Interludes: Pt. 1 - Homesick / Pt. 2 - Cross-Country

Part 1

Yup. It’s official. And frankly I think I’ve fuckin’ earned it. I’ve never been away from my Home & Native Land for so long. I boarded my IcelandAir flight to Denmark on the evening of August 29, 2009 and I will be returning Air Transat from Rome at 10:30pm on June 21, 2010 (provided I land exactly on time). Probably won’t get back into my house home till midnight-ish. And then of course the next day I will spend physically (and to an extent, mentally) preparing for a colonoscopy on the morning after. So getting home probably won’t hit me until Friday, when my friend Christian arrives to visit and say “Whaddup!” and my friends from home come over to hang out and also say “Whaddup!”

So anyhow, I’m gonna try my best to enjoy my last week of this Euro-trip, but I also just wanna take it easy and mentally prepare myself for the culture shock of being home again. Actual home. The Original Home.

Part 2

My friend Christoph warned us about spending so much time on day trains and not taking night trains all the time because with day trains, you waste a whole day. I thought he had somewhat of a point, but in general I disagree. Also, night trains are more expensive.

To get from Vienna to Rome, we had to spend a shitload of time in transit. We caught a train at 10:30 in the morning, arrived just in time for our bus at 2:56 in the afternoon (they politely but hurriedly waited for us before taking off), and then missed our next connection due to a car crash on the highway around Venice, so we had to take the 7:39pm train, which arrived in Rome around 11:30 at night. Then we had our whole fiasco of trying to get to our hostel from there, given the minimal directions we had (sans actual address), but that story will be for later.

The point is, despite Christoph’s advice, I like travelling in trains during the day because it gives me a chance to see all the bits in between that I’m skipping. On the train to Prague, Gillian pointed out a flooded river. On the way to Rome, we marvelled at the Vienna countryside. Many times, on all train rides, we would emerge from a tunnel to see majestic green mountains or glistening blue rivers or sweeping valleys. Some towering cliffs in there, too. With night trains we wouldn’t see all this fuckin’ magnificent nature and we’d be restless the next day from an uncomfortable sleep. This way, I can get an idea of the landscape of each country (although it’s pretty similar everywhere). The thing is, I never really get bored of mountains, rivers, valleys, and cliffs. The bigger complaint comes from the view sometimes being obscured (although I do recognise the irony of me thinking, “Damn trees are blockin’ my view of all the nature!”). The meat of the point is that it’s a nice contrast to the historic, man-made cities see all the majestic, naturally-made environment.

So, Christoph, thanks for the advice, but no thanks. It was very sensible, but I’m glad we followed a different sense instead.