The Italians are famous for their siestas. When traveling don’t be
surprised to see shops or restaurants closed in the middle of the day, while
the owners sit across the street, chatting with their friends about the
weather or the local football team. The conductors and train workers are no
exception. They are known to go on strike at any time they please, much to
the tourist’s dismay. My trip to Italy was no different. We were traveling
along the Italian coast, from Italy’s tourist capital, Rome, to the quieter
fishing villages of Cinque Terra with a stop in La Spezia to switch trains.
While on the train, whispers of a strike circled the room. Unbeknownst to
us, it was scheduled for the next night. Luckily, we would not be traveling
that night.
Lesson Learned: In Italy strikes are a common occurrence. Check with the
information booth at the train stations or talk to fellow passengers to see
if there is a strike planned. If you are traveling into Italy it helps to
ask the bordering countries if they have heard any news. You do not want to
find yourself stuck in Italy, forced to eat seafood and pasta, soaking up
the sun and drinking wine. You can see how this would be a terrible thing.
After deboarding the train in La Spezia, I grabbed my 30-pound backpack and
hoisted it up onto my shoulders. The doors quickly closed behind me and the
train started to pull away from the platform. Glancing around I spotted two
of my traveling companions, but the third was nowhere to be seen. Turning
back to the departing train I could see Kelly frantically banging on the
closed doors of the train. Her eyes were as big as golf balls, her face
tight with panic and her mouth forming inaudible words. There was no one on
the platform to help us. Melissa and Robyn, the other two companions, were
running around the platform not knowing what to do. There was nothing I
could do but laugh. We had learned the number one rule of the railways: the
trains wait for no one.
We collected ourselves and went to the information booth to find out where
Kelly’s train was headed, what time she would get there, and if there was a
train back to La Spezia. After confirming that she would be headed to
Genoa, (about an hour west of La Spezia) we decided that the best thing to
do was to wait for her at the train station. Finally, three hours later
Kelly arrived at La Spezia with a relieved smile on her face.
Lesson Learned: The trains give you a certain amount of time (usually four
minutes or less) to get on and off the train. If you take longer than this
you are on your own, because the conductor will not stop the train. Before
traveling, your group should discuss what they would do in a similar
situation if someone did not get on the right train. This will relieve a
little anxiety if the mistake happens. The Rail System prides itself on its
punctuality; therefore, be on time for your train because it will leave when
specified and not a minute later.
Another lesson I learned the hard way is that even if you are just
traveling through a country that you are not stopping in, you still have to
pay to travel through that country. The Eurail Pass that we had, included
travel through France, Switzerland, Germany, Spain and Italy. We were
traveling from Cinque Terra, Italy to Munich, Germany and had purchased a
couchette so that we could sleep through the train ride. Sleeping on a
train is not that easy but at least you are able to lie down in a private
compartment. All of us were sound asleep, rocked by the steady sway of the
train accompanied by the familiar sounds of tree lines blurring past the
windows. At about 3:00 in the morning a man with a heavy German accent
disturbed our dreams. Confused by what the man was saying, we tried to
clear the fog in our heads. He informed us that our Eurail pass did not
cover Austria, the country we were presently traveling through, and that we
would have to pay $15 to continue on the train. We did not understand why
we had to pay to travel through a country we were not visiting. Grumbling,
we all paid the fee and continued on. A friendly German woman in the bunk
below us, also disturbed by the harsh wake-up call, informed us that if we
had not paid then we would have been kicked off of the train at the next
station. I could just picture it: four tired Americans standing in their
polka dotted pajamas on an Austrian train platform.
Lesson Learned: Make sure that your rail pass covers all the countries that
you will be traveling through. Ask an employee what route the train takes
if you are unsure and check a map to make sure that you will not travel
through any countries that your rail pass does not include. If unavoidable,
pay up front so that you are not woken up in the middle of the night.
Our rail passes had eight squares along the bottom of the ticket. Whenever
we boarded a train we were required to write the current date down in one of
the boxes. A conductor would come by and usually check our passes to make
sure we had paid for the date we were traveling on. Traveling from
Interlaken, Switzerland to Paris, France we were on the last day of our rail
pass. We started our trip at 10:00pm on September 30th and would be
arriving the next day in Paris. Once on the train to Paris, we started to
get ready for bed when a conductor knocked on our door and informed us that
we did not have any more days left on our passes and that we would have to
pay for an extra day to get to Paris. Since we had written down September
30th our October 1st train was not paid for. We had to pay another $30 to
continue onto Paris.
Lesson Learned: Trains give you a leeway of a few hours when traveling
overnight, meaning that if you are starting your trip sometime after 7:00pm
(19:00 European time) and you will be continuing on this train past
midnight, then you should write down the next day on your pass. This will
hopefully keep you from receiving a fine.
For four young women backpacking across Europe, a train ride is a welcomed
break from endless sightseeing and crowded hostels. We played Harry Potter
Uno, wrote postcards for expectant friends and family, and most importantly,
we would write our thoughts and experiences down in our travel journals. I
had some of my most memorable times traveling on trains. It was a time for
us to relax and reflect upon the lessons we had learned.
Real Travel Adventures 