I’m in the fancy section on the train, complete with these deluxe snacks. And “Salvietta igienizzante” (sanitizing towel).
Barely made the train due to more adventure miscalculations. (That’s what I’m calling them now).
I planned a little route around Venice that would land me back at my lodging to get my luggage and leave by 10:30 so I’d have a leisurely walk to the train station. But. Apparently I was only looking at the first leg of the route, so when I got to St Marks I realized I was twice as far as I needed to be to get back to lodging.
And then.
Then the route back included a water taxi, where I stood for a minute or so before aborting that route. I didn’t know how long the wait was for the next water taxi, and had to adjust. Looking at Google maps I found the next closest walking route.
I got back to my lodging at 10:45ish, knowing I had a 30 minute walk and this is not city sidewalks
… it’s wildly meandering routes through tiny cobbled sidewalks and LOTS of steps.
There is no driving or faster way to get anywhere in Venice. So it is what it is (was what it was)
I’m sure I was a sight to see … middle-aged blonde sherpa woman (the luggage is comical at this point) power-walking through Venice, pouring sweat, enough so that I was worried my Google-map-phone-clamped fingers might lose grip for sweat factor.
I got to the train at 11:16 for 11:26 departure.
You can tell by my face.
That said, still wasn’t that scary.
I just would have had to wait until the next train.
I could NOT have done this a year ago.
Even as I was walking and seeing the minutes count down and arrival time get closer (I made UP time because I was hauling ass), I was like FUCK YEAH. I’m doing this. It actually gave me goosies and tears writing that.
This has BYYYYY FARRRRR been the most challenging thing I’ve done in years. Ok, maybe 2nd most. If you know you know.
I know I’ll do life differently now. Make sure I’m intentional. Do the hard stuff with less fear. Doubt less. Worry less about making mistakes.
We can do A LOT when we have to.
A LOT.
Just missed a connection because my ticket said Florence Santa Maria Novella which is apparently the same as Firenze S M Novella. (Which makes sense now).
At least I got off the train before it zoomed off.
Nice guy helped me and said RUNNNN!!
Door shut right in front of me.
Oh well, another one in an hour and I’m at least in the right place.
The functional exercise happening is cray (lugging 50+ pounds of luggage, getting things in overhead bins, squats and shit).
The hotel pics at the beginning are from my most underwhelming lodging yet … Dingy and stingy. one small towel. Ants (I think?). Hairdryer didn’t work. I mean, I guess it was Venice, but not a fan.
EDIT: And I MISSED THE DOOR on the way up and did DOUBLE what I had to … lolol. And once I got in the door … lololol. Luckily I had room 2 instead of those 3 extra steps to room 3.
A LOT of my pics from this trip are random shots of things you just don’t see in the US.
Pretty much anything that sparks a, “hey, that’s new … haven’t seen that before” gets a pic.
Plus, just wandering around and feasting my eyes on the history.
The theme for me seems to be the journey and not the destination, which kinda matches my life right now anyway.
The driving in Croatia was LEGIT the BEST BEST BEST BEST road trip shit I’ve EVER experienced … like going around corners and seeing the next thing with my Spotify Weekly blasting out perfect EuroVibe music – I had SO MANY (I think I’m repeating myself, but I don’t care). I had SO MANY “ARE YOU KIDDDDING ME RIGHT NOW” moments (minus the F word that I usually use there).
I didn’t KNOW my travel style before now. I have thought a lot about this, and people have asked. I don’t really care to go be around all of the people doing the same things. I want to see weird stuff and talk to strangers at bus layovers and share contact info, and find a routine of buying meat and cheese and focaccia (today in Vernazza), and wandering around and seeing where my feet take me.
My mode has been to Google what to do in wherever, and then walk that way and see what happens along the way.
My Alan Watts “Life is a dance” vibe is strong.
This provides a life without disappointment. I’ve said this for a while … Expectations are the thief of joy. When you don’t have them, you get all the joy. It’s not apathetic, it’s intentional ambivalence. Acceptance.
As sorta scary as this has been at times, there has been NOTHING bad/negative. I’ve made miscalculations (see my theme with this word — not mistakes, miscalculations). My “in the moment” game is strong. I don’t think I could have done this before now. Accepting every second.
I have had misses and near misses today.
Literally missing a connecting train, and then making one by two minutes. (This is AFTER the whole other Venice story, yo! hahaha … the day continued to entertain).
Working on the pics now. Last night’s accommodations were not the best for many reasons, including no wi-fi, but I DID sleep really well and had a dream about my sister and that is good.
