3 Trains, 2 Buses, 1 Taxi and 1 Suicide

I really don't have the energy to write too much right now, but I just have to say it's 10:30pm here in Diano Marina, Italy. I started my day by getting on a train in Zug, Switzerland at 7:30am. That train took me over three hours, and in first class luckily, to the town of Milan, Italy. Fair enough. I get to Milan and have a few hour layover before catching my next train, so I go outside the train station to find a dive pizzeria and sure enough, the pizza was AMAZING (pic below). Very nice people too - very funny and warm. So I get back to the train station and it shows that my next train, from Milan to Genoa, is delayed 20 minutes. The issue here is that my connection in Genoa is only 13 minutes. Shit. So I finally get on the train and it's about the time it's supposed to leave, and we just sit there. I'm in a four person seating area, where two seats face two other seats, and there is this 1-2 year old kid and his mom across from me. The mom cannot stop doting on this kid and it's driving me nuts. More time goes by. It's over AN HOUR of sitting at the station on my train, now very annoyed with the kid and mom situation, and we still haven't moved. About 15 minutes later we move, and it's obvious that I've missed my connection in Genoa. The train from Milan to Genoa was supposed to take a little over an hour, but it takes us over 2 hours to get there. What? What the hell is going on. Well, I didn't know it at the time, but apparently someone committed suicide earlier in the day, by jumping in front of a train, and so all the schedules are messed up. Great. You couldn't just kill yourself and not ruin everyone's day? Just kidding, but at least I had an explanation for all the delays. Anyway, I get to Genoa and surprisingly there is another train to my next destination, Ventimiglia, which is in the north east corner of Italy - right near Nice. Sweet - I get on the next train and hope that this next 2 hour and 45 minutes goes fast. Not. I sit in what I thought was the second class seats, which is what my ticket said, but my seat was reserved by other people. Furthermore, the ticket I had was not for the same type of train that this one is, so I have to pay an extra 8 Euros just to stay on. Keeps getting better, huh? Yeah, well at least I wasn't alone. There were two girls from northern Argentina sitting with me that had to move and pay as well, so we laughed about our situation and then it was really good to talk with them about Salta and Cordoba and my adventures in Argentina. They were real nice - just on vacation for a few days. I bid them adieu at Ventimiglia and hurried to see if there was a train I could catch to my next and final destination, Saorge, France. Um…no. The last train was at 6:30pm and it's now 8:30pm. Great! Shit. I don't have any wifi so I can't get on my phone and tell the AirBnB place that I'm not gonna make it, so I go to the nearest hotel and ask to use theirs. Luckily there are two girls there that laugh at my situation and let me use the wifi. They give me some advice about where to stay, but I jump on Hotels.com and just find the closest hotel with the best rate. I figure Nice is close but probably very expensive, so I find a spot for $44 and I get a full queen bed to myself. Score. It's in a town called Diano Marina, which I remember seeing as the train stop just before Ventimiglia. Can't be far, right? So I book the hotel online and run into the train station to try to take a train backwards one stop. Yeah…no. I ask a cop how to get there and he says there is a bus that pics you up just a block away. Pay 1.50 euro for a ticket and you're good. Just get the bus that says San Remo on it. Cool. I go to the bus stop and wait a bit, and actually met a nice couple from New Zealand who were traveling about. Nice people. They had to borrow a bus pass from a guy who was also waiting there, and that guy ended up being from London. Random. But cool. So we all get on the next bus, which didn't come for about a half hour, and the New Zealanders sit in the front and I sit towards the back with the guy from London. As it turns out, he's in the film business and is working in Monaco for a little while before making a more permanent move to San Francisco. HA! Love it. He married a girl from San Diego and so it's a good move overall. Plus he doesn't think he's gonna miss too much of London, what with the shitty weather and all. He gives me a few suggestions for the south of France, but then asks for my email and says he's gonna send a detailed list. AMAZING! He also knows Italy, so I'm hoping to get some suggestions for that as well. He gets off after a few stops and then the New Zealanders get off a few stops later, and then the bus driver says this is his last stop, so everyone off. Huh? I'm not there yet. A girl on the bus tells me to jump on a bus that says Imperia/Andora, and so I wait there and see a bus that says Imperia and jump on it. I ride for about another 30 minutes and then THIS bus comes to it's end…in Imperia. Great. So I finally give up and just jump in the nearest taxi and after about 10 minutes I come to my hotel, the Hotel Igea, where I'm currently about to pass out and then get up around 7:30am to get on two more trains tomorrow…

Ended up writing more than I thought I would, but had to get this out. I realize schedules sometimes don't work out, but wow it's tiring when they don't. I shouldn't complain - I'm in the South of France and I'm still having adventures. And so I'll leave you with that. I'm tired but still in good spirits.

Till tomorrow :)

First ever pizza in Italy…DEF GREAT :)

My awesome train schedule for today…got stuck in Ventimiglia

Saw this while waiting for the bus in Ventimiglia :)