Monday, August 15th (morning)
Every time we travel, we run into some kind of adventure. I was surprised that so far, our trip had been pretty uneventful. The only small mishap we've had so far was that the Amalfi hotel damaged our rental car but since we had bought full coverage, we didn't worry about it too much.
Today, though, our adventures began. We are not very familiar with the train system in Italy, or Europe, for that matter. In the past, we have always rented a car from beginning to end and we have travelled from city to city by auto. The only time we have taken a train was on a trip from Paris to London about 12 years ago.
This time we decided that it was just not worth it to drive six hours from Napoli to Firenze when a train would get us there in three. We booked the train yesterday and being that the difference between economy and business was just twenty euros, we decided to splurge and travel comfortable.
We got to the station with one hour to spare. We familiarized ourselves with the order of the platforms, and we sat in front of the electronic board to wait for our platform to be announced. We also noticed that the board showed the location of the business and first class sections on the train. It would say whether it was located on "testa" (head) or "coda" (tail). Simple enough, we thought. The problem is that these two Cuban Guajiros had no idea where was "testa" and where was "coda." But we are smart enough, or so we thought. We figured that "testa" was the carriage closest to us, since the train would come into the station head first.
When our train was finally posted, it indicated that business was in "testa." Great, we thought, we won't have to walk too much. Our train arrived and we made our way into the first carriage. That's where our problems began. Our ginormous pieces of luggage (because remember we have not mastered the art of packing) did not fit over the seats. We had packed the toiletries on the outside pockets, thus making our luggage even fatter than they already were. My poor hubby raised 50 pounds of weight over his head, only to have to bring it down again because they did not fit. All the while, we are creating quite a traffic jam because we are in the middle of the aisle and no one can pass. So we place the luggage in top of the seat, take out all the toiletry bags and voila, he was able to maneuver one luggage over the seat.
At this point he noticed that some people had stored the luggage on the floor between the seats, so much easier than having to lift them up. So he managed to store our second luggage in an empty space between the seats. And then he decided to just lower the first luggage and store it in a second empty space. He figured this would make it easier when it was time to get off the train.
Our seats were located back to back, but because the seat next to my hubby's was empty, I moved. At no time did we question whether we were on business or not. It was semi-full, so we figured that not a lot of people liked to splurge an additional 20 euros per seat to travel more comfortable. The seats felt great as far as we were concerned. They had two seats facing another set of two seats with tables in the middle. And we were the only ones on our compartment.
It was a fast train so between Napoli and Firenze, there was only one stop in Rome. When we got to Rome, half way into our trip, a lot of people got into our carriage. A lady approached me and told me that I was sitting in her seat. I told her that I had switched to be next to my husband but that my seat was right behind. She said that she didn't mind switching. But then, a man came, and told her that she was sitting on his seat. We compared tickets, and sure enough, we both had the same seat number. That's when the guy noticed that we were on the wrong carriage. We were supposed to be on carriage one and we were on carriage eleven. At this point we could have stayed there, but the train got full so there was no place for us to seat.
You can imagine the horror. The train would be at this particular station for about five minutes, of which two had already passed. And we had to move from one end of the train to the other, with two backpacks, filled to the ream with toiletries, and two pieces of luggage that weight about 50 pounds each, and roll them on the narrow aisle when they barely fit between the two rows of sits.
My husband said: "we have to get off the train. There's no way we can make it through the inside, we just won't fit." So we got off the train and began to run towards the front of the train. When I realized the length of each carriage and that we had to pass eleven carriages, I knew we were not going to make it. So when we reached carriage #9, I told my husband: "We need to get back on the train." But he said, "No way. If the train leaves, too bad. We'll catch the next one." He was running in front of me, screaming: "Coche uno! Coche uno!" He was hoping that the conductors that were standing outside the carriages would hear him and would hold the train for us. I was running behind him, panting and out of breath, saying out loud: "Oh my God, we are not going to make it. Se nos va el tren."
We finally reached carriage #1, went inside and collapsed on the seats. We couldn't believe we had actually made it. And then we realized what a couple of idiots we were. First, the difference between business and economy was pretty noticeable. The seats here were wide, they were leather instead of fabric, and so much more comfortable. Second, there was a special compartment to store our luggage without having to place it above the seats or squeeze it tight between two seats. And third, in our race across the station, we noticed that the train carriages were actually numbered. And last but not least, this carriage was empty. There was just one other person there. We had the whole place to ourselves.
After we caught our breath and our heart rate returned to normal, we laughed like two idiots. We realized that we were just two Cuban guajiros pretending to be Italian. But now we know how this whole train thing works. When we hop on the next train from Firenze to Rome in 48 hours, we will get it right. Or so we hope.
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