A Mad Dash Across Europe

My original plan when I got to Italy was to spend a couple of days and then take the train up to Germany, via Venice and arrive on Tuesday. However I had a problem that had to be taken care of. I was going to ship most of my camera gear via Fed Ex to Frankfurt and pick it up there. However when my friend Sun went to ship the package there was a lot of customs issues that could possibly come into play.

Because I really needed my camera gear (while I was backpacking I only brought an old camera and a wide-angle lens) for the World Cup I looked at alternatives to shipping the package. I talked a lot with my girlfriend Allison via Skype and she actually was able to find a free mileage ticket to Brussels for the weekend. So she was going to personally deliver my camera gear to me in Europe. But to meet up I had to get across Europe. So after the ferry ride to Bari, I took an overnight train to Rome and then a flight from Rome to Brussels. It was not the most fun of trips and required over a day and a half of constant travel but I would get my gear via a personal courier delivery.

I landed in Bari in the evening on Friday between intermittent rain showers. Looking at the map it looked like the train station was very close to the Ferry terminal but I ended up walking about forty-five minutes until I found it. Unfortunately it was also a holiday so most of the stores in town were closed. I dropped my backpack off at the train station while waiting for the midnight train, grabbed some crappy food at the bistro at the station and then ended up watching the Italy-Ukraine friendly soccer game through the window of a store until the train departed.

The overnight train was O.K. and I was able to get some sleep and arrived into Rome at six in the morning. My flight out was not until 10, so I walked down to take a look at the Coliseum, which I always wanted to see.

Apparently there had been some sort of show there the night before cause it was blocked off. So I only got this distant view of the structure.

From there I went to the Rome Airport and caught my Virgin Express flight from Rome to Brussels to meet up with Allison. Man I thought that Southwest packed in the passengers. The seats were cramped on the flight, but it was the only way to get to Brussels.

When I got to Brussels I met up with Allison. It was great to see her again after a few weeks of traveling alone.