Best Trip Yet: The Great Northern Italy Adventure

Best Trip Yet: The Great Northern Italy Adventure

Dec. 30, 2012: Udine to Trieste to….?

The day I was supposed to head home. After not having much sleep this week, and possibly somewhat due to the fact that I was going home, I felt a bit cranky this day. We drove to Trieste, a seaside city near the border of Slovenia (where we made a pit stop for cheaper fuel). I was snappy at everyone, or at least I thought that I was, and even got mad at Allie for not backing up the car fast enough out of some roadside vista point (that’s the New Yorker in me, I guess).

Trieste was a beautiful city, with a mixture of Italian and Fascist architecture. Though it was late December, it was quite mild since it is right on the sea. As with every other city I visited on this trip to Italy, Trieste was gorgeous, but I will write more on that in a different post.

After having one final espresso together, the three of them walked me to the train. I was quite sullen, as I didn’t want to leave this beautiful country. I got to the train, bought my ticket to go to Marco Polo International Airport in Venice, then boarded. As the train started to pull away, Paolo ran alongside the train, waving, until he couldn’t keep up any longer, and I couldn’t help but think that I have the greatest friends in the world.

And that should have been the end of my trip, basically. I would fly from Venice to Berlin that night, and the following morning catch a plane to London, then spend the day there until heading back to New York City on New Year’s Eve night.

But I have some kind of luck, not quite bad luck, but not normal either, when it comes to traveling. As I settled into my seat on the train, I organized myself and tried to get some sleep, since it would be a two hour ride. I wasn’t comfortable, because that Trenitalia’s seats weren’t designed so well, so I woke up an hour later. After rubbing my eyes, I looked out of the window. We were still moving, but I could have sworn I had been facing forward, and now the train was moving backward.

I stood up and asked the girl in front of me what was happening, and she told me that there was some delay. I started to worry, my anxiety kicking in, but they announced that it should be only about half an hour or so. I sat back down in my seat. Half an hour later, they announced that it would be another half an hour, and then I really started to panic.

Since the girl in front of me was the only other passenger anywhere around me, we struck up a conversation, mostly complaining about the train system. Her name was Diletta, and she was on her way back to Edinburgh, where she studies. Soon, the ticket guy of the train came, and she talked to him. It turned out that somebody had jumped onto the tracks and committed suicide! I asked her if I could use her phone, and called Paolo and Allie for advice. They searched for alternate transportation options to the airport, but it seemed to be too late for that.

One hour became two hours, and then Paolo and Allie just said they would pick me up. I felt bad, because the three of them were supposed to continue to Padova and meet Sara again that night, but they cancelled to come rescue me. After two and a half hours, I got off the train, and waited for them to come get me. We went back to the house in Udine, and I couldn’t help once again feeling that my friends must be the greatest people in the world.

I rescheduled my flights, this time a direct flight from Venice to New York, for a small fortune. However, I would have two more nights in Italy!

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