Road-weary but content

Hi there!  It's been some time since my last post.  Some time meaning less than 24 hours, but in the interim, I've traveled through yet another time zone, gotten into some more silly situations, almost finished another book, and been generally sleep-deprived.  Travel like this is a sort of strange self-inflicted torture.  I wonder if this counts for me in the Ascetic Tally up in the sky.  Unimportant, and I digress.

We woke up this morning at 4:15 because Gill's parents' plane left at seven or sixish, and it takes at least forty minutes to get to the airport from our hotel in Athens.  The cabdriver was less scary this time, though I was admittedly much more tired, so I may not have noticed.  The speeding and weaving in and out of traffic was the same, but there were at least a few less cars on the road, and he lifted my huge backpack onto my shoulders for me, which was a much-appreciated gesture.  We waited in the airport and saw them off, and then Gill and I were alone again for the first time in days.  It was strange, because we'd gotten used to other people being there to supplement conversation, but we rediscovered some shared interests, and made it through until we could check in to our plane.  In the Athens airport, they still have the long sets of chairs with no armrests, so poor girls who have gotten about six hours of sleep between them can nap while waiting for their plane.

Unfortunately, there was another plane to Italy before ours, so I was treated to another round of loud effing tourists slamming their chairs behind me, standing up and sitting down for no real reason unendingly, and generally making as much noise as humanly possible to keep me awake.  I'm very bitter about this, because these people were being colossal dicks for no particular reason aside from their complete lack of regard for their surroundings, or the people in them.  Urgh!

We got onto the plane after some finagling of my baggage to turn my "carry-on" huge Ergomatic and small purse into one piece of carry-on luggage and a huge line jump, bypassing an entire school of Australian children and their chagrined chaperons.  On the plane, I read more of Dharma Bums, which is interesting, but a little nauseating when taken in all at once.  Maybe a little like honey wine, or absinthe.  The cheap-ass jet company we flew with tried selling me my breakfast, to which I said "thanks but no thanks" (in my best Sarah Palin), and before I knew it, we'd landed in ROMA!

Thus begins the craziest part of our journey, in which we attempt to bypass all of Italy because it is expensive to even breathe here.  Our hotel is out in some medieval town whose name I can't pronounce where no one speaks English, and this is still closer to the city center than some hostels we found that were more expensive.

Couchsurfing is a nonissue at this point, since we've been rejected so many times that it's a bit of a running joke between Gill and me.  I don't know how many potential hosts got our hopes up, and how many rejected us overall, but some days it seems like every single person in Geneva, Rome, Naples, Barcelona, and Frankfurt read our pleas for help and turned pointedly in the other direction, much the same way we deal with people begging us for money we sorely need on this trip.

To get here from the airport, you need to take two different trains for a total of about 15 stops, and a bus.  The trains were all right, though filled to the brim with annoying Italians, and the less annoying ones, who just sound pretty when they talk.  The bus, however, was literally the single most terrifying experience on the road in my life, hands down.

I'm sorry, guys.  Gill and I are going through a mini-breakdown right now due to lack of funds and the impending impossibility of ever being able to survive this trip.  I hope to update properly later tonight, or tomorrow morning, but it's a coin toss at the moment.  Wish me luck!

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Okay, I'm back now.  This is a particularly stressful vacation, since neither of us has ever planned an itinerary before, nor have we gotten any real experience with living on the road, or constant travel.  Gill and I are going through some things, but I'm sure everything will work itself out.  I'm not sure how, but life does that sometimes. 

Where was I?  Oh yes, the bus drive.  I thought Greek drivers were scary with their limited attention to the road, complete lack of perceptible traffic signals, and fuzzy vision when it comes to lanes.  Sorry, Greece: the Italian public transportation system has beaten you squarely in my anecdotal study.  I literally thought I was going to die.  In fact, the amount of times I didn't think I was going to die can be counted on one hand.  The bus literally threw ever non-seated passenger from one side of the cabin to the other repeatedly as the driver pulled off spastic accelerations, dead stops, and the most retrospectively-comical stall I think I've ever witnessed in my life.  Think: in the middle of the road, with oncoming traffic, almost completely bisecting the intersection.  It would've been REALLY funny if I hadn't been in active fear for my life. 

Coupled with the fact that Gill and I decided to go to Italy not speaking a WORD of Italian, this experience was perhaps the most dramatic of our entire trip thus far.  The man at the information desk near the airport understood enough to point us in the direction of the two trains we needed to get here, but once we disembarked from the second train, we knew we were in trouble.  We found ourselves in a quaint suburb, far from the bustling city, and English-speaking civil-service employees.  We had to point and raise our arms in an exaggerated manner in order to make our inquiries understood.  Found it to the bus, but couldn't buy the ticket.  Bought the ticket, but didn't know we needed to validate it.  Validated the ticket, but still had no idea where the hell we were meant to be going, thereby rendering ticket mostly useless.  It'll make a nice addition to my scrapbook if I ever get home, at any rate.  All in all, this day made me feel a little

Travel is stressful.  It's especially stressful when you wake up at four in the morning, and don't speak the language, and the bus driver almost kills you, and the only food you have all day is a dubiously-packaged Italian-exclusive Cheeto-like white puff crisp called "Fonzies," which are actually pretty delicious.

Gill thinks they smell like a warm cat, but the taste is strangely addictive

But still.  Not a nutritious meal at any stretch of the imagination, but when you're living cheaply, your food suffers.  As does your level of sleep, and stomach acidity, and hairline, among other things.  Today it just hit me: there's no more safety net.  We're on our own.

The hotel where we're staying is pretty gorgeous, to be fair.  For the price, I think the surrounding countryside is well worth it.  Everything's verdant, and blooming, and absolutely amazing.  I've seen yards with chickens, horses, a proper bull, and innumerable stray cats, who all love to be petted and scratched behind the ears.  :-)

My favorite picture of the last few days <3

The church

Some VERY old carved statues

From the town where we're staying, we went to the supermarket to stock up on groceries.  This town is big enough to have one (exactly ONE!) overpriced restaurant with an uninspired menu.  Not what I'm looking for right now.  So we went, came back, and ate a little bit.  Then I took a ridiculously hot shower for a LONG time.  It's FREEZING here!  It's meant to rain, as well, so hopefully, we'll be seeing the Pantheon soon.  It's about time to go to sleep, as I've been running on almost empty for the entire day, so it's good night to all of you.  I'm going to go watch Italian soap operas until either the wallpaper goes, or I do.