joshuamlee (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} joshuamlee) wrote,@ 2006-04-26 23:03:00 |
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Spring Break - Travelling
08.04.2006 -- Spring Break
Written April 8th, 2006
Planning our spring Vacation was quite an ordeal. First, Margaret and I had to decided that we were in fact going to travel together, and then we had to work out where. She was thinking Sicily, and I was thinking North, for snow and climbing. We ended up compromising on Sardegna, known for its climbing and beaches. Then we had to find people to go with. Eventually we gave up on finding a female companion for Margaret, and so we teamed up with Rachid, Max, and Marcus.
I used http://www.holiday-rentals.com/ to find us an Apartment in Alghero. We paid the €415 reservation fee, and bought our tickets for the trains, planes, and automobilies to get ourselves there. Margaret and I then planned our own “Romantic Getaway” to the Cinque Terre (five picturesque towns hanging on cliffs overlooking the sea in Liguria, near Genoa).
All of our careful planning was ruined a few weeks later, when Rachid, Max, and Marcus were unable to come, for disciplanary reasons. Margaret and I found an apartment for two in Algehero and -- at least for us -- the problem was solved, assuming we don’t kill eachother after ten days alone together. So far we are doing ok.
I am writing this from my seat on the ferry “Arthas” from Genova to Porto Torres. Margaret and I got first class seats since €5 extra was well worth it for a sleeper chair. Anyways, we are coming from the Cinque terre, where we spent the past few days. Just getting there was an adventure. We had planned to both get on the 07:00 train to Rome (I would have gotten on at Tre Croci, closer to my house, and met Margaret on the train). Instead, Margaret ended up on an express train which flew through Tre Croci without stopping. She began to panic and called me. Once I got on the regular train, I told her that we would meet at Valle Aurelia (our connection with the roman sub-way system) or Termini Stazione (the central station of Rome), depending on where her train stopped.
We met at Termini, bought our lunch, and got ready for our 6-hour “intercity-plus” to La Spezia Centrale. At La Spezia we learned that our regional connection to Monterosso had been canceled due to train strikes. In Italy government workers can go on strike whenever they want a vacation, since it is almost impossible to lose a government job. Instead of figuring out how to get us to the destination we had paid to get to, Trenitalia charged us a few extra € each for a “supplemental” train. People going to towns smaller than Monterosso didn’t even have that option, and were stuck until that evening, when the strike would end.
08.04.2006 -- Spring Break
Written April 8th, 2006
Planning our spring Vacation was quite an ordeal. First, Margaret and I had to decided that we were in fact going to travel together, and then we had to work out where. She was thinking Sicily, and I was thinking North, for snow and climbing. We ended up compromising on Sardegna, known for its climbing and beaches. Then we had to find people to go with. Eventually we gave up on finding a female companion for Margaret, and so we teamed up with Rachid, Max, and Marcus.
I used http://www.holiday-rentals.com/ to find us an Apartment in Alghero. We paid the €415 reservation fee, and bought our tickets for the trains, planes, and automobilies to get ourselves there. Margaret and I then planned our own “Romantic Getaway” to the Cinque Terre (five picturesque towns hanging on cliffs overlooking the sea in Liguria, near Genoa).
All of our careful planning was ruined a few weeks later, when Rachid, Max, and Marcus were unable to come, for disciplanary reasons. Margaret and I found an apartment for two in Algehero and -- at least for us -- the problem was solved, assuming we don’t kill eachother after ten days alone together. So far we are doing ok.
I am writing this from my seat on the ferry “Arthas” from Genova to Porto Torres. Margaret and I got first class seats since €5 extra was well worth it for a sleeper chair. Anyways, we are coming from the Cinque terre, where we spent the past few days. Just getting there was an adventure. We had planned to both get on the 07:00 train to Rome (I would have gotten on at Tre Croci, closer to my house, and met Margaret on the train). Instead, Margaret ended up on an express train which flew through Tre Croci without stopping. She began to panic and called me. Once I got on the regular train, I told her that we would meet at Valle Aurelia (our connection with the roman sub-way system) or Termini Stazione (the central station of Rome), depending on where her train stopped.
We met at Termini, bought our lunch, and got ready for our 6-hour “intercity-plus” to La Spezia Centrale. At La Spezia we learned that our regional connection to Monterosso had been canceled due to train strikes. In Italy government workers can go on strike whenever they want a vacation, since it is almost impossible to lose a government job. Instead of figuring out how to get us to the destination we had paid to get to, Trenitalia charged us a few extra € each for a “supplemental” train. People going to towns smaller than Monterosso didn’t even have that option, and were stuck until that evening, when the strike would end.
