Erin: Day 13: Venice, Italy to Rome, Italy

Today is October 16 and it’s currently 3:06pm Italy time (I’m saying Italy because we only just left Rome about 20 minutes ago.)  We’re on the Trenitalia Eurostar train heading first to Florence and then to Rome.  This train heads on to Naples but we won’t be going that far.  At least not today!

I’m very, very excited to get to Rome.  Rome for me has been one of those places that I have always wanted to see because of the ancient history and the beauty of the buildings there.  I mean, it’s only been in movies and in books that I’ve read about the Roman Forum, the Colosseum, the Palladium, the Spanish Steps, Vatican City, etc.  Now… I get to experience those things in full color… 3D if you will!

This morning was pretty uneventful but in the best way possible.  I went to bed around 7:00AM, just as the sun was rising, and asked for my wake up call to happen at 10:30am…  Enough time for me to get ready and still feel rested enough.  I woke up on my own around 10:15am, jumped on my computer to do some e-mail and client work and then I got ready.  Check out, as with most other hotels, was at noon so I made sure all was ready to go before that.
The hotel was a gorgeous place, as I’ve mentioned, and highly recommend it.  I had no issues whatsoever and really enjoyed the old architecture of the hotel…  Not many hotels have the privilege of looking that good – it was almost like a museum!

After leaving the hotel and grabbing the shuttle to Venice, we walked toward the train station.  Now, if you’ve never been to Venice, the one thing you should know is that it can be very confusing to navigate unless your map is super-detailed.  Otherwise, you only give about five names per community / district which is never enough to map out where you are and where you’re headed.

So, with all of that being said, we got totally lost.  We ended up in some industrial / marina area where there were big, burly men and CARS (we knew we had walked too far when we saw cars as Venice doesn’t allow cars into the city.)  Doing a quick map check, I somewhat placed us so we forged forward – continuing on in hopes of coming across something familiar.

We didn’t but we did eventually end up finding our way.  Turns out, we had walked all along the parameter of Venice and right outside of the city walls.  Pretty funny stuff now that we look back on it… At the time, our backpacks were heavy, we were in a weird area and we were not finding it funny at all.

After we found the train station, we grabbed our tickets (118 Euro for two tickets to Rome – not a bad price!) and started to look for the platform that we were to catch our train from.  Turns out, we had about an hour to kill so we went into this little restaurant and had some pizza and gelato (Fourth time since being in Italy!  Woohoo!) and afterward, found our train’s platform.  Turns out (if you ever take the train from Venice to Rome) that Napoli something or other (it escapes me right now) is the train you need to get on…  It leaves from platform 7 at 14:43 and does not say Rome on the board nor does it say Rome on the train… lol  So, just a wise tip from this traveling lady!

Now we’re on the train and when we first got on (being the first stop and all on the line), the train was empty.  Now, we’ve stopped twice and picked up a whole lotta passengers.  The cool thing about these trains though is that you still get table space, plug-ins and comfy chairs.  In fact, I should do a Flip Video about it right now!  Ok, pause these thoughts… LOL

Ok, Flip Video done.  Will post it once this blog entry goes live!  It’s short and I look tired but meh – I’m sure if you’ve followed all of the travels thus far, you totally get why I’m looking tired!  We have less than one week to go :(  It’s both sad and happy feelings mixed into one.  Sad because I realized doing this that I love to travel (I already knew that but this solidified it further) and that backpacking isn’t so bad after all!  It’s happy though because I get to return home and home is always nice.

The trip has taught me a lot.  It’s actually insane the amount of “revelations” I’ve had while here that don’t seem to hit me in the moment but hours later.  For example, I realized that life isn’t all about the rush, rush, rush and the stress, stress, stress.  We can still accomplish exactly what we want and need to do in this lifetime without entering the rush / stress stage.

I’ve also learned that the world, as I somewhat knew before, is actually very, very small.  You can be in a different country or city (or both!) in the matter of hours and there really is no limit to the amount of places you can see in this world.  My goal now is to step foot on every continent before I’m 30.  We’ll have to see about the North and South poles but for now, I’m not considering them continents (does anyone actually consider them continents? HAHA  Omg, my lack of geography knowledge is coming out in full swing here…)

So, as I sit on this train admiring technology, transportation, culture, the world, Italy and life in general, I realize that I’m learning a lot about who I am and what I want out of this short time we spend here on Planet Earth.  I love where I’m at… I’ve got a successful career, a husband who adores me, two of the best dogs on the planet (I’m biased, I know), amazing family and friends, the ability to see the world firsthand and more…  I don’t take it for granted and instead, I wake up every day with the idea of making it a great one.  Because if we don’t, what’s the point in our being here?

Ciao for now from the middle of Italy.

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6:36pm – Somewhere Between Florence & Rome (Firenze and Roma)

We’re getting closer!  Everyone on the train is stirring, getting their bags ready and throwing out trash from their snacks and their drinks.  It’s a wonderful sight because it means that we’re almost in ROME!  I already know that the phrase, “When in Rome” will be used extensively (probably to the point of annoyance but hey – you’re only in Rome every once in awhile when you don’t live there!) and I also know that I’m going to be hitting the pavement from early, early morning to late, late at night.  We only have one full day there and I want to make the most of it!

The train ride went rather quickly.  I worked on a project for one of my clients, Christina Merkley – The SHIFT-IT Coach, and listened to some great Spanish music.  I also chatted with this really nice woman named Marianna and we talked about life, love and travel.  She’s got a gorgeous baby boy and I showed her a few photos from our trip thus far.  She’s inspired me to continue to do this as once you have children and settle into what I jokingly call, “real life”, you don’t get those same opportunities.

So, I have to go consult my travel book to see if it thinks Rome cabs are ok…  I think I heard they were a bit of a rip-off but I’m weighing the options…  Subway with potential pick-pockets or cabs who rip you off with incredibly high (near double) tourist rates.  Let’s see what DK Eyewitness has to say and I’ll report back later.  Will write more when we’ve settled into the hotel room at the Mecante.  Never heard of it before but it’s a four-star and apparently good so we’ll see…

One last note… We’ve traveled from afternoon to night time and now, passing through the Italian countryside, I am greeted with the twinkling lights of the villas and the other buildings along the railway.  It’s a beautiful sight and I realize, once again, that I am on a journey of a lifetime and will remember this trip for as long as I live.

By the way… Venice did a good job too of stealing my heart.  To Vienna and Venice… May you fight for your place in my heart but never replace one another.  I want to experience you both equally for you offer up two totally different feelings.  From this new city to my favourite cities… with love.

Technorati Tags: Erin Blaskie, Trina Lamarche, The Traveling VA, virtual assistant, virtual assistance, Europe, Rome, Venice, Italy, Trainitalia Eurostar, DK Eyewitness