We had never been to Europe, so when the opportunity presented itself--in the form of a wedding being celebrated there--we jumped at the chance. So the three of us, my cousin, my aunt and myself made a grand adventure plan. We would start in Spain and end up in Italy-- traveling by train--so we could see the landscape and save on hotels. So we each bought the Eurail Pass and Frommer's Guide to Europe... on a budget. As we had big plans but little money.
Now, Europe, to us---was a big mystery, we really had no idea what to expect. So naturally we wanted to bring with us everything we needed, to cover whatever emergency or opportunity came up. In brief, we packed everything! All that was missing was the kitchen sink. Between the three of us we had 9 suitcases, and even then we thought---hmm... maybe it wasn't enough, but decided that we had all we could handle. And off we went!
So many things happened to us, it was incredible. We quickly discovered that when you travel by train--- having 9 suitcases was, shall we say--a tad too much. And nowhere was this made more clear than when we headed off to Venice, after having visited Spain and France. The Frommer book had become our reliable guide, we referred to it for practically everything, it -- and the rail map that we got with the Eurail Pass. However--we neglected to verify clearly (on either the Frommer book or the train map) which station in Venice we were supposed to get off on, something that came back to haunt us.
There we were having fun on the train, checking out the different quaint little towns we were passing and then we look in our rail map and see--oh boy! our station in Venice is coming up! So we get off the seats and start piling our 9 suitcases by the door, much to the amusement of the other passengers. The train rolls into Venezia Mestre and we just fling our suitcases out and get off the train. But something didn't seem right--where was the water? this did not look like the Venice we had expected.
So I decide to check my rail map again---and ---oh no! we had gotten off in the wrong station! So in my broken Italian I tell a train worker at the station that we wanted to go to Venice proper and where was the correct train. So he points to a track at the far end of the station (there were quite a few tracks) and said-- that train there is going to Venezia Santa Lucia-- that is the train you need. We looked with dismay---that train was on a track about a half-a-block away from where we stood---and we had those 9 pieces of luggage!
The train worker--seeing our plight--and I think feeling sorry for us, told us don't worry I'll help with your luggage--So off the four of us went running to catch the correct train--unfortunately it began to move and we were shouting --stop! stop! we have to get on that train! One guy on the train opened the door (the train was moving slowly out of the station) and several people on the platform picked our luggage and started throwing it to the guy on the train, then another person on the train said to us...jump ...jump into the train and put his hands out to help us. By now the passengers on the train are all hanging out the window looking at this spectacle. We didn't care--we had to get into that train!
Finally between the people on the platform and those on the train we and our 9 suitcases made it---as the train left the station. Everyone started clapping....bravo! fantastico--that was a great show! We were so tired we didn't care how ridiculous we had looked--all we knew was that we were on the train to the right station in Venice, and had our nice hotel waiting for us there---instead of being stranded and possibly spending the night in some cold, uncomfortable place.
