As always, my long train travel was an adventure! I went from Italy to London, but since England likes to do its own thing and have it's own rules, (It is not part of the Schengen countries), I had to take a very roundabout way to get there.
I knew the trip was going to be interesting when Cheryl dropped me off at my first train from Lerino to Vecinza. A young guy came up to me trying to sell me drugs, and at the same time trying to persuade me to "Come closer; he's a nice guy."
Next was Vecinza to Munich which took about 5.5 hours. That ride was pretty nice. I was in a little room with 2 Australians and an older man from Jersey backpacking to celebrate his retirement from teaching. We all talked most of the way and had a good time swapping backpacking stories.
Munich HBF has lived up to all of my experiences there in the middle of the night so far. I had two hours to kill before my 11pm overnight train took off. So, in my two hours I had a man try to flash me in Burger King, saw a lady go out of control screaming and crying in German until she fainted and was drug off by the police (that killed a good half hour for me), brushed off multiple homeless beggars, and met an Biologist who was telling me about his recent interview in Munich. Always entertaining and questionable to be in train stations in the middle of the night!
From Munich I took an overnight train to Paris. This is where things went downhill! The overnight part was pretty nice. It was about 10.5 hours on train. I had an all girls' room with 6 couchettes. But, once I got to Paris I had to buy a ticket to London (because it is not part of the Schengen zone my train pass does not work there).
So, I bought my ticket with about an hour before my train thinking the platforms were right in front of me. Wrong. My first experience with the French....they weren't kind enough at the ticket counter to tell me that the fast trains leave from a completely different station. When I finally found someone who "spoke English", I got directions and tried to RUN, but with my ginormous backpack I WADDLED, about 10 minutes to another station. Once there I had to go through customs. Didn't think about that!
Customs was a NIGHTMARE!!! First, I filled out my landing form and waited in line...keep in mind my train was leaving in 30 minutes. I didn't have Jen's address, so that was the ONLY line I didn't have filled in. Here's how that worked out for me:
Grumpy Old British Lady: "I see that you are 27 years old?"
Tired, Polite Little Me: "Yes ma'am."
GOBL: "And I see that you are a teacher by profession?"
TPLM: "Yes ma'am."
GOBL: "And I also see that you have traveled the world quite a bite before?"
TPLM: "Yes ma'am."
GOBL: "Then I would think that you would be intelligent enough to know that you need to have the address of the place where you will be staying during your travels. You ARE old enough to know how to plan a trip, correct?"
TPLM: *almost in tears, mostly whispers....* "Yes, I just can't get a hold of my friend at the....."
GOBL: Slams down my landing card & passport...."Try again."
And just like that I turn around in shame and see an ocean of literally a hundred people or so in line for customs. Looking at my watch, realized I was probably going to miss my train. I'd already been traveling for 23 hours....exhausted!
So, of course my cheap little phone that I bought for overseas decided not to work at the moment. I finally had to resort to turning on my iPhone to get a hold of Jen. I got her address and got back in line...in a DIFFERENT line of course. Turns out, being super grumpy must be a requirement of the job. Getting through British Customs Take Two:
GOBL2: "If you're a teacher, why are you not at work?"
Exhausted, pleading me: "I took some time off to travel."
GOBL2: "And if you're a teacher, how can you afford a trip of this length? Who is paying for this?"
EPM: *rude!what?is that really a question* "I am."
GOBL2: "Why would you be in the Middle East? Why would you travel this many places? What are you going to do in England? How many nights will you be staying? Why are you saying you are coming to England again?"
EPM: *Answers questions, knowing I have about 10 minutes left to get to my train...*
GOBL2: "Are you traveling with the woman who was in front of you in line?"
EPM: "No ma'am."
GOBL2: "Well, she left the US on August 1st as well. I will ask again: Are you traveling with the woman who was in front of you in line?"
EPM: *WHAT?!?!* "No ma'am. I have no idea who that lady is. I am traveling ALONE."
GOBL2: "Are you sure you are traveling alone? I need to see proof of your ticket back to the United States."
EPM: *shuffles through backpack, thank GOD I had my flight home info in my bag. Is this REALLY happening???*
This carried on for what felt like an eternity. FINALLY I get through. Send my bag through security---which I thought was interesting that they didn't collect my pocket knife, I thought that was a goner for sure based on the signs at the bag scan--. I get through that and glance at my watch: 5 minutes. Once again I am waddling down the stairs and to the platform. Of course my train wagon is all the way at the end. I made it onto the train JUST.IN.TIME. Oh.my.Gosh.
I sit down and I swear I was sitting next to the old grandmas from Christmas Vacation. Somebody's phone rang and one of them shouted "What's that? Is somebody playing the piano? I hear a piano." The other friend responded (loudly), "No, it's just a music box. Nobody is playing a piano." Reminded me of "Will you say Grace? Ohhhh Grace-she died 30 years ago! Not Grace, THE BLESSINGGGGGGGGG Ohhhh Say Can You Seeeeeeee...." (If you don't know what I'm talking about, please go watch Christmas Vacation now. Hysterical.
Okay, anyway....long story a bit longer, I finally made it to London and had to take one subway and then one train and then a short walk and 30 hours of travel later I found myself in the heart of London with Jen. Jen, if you remember from my blog way back to the day I left, is the girl I met on the airplane leaving DFW. How cool of a story is that?!?!
SO EXCITED to be back in London. We have been planning out what to do while I am here and there is just too much to choose from! Looking forward to another amazing stop in my journey!
I knew the trip was going to be interesting when Cheryl dropped me off at my first train from Lerino to Vecinza. A young guy came up to me trying to sell me drugs, and at the same time trying to persuade me to "Come closer; he's a nice guy."
Next was Vecinza to Munich which took about 5.5 hours. That ride was pretty nice. I was in a little room with 2 Australians and an older man from Jersey backpacking to celebrate his retirement from teaching. We all talked most of the way and had a good time swapping backpacking stories.
Munich HBF has lived up to all of my experiences there in the middle of the night so far. I had two hours to kill before my 11pm overnight train took off. So, in my two hours I had a man try to flash me in Burger King, saw a lady go out of control screaming and crying in German until she fainted and was drug off by the police (that killed a good half hour for me), brushed off multiple homeless beggars, and met an Biologist who was telling me about his recent interview in Munich. Always entertaining and questionable to be in train stations in the middle of the night!
From Munich I took an overnight train to Paris. This is where things went downhill! The overnight part was pretty nice. It was about 10.5 hours on train. I had an all girls' room with 6 couchettes. But, once I got to Paris I had to buy a ticket to London (because it is not part of the Schengen zone my train pass does not work there).
So, I bought my ticket with about an hour before my train thinking the platforms were right in front of me. Wrong. My first experience with the French....they weren't kind enough at the ticket counter to tell me that the fast trains leave from a completely different station. When I finally found someone who "spoke English", I got directions and tried to RUN, but with my ginormous backpack I WADDLED, about 10 minutes to another station. Once there I had to go through customs. Didn't think about that!
Customs was a NIGHTMARE!!! First, I filled out my landing form and waited in line...keep in mind my train was leaving in 30 minutes. I didn't have Jen's address, so that was the ONLY line I didn't have filled in. Here's how that worked out for me:
Grumpy Old British Lady: "I see that you are 27 years old?"
Tired, Polite Little Me: "Yes ma'am."
GOBL: "And I see that you are a teacher by profession?"
TPLM: "Yes ma'am."
GOBL: "And I also see that you have traveled the world quite a bite before?"
TPLM: "Yes ma'am."
GOBL: "Then I would think that you would be intelligent enough to know that you need to have the address of the place where you will be staying during your travels. You ARE old enough to know how to plan a trip, correct?"
TPLM: *almost in tears, mostly whispers....* "Yes, I just can't get a hold of my friend at the....."
GOBL: Slams down my landing card & passport...."Try again."
And just like that I turn around in shame and see an ocean of literally a hundred people or so in line for customs. Looking at my watch, realized I was probably going to miss my train. I'd already been traveling for 23 hours....exhausted!
So, of course my cheap little phone that I bought for overseas decided not to work at the moment. I finally had to resort to turning on my iPhone to get a hold of Jen. I got her address and got back in line...in a DIFFERENT line of course. Turns out, being super grumpy must be a requirement of the job. Getting through British Customs Take Two:
GOBL2: "If you're a teacher, why are you not at work?"
Exhausted, pleading me: "I took some time off to travel."
GOBL2: "And if you're a teacher, how can you afford a trip of this length? Who is paying for this?"
EPM: *rude!what?is that really a question* "I am."
GOBL2: "Why would you be in the Middle East? Why would you travel this many places? What are you going to do in England? How many nights will you be staying? Why are you saying you are coming to England again?"
EPM: *Answers questions, knowing I have about 10 minutes left to get to my train...*
GOBL2: "Are you traveling with the woman who was in front of you in line?"
EPM: "No ma'am."
GOBL2: "Well, she left the US on August 1st as well. I will ask again: Are you traveling with the woman who was in front of you in line?"
EPM: *WHAT?!?!* "No ma'am. I have no idea who that lady is. I am traveling ALONE."
GOBL2: "Are you sure you are traveling alone? I need to see proof of your ticket back to the United States."
EPM: *shuffles through backpack, thank GOD I had my flight home info in my bag. Is this REALLY happening???*
This carried on for what felt like an eternity. FINALLY I get through. Send my bag through security---which I thought was interesting that they didn't collect my pocket knife, I thought that was a goner for sure based on the signs at the bag scan--. I get through that and glance at my watch: 5 minutes. Once again I am waddling down the stairs and to the platform. Of course my train wagon is all the way at the end. I made it onto the train JUST.IN.TIME. Oh.my.Gosh.
I sit down and I swear I was sitting next to the old grandmas from Christmas Vacation. Somebody's phone rang and one of them shouted "What's that? Is somebody playing the piano? I hear a piano." The other friend responded (loudly), "No, it's just a music box. Nobody is playing a piano." Reminded me of "Will you say Grace? Ohhhh Grace-she died 30 years ago! Not Grace, THE BLESSINGGGGGGGGG Ohhhh Say Can You Seeeeeeee...." (If you don't know what I'm talking about, please go watch Christmas Vacation now. Hysterical.
Okay, anyway....long story a bit longer, I finally made it to London and had to take one subway and then one train and then a short walk and 30 hours of travel later I found myself in the heart of London with Jen. Jen, if you remember from my blog way back to the day I left, is the girl I met on the airplane leaving DFW. How cool of a story is that?!?!
SO EXCITED to be back in London. We have been planning out what to do while I am here and there is just too much to choose from! Looking forward to another amazing stop in my journey!
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