to Germany and “Ciao” to Italy

Sorrento-classic

“Tschuss” to Germany and “Ciao” to Italy

The translation is goodbye to Germany, and hello Italy. According to Google, "Ciao" can be used to say hello or goodbye in Italian (I feel kind of dumb for not knowing that). I guess it’s Italian for ALOHA.

Our travel day was choreographed as follows: Fly from Bonn to Rome-take train from Rome airport to Rome Termini train station- take another train from Rome Termini station to Naples- take the local train from Naples to Sorrento, bit tiring but totally doable...

Local puppet show

We actually bought the train tickets for the first 2 legs of the journey at the airport's train ticket counter because the agent at customer information recommended it. After buying the tickets the agent said, “RUN! the train is here." So, ran we did; we validated our tickets in the little machine and pushed the train’s “open door” button about 5 times (it never opened) before we watched the train slowly pull away. Darn it!
We were on that “travelers emotional roller coaster ride" again. We were happy to see that we could use this ticket for the next train, which was only 10 min later (Yippee!). Then we noted that we would have only 5 min to catch our second train that had reserved seats (darn it).

Nice calm pony

View from Sorrento looking north

We weren’t the only stressed travelers. A French couple on the train had bought the cheaper “local train” ticket, but mistakenly got on the faster, direct train. The direct train to Rome is quite a bit more expensive than the local train. When the conductor came by to check tickets, he made them pay the full price of the fast train. The French guy got really mad, wanting to be credited for the tickets he had already purchased, arguing that a train agent told him to get on this train. He probably just asked the wrong question “is this the train to the Rome train station,” mistakenly assuming that there would not be more than one train. It got a little ugly, as they began to argue with each other in English. Then the train conductor said, “I only speak Italian.” The French guy started with some restrained insults in English. The Italian conductor now had to ignore it, since he professed not knowing English.

We arrive at Rome Termini station 2 minutes late, bolted off the train with our little backpacks, read the train departure board on the fly and ran up to the correct train (Yippee we made it!). We pressed the “open door” button 5 or so times (it never opened), before watching that train slowly pull away (again). Darn it! Now we were scrambling to figure out how we could change our tickets in time for the next train. The line at the ticket counters was unbelievable…we’d definitely miss the next train.

Happy us

Pink sunset cliffs

Miniature horse at our pension in Sorrento

Suddenly a total stranger who saw drew mulling over our tickets grabbed his arm and said something in Italian and gestured us to follow him to a ticket machine. I was nervous about this, as the train stations in Rome are famous for pick pockets and such. BUT, at this point it seemed worth trying. The stranger electronically scanned the ticket, made a noise that showed disappointment, gestured “follow me,” and proceeded to weave through the crowds at the speed of light. We followed as best we could, working hard to avoid the moving obstacles like rolling suitcases, small dogs and children entering our trajectory. It was like being part of a “live” video game. He took us right back to where the trains come in…to a small rolling kiosk. Why hadn’t we noticed these? He said something in Italian to the agent and disappeared into the crowd. The agent asked in perfect English who that was and if we gave him money. He also gave us a “verbal” hand slap for going with a stranger. “Only talk to train employees,” he warned. Drew later read to look for these little known rolling ticket kiosks, to avoid the long lines at the normal ticket/customer service counters. We still wonder “who was that masked man?” (for you Lone Ranger fans), and why did he decide to pick us out of the masses to help us. Maybe he was working on building up his good karma. At any rate, an hour later we were on our train (yippee!), and arrived in Naples.

We felt “home free.” We managed to find the well, hidden local train line, and felt confident as we boarded “our” train, which came at the right time at the right track. It was pretty rickety, and was loaded almost exclusively with teenagers. Somewhere en route an agent in the train walked up to us “where are you going?”…we told him “Sorrento”…we got the sad, head shake. He told us to get off at the next stop and jump on another train that was arriving any second. Great! Here we go again. We jumped off, ran down stairs, through tunnel, up steps…and arrived in the nick of time to catch the correct train. The whole day felt like a comedy of errors. We both managed to keep our sense of humor, but let me tell you that bottle of wine we had for dinner felt really well earned!