Whirlwind Italy--The Beginning

On Sunday at around 9pm, Emily's phone rang. That signified the official start of our trip to Italy. The voice on the other end was Dorien who was calling to say he was on his way to pick us up. Bring on Italy!

Oh, Italy brought it on alright. We had no idea about that when we first started out. Dorien picked us up and drove us to the port where we got the printed version of our ferry tickets that we'd purchased online. Our plan was to take the ferry from Durres across the Adriatic Sea to Bari, Italy. From there we'd catch a train to Naples. We should've known how things would go before we set foot on that boat.

Clue number one that things would be a little crazy: As we were approaching the first set of guards upon entering the port, Dorien says to his friend who was riding with us, "Get out your money. Maybe we should give him money. That will help." Turns out we didn't need any money. There was very little speaking and then we were allowed through. Seemed simple to us but Dorien seemed a little surprised.

Clue number two: At the first passport check, they didn't even open ours, let alone touch them. They saw the words, "United States" on the front and just said "American" followed by a smile and a wave through. That thing is more valuable than gold here in Albania, I swear. Well, really its powers have been quite impressive every place we've gone. They see that and no one gives us any trouble. What a HUGE blessing! I wonder how Albanians feel when they see that happen? They have to have passport clearance and visas and everything which is super hard to get just to go to a teeny tiny neighboring country.

When we got to the "line" to have our passports stamped at the exit point before stepping on the boat, things continued to be crazy. I used the word line in parenthesis because Albanians don't really stand in lines. It's just a huge crowd and people push their way, eventually, to the front and have their turn. This is how it is done at the market. This is how "lines" work before the cashiers at stores. This is how you have to do it to buy movie tickets. Even going to the opera things progressed this way. They just aren't organized at all. It would've taken half the time to get our passport exit stamp if there had been lines.

The guys ahead of me were pretty interesting though. There were three of them, but about half way up to the front one of them, the one who was a little older than the others, reached deep into his coat and pulled out three passports. After observing what happened next, I became fairly certain (and I remain fairly certain) that they didn't belong to the other two men at all. I say this because the other two men opened them and immediately began looking through them and appeared to be memorizing information because they'd look at something, close the book, say something to the other, then open the book again to look at it. They made it through with much questioning. And though I couldn't understand any of it, I think the guard lady with the stamp was questioning whether they were legit because even after she stamped mine and a few others, the quizzical look remained on her face.

So we're at the port, we have our luggage, our passports are stamped and we are heading to the boat. As you stepped on, there was one more person checking tickets and passports. Again, he saw the words "United States" on the front of Emily's, let her though, and didn't even bother to glance at mine. He just let me pass with her since we were together. That made me feel secure. lol

We had just purchased deck seats because getting a sleeping room was a little more pricey than what we wanted to spend. However, as hindsight is 20-20, we should have splurged. I try to be positive, but that ferry ride was the worst bit of travelling I have ever encountered. We sat in hard plastic chairs at a table all night, couldn't sleep, and the boat rocked so much that both of us (who don't get sea sick ever) felt jittery for hours even after getting off.

If it had just been those three things, we could have just chalked one up for uncomfortable travel. But no. First of all, the ferry was jam packed with people traveling back to places after their New Year's travels to be with family. We were supposed to leave at 11pm. No. We didn't leave until 12:50am. The ferry travels across the sea during the night and you lands at the next port in the morning to make traveling from there easier. Ha!!! I'm pretty sure everyone who hand another form of transportation to catch other than their own car had to change all their plans. Arrival time was supposed to be 7am. We left so later that Emily and I added the extra two hours and assumed around 9am. Nope. We didn't get off that stupid boat until just after 11:30am! We were on that stupid boat for over 12 hours!!!

The changes in schedule, as annoying as they were, weren't even the worst part. The worst part was all the skeezy men on that boat. Like I said, I try to be positive, but I just have to be honest about something. Before I say it, just remember that the truth isn't always kind or pretty. Here it is: Albanian men have absolutely no respect for foreign women. They are skeezy and call out "hey baby" or "hey lady" or click their tongues to get our attention, yell to us in Albanian, etc. etc. etc. Even our female Albanian friends have said that most guys have limits and values that they look for in Albanian girls but when they seen foreign women, they throw it all out the window. Albanian men stare (at anyone, all the time, because it's not considered impolite or rude for men to stare at stuff here, but it's rude if women do it) all the time. We couldn't get any sleep all night because they were knocking on the windows by where were sitting, they sat across the room staring at us (one guy for over 2 whole hours!), clicked their tongues every time we moved in our chairs, tried talking to us, even telling us we only had a few minutes left to "see their room" as the boat was pulling into the port at Bari. I don't think either of us as ever been so eager to depart a mode of transportation in our entire lives. lol Oh man, was it a relief to be off of that boat and to be able to find food. We were starving since they'd closed their "cafeteria" at 1am right after the boat took off.

Things went a little more smoothly after this. We went through Italian passport control without anything crazy happening. (Score one for a European Union country.) We got food there, used a clean bathroom with toilet paper and even soap (woo hoo!!!), and went outside to see Bari. Well, we didn't get to see a lot of it. We went outside to find a taxi to take us to the train station. :)

It wasn't a long ride, but we got to drive past some of the old city and then through shopping areas. It looked just like any American big city, which felt very comforting after the ferry ride. We got to the train station, got tickets for our train ride to Rome, and then we spent a little time walking around that area of Bari just to stretch our legs and take in the fresh air and see a little of what Bari has to offer. We saw a McDonald's and I was so excited, the first thing I did was take out my camera to get a picture! Hahahahaaaaa!!!! I didn't even get food. In fact, I didn't even go in. I just wanted a picture. :) Then we walked to a little park with a really pretty fountain and sat on a bench to people watch for a bit.

We did that, then decided to grab a cappuccino before going back to the station to find our platform and wait for our train. The caffeine boost did us a decent amount of good because we were so tired from not being able to rest peacefully on the boat. (Have you ever tried to sleep knowing someone is staring at you? I don't recommend it.) Then we found out platform, waited for our train, and hopped on when it arrived.

The train had little compartments that fit 6 people each. For most of the ride, we share it with one girl, and then for the last bit, a guy came in and sat down too. We didn't talk to them. I don't really know if they spoke much English. Emily and I chatted a bit, did some word searches, looked out the window, I listened to music, Emily slept a bit, and we chatted some more. Some of the ride was very close to the coast so it was pretty. I didn't realize how flat that part of Italy was. We passed some fields and even when it got hillier, if you couldn't see any buildings--just the fields--it would've looked just like parts of Wisconsin. :) We had to get off the train in Caserta to switch to a commuter train that would take us to Naples. We got on there and about 45 minutes later, we arrived at "Napoli Centrale" and got off.

Admittedly, we were tired and cranky by this point, and had has a little disagreement about reading the board at Caserta to find out what platform the commuter train would board from. So at this point, our moods weren't the best, but we were both trying to be patient and figure things out. We knew we weren't mad, just exhausted. lol So we lugged out suitcases through the station and out to the front to grab a taxi. We found on fairly easily after walking around the corner and got in. He knew right where our hostel was located so we didn't have to try an explain anything to him. Whew! By this time, it was around 8pm. What a day!

This would be a good place to stop. I can continue with the rest later, but hopefully after reading this, you have a good idea of how we were feeling and why we felt that way at this point. lol As if this hasn't been exciting enough, there is more to come. Not quite as crazy, but just as jam packed. Just you wait! :)