On the way to Rome
Trip Start
Jan 31, 2006
1
39
54
Trip End
Ongoing
Ancona,
Italy
Saturday, July 22, 2006
So I found us some comfortable loungers, and began reading. Nathan and Debbie had purchased a bottle of vodka, but I was feeling the burn on my wallet and had opted not to drink ANY more, so no vodka came my way. I simply put on the ipod, went into antisocial mode, and continued reading.
Somewhere around midnight I felt the burn. I'm sure you've all felt it before
oh so majestic
. The internet burn. I headed downstairs to see what I could cook up, and there it was. The internet. And only 5 euros for 30 minutes! What a bargain! I promptly gathered all the change I had and bought a 30 minute ticket, making my way to the lonely 3 computer room. There was 1 computer available, and it was all mine. Only there was a problem. There was no where for me to punch in my code! Using all the computer skills I had, I managed to find a way to get the computer working, and without even using my code! That meant free internet for me!
So i started punching away, and within 5 minutes there was a massive greek sailor standing behind me
"How long must you be?"
"Uhhh, I just started so about 30 minutes" I replied, pointing to my code (which I had not actually used, But I didn't want this crazy sailor to find that out)
I continued on my way thinking I had thwarted disaster
sunset on the aegean
. 30 minutes later, exactly, back came the sailor. He stood behind me again, waiting. I felt incredibly uncomfortable with this man watching my every move, probably waiting for the computer to stop since i had "used my code for 30 minutes." After a couple minutes of awkward silence I turned around and said "So, what, does it just turn off when the time is up?" completely faking innocence. Then he replied nonchalantly "Well, it is free, and I just want to use my email, so I might as well right?"THEY WERE ALL IN ON IT! Every sailor on this ship was corrupt. I fled the room no longer worried about my internet time, but instead if we were going to live through the night.
I found a nice bench to relax on and eventually did fall asleep despite my fright about being sold as slaves to an african country.
We woke up in harbor. Italy was hot, that was my first impression. But off we loaded and started marching up teh street trying to find a way to get to rome. IT was somewhere around this point that we had realized we were invincible. No matter what we did, we could always get where we wanted to go with minimal trouble. So we decided that instead of looking around lost, the best bet was to just start walking, and eventually we would find our way. And we did. Onto the hottest train in existence. It was honestly the most ridiculous thing I have ever done, literally drenched in sweat the second we stepped onto that train. But nonetheless it got us where we wanted to go, and there we were, On a train to rome!
We had forgotten to validate our tickets, which we hadn't actually realized we needed to do, but the lady felt sorry for us and just validated them for us. But somewhere along the way a fellow walked onto the train. An italian fellow. He too had not validated his ticket, and when the lady went to have a chat with him, he was not impressed. Instead of paying the fine, he chose to argue. For a while. There was probably about 30 minutes of that trip where a man and woman were yelling at each other. Loudly. Then other members of the crowd joined in. It was fabulous, we were witnessing an old fashioned italian argument. For all we knew they were talking about their favorite recipes. But it kept us entertained, and soon enough, there we were, Rome, the ancient city!
