The Travails of Travel!! (3 months in Europe now--July 21st)
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| Appropos of nothing at all!!! Just thought it cute--and rather bizarre! Was a child's ice cream creation at an extravagant ice cream cafe we ate at on one of our outings... |
Now, I am going to switch tacks and fill you in on all the nuts and bolts about just HOW difficult traveling REALLY is these days!!! It is not a picnic, I assure you! The problems are endless, in fact...
To wit:
1) THEFTS!!!! And people think MEXICO is bad??! Think again!!! First, I had my phone stolen in the train station of Genova (see the blog about that terrible trauma... and all the lovely photos lost, along with Whatsapp messages and contacts...etc...); then, when eating in a restaurant in Barcelona, Spain, my backpack was stolen out from under my table, where it was "hidden" in the shadows!! NOW, I am EXCEEDINGLY cautious, everywhere I go, on the verge of out and out paranoia! How sad is that?!!? (Then, stuff is constantly getting lost/disappearing...the latest being a favorite necklace from right off my neck, somewhere in the streets of Lisbon!)
2) I bought a Eurail pass, thinking it would save me money, since I am taking the train to multiple countries and destinations. HOWEVER! What they DON'T tell you when you sign up for it is that many of the trains require a "seat reservation", which costs a certain amount of Euros in addition to the pass! And, as if that weren't bad enough, it is next to impossible to GET those reservations!! Only a few are obtainable through the Eurail website... the rest, not, and involve either contacting the railways directly (different in each country, mind you!) and/or going to the local train stations to buy them. However! This ONLY works if you are actually IN the country where you are traveling and need the reservation, which is rarely the case! So...how very annoying and impossible is that?!!? I have been corresponding with customer service at Eurail now over the course of several days and STILL have not resolved the issue of my inability to reserve 3 separate trains in Spain, coming up in a couple weeks from now! MOST exasperating!!
Oh, and I am limited to 15 days of travel in a 2 month period...and no one bothered telling me that Portugal trains are horrible at best, and non-existent at worst. And... I was counting on using trains in ALL the countries... I mean, that was the whole point in buying the stupid pass, was it not?!?!
3) The business of a mobile phone plan...another major aggravation (and expense!) I bought one SIM card when I got to Turkey, even though I was only going to be there for a week... and it cost me 55 Euro for JUST that week! A single week's plan was NOT an option! But, since I rely heavily on Google Maps for navigating my way around every city, communicating with Airbnb hosts on Whatsapp, and so on... the mobile data is essential. When I continued on to Italy, I of course had to get a NEW SIM card--provider being a horrendous company called Vodafone-- which I obtained in the FCO airport outside of Rome. I was told it was a special "tourist" plan, whatever the heck that meant (but I soon found out, unfortunately..!), to the tune of a whopping 65 Euros, or what amounts to close to $70. I was ALSO told that the plan was good for 30 days and gave me 70 gigabytes of data! (both were lies: as it turned out, the plan was only good for 4 weeks/28 days, and there is no way I had anything even close to that amount of data!!!) 3 weeks later, I had to renew it... to the cost of another 16 Euro, which was HUGELY difficult because the woman in the Vodafone store outside of Assisi could not locate my plan (being this special "tourist" variety) and after many contortions, managed to find it and add on the data. This ran out another 3 weeks later...yes, AGAIN! but this time, in Germany... where they could not find my number AT ALL because it was Italian. YET! I was assured--repeatedly!--that this plan was international, and thus good in ALL European countries!! Another lie!!! I had to buy yet ANOTHER SIM card--this one, German--to the tune of 30 Euro more. So, in the mere 8 weeks I have now been in Europe, I have spent a total of $171 on SIM cards and data...and if that is not insane highway robbery, I don't know what is!!! (There were other issues as well: I cannot get the "My vodafone app" on my phone, thus have no way of knowing how much data I am using/have left; the German store made me pay in cash and couldn't give me a printed receipt; the data cuts out frequently; I couldn't use it at all in Switzerland; etc etc etc!!!)
4) Airbnbs: EXORBITANT, for the most part! (yet, still the "cheapest" way to go over here!) Yes, this IS my greatest expense, by far... what is more, the myth of the so-called "cheap" accommodations in Portugal is exactly that--a myth, a complete fallacy... and I have had myriad problems with the hosts, of which details I simply haven't the energy to go into. I will just leave it at that.
5) My body: My back went out... from sitting on bad chairs and from hauling around my luggage (in and out of trains); my feet are constantly in pain from endlessly pounding the pavement (taxis are out of the question... I am really appreciating the affordability of the rickshaws in India now!); my chronic left hip pain has flared up... I am often so anxious about planning my itinerary, booking trains and places to stay...making it all work...that I have trouble sleeping... and so on. A bicycle would make sense to get around on, but not possible now... IF I ever do this again, I will definitely go that route to avoid so much walking!
6) Airline scams abound! For example: A flight to Bucharest from Lisbon for only $119. But then you find out that it is 26 hours with multiple layovers!!! (And the actual flight time is a mere two and a half hours!) Or, you find a decent time for a decent price...but then you add on $20 in taxes, $90 for a carry-on "bundle" consisting of a purse and small suitcase, and $130 for a checked bag, and...you get the picture! Your "cheap" flight is now $400!!! To go to a country that is SO very close!!! Unbelievable, aggravating as all get out! The one I finally settled on leaves at 5:55 a.m. from Lisbon and arrives at 4 p.m. in Bucharest...not terrible, to be sure... and "only" costs $255. But wait!!! To get this "low" price, I had to pay an additional $60 to join this website's (edreams.net) "prime" membership... so really the price is $315 and not a good deal at all!! And this is just a sample of what goes on in the airline world...really quite outrageous!!!
7) RE: Credit cards... The fact that services and stores one expects to take credit cards, such as the Vodafone store and a hair salon, DON'T! I am forced to get MORE cash out of an ATM machine, pay fees, get worse rates... and WHY don't they!?!? Even in India, most places I purchased items from took my credit card...sheeeesh!!!! Unreal, unacceptable!!!
8) Overbearing Airbnb hosts... case in point: the old Italian "mama" who lives at the Airbnb where I presently am in Verona. Her son, Claudio, is a delightful man who checked me in, then disappeared...by "mama" is a micromanager of her home, picking at stupid things (like, my spreading my food out on the kitchen table in order to prepare my lunch) and ranting at me in Italian (she doesn't speak English, nor I, Italian!) knowing full well I cannot understand her. Meanwhile, she was absolutely warm and friendly toward the other, Brazilian guests here, who DO speak Italian! Then, another host back in France badmouthed me publicly on the airbnb site (where they can rate the guests) because I got lost in Colmar and asked for directions to get back (Google maps stopped working-- another frequent, huge issue here!). She presumed (incorrectly) that I wanted her to come pick me up... and therefore stated that I was a very demanding and unreasonable guest! On her part, I got the definite sense (as I do with many hosts here in Europe so far) that they are only in it for the money and really would prefer to NOT have strangers in their homes... tragic, but true, and MOST unpleasant!
9) Other considerations: How and when to get laundry done; constantly having to spend many hours researching how to get to my accommodations and communicate with the hosts; prioritizing what I want to see at each destination; trying hard to eat healthy while constantly moving about (mostly impossible, truly speaking); what I can get rid of so not to be burdened with so much luggage, though really almost all of it seems essential...
10) The fact that, when I visited Venice for a day, I was reprimanded repeatedly for--horrors!!---trying to eat my lunch in public-- I am not kidding here! First, on a park bench, where I was kicked out, then on a step of a walk way outside the park (not impeding ANY foot traffic, mind you!) Then-- equally horrible-- the fact that they charge 1.5 Euros to use the public bathroom, or close to $1.75 per usage! Positively CRIMINAL!!!
11) VERY crowded trains!!! (I was warned about coming to Europe in summer and peak season... and it all made sense, but since I HAD to leave India when I did, back at end of April, what choice did I have, really?!? After all, I haven't traveled around Europe since literally half a lifetime ago, 33 years...in 1990!!! So...have to make the best of it...
12) Men who sit next to me on trains and pick their noses!!! Seriously??! Such disgustingly uncouth behavior!! Thought I left this sort of nastiness behind when I left India...apparently not!!! (Is there truly SO little refinement left among people of this world?!?! I do wonder....)
13) More about Airbnbs... The fact that, as I write this, (back in June now... the rest updated and added on today, July 21st) I am bunked down in a seriously overpriced Airbnb in the heart of Genova (Namely, $57 per night!!!), listening to incessantly barking dogs and loud voices in the alley-like street below. When I went out earlier for a walk shortly after arriving, I passed numerous prostitutes in doorways...yes, indeedy, a LOVELY neighborhood!!! Ha ha ha! The hallway and stairs to get to this 4th floor apartment (hauling up all my heavy luggage by myself, mind you... the host of the flat was not yet at home... there is a reek of mold, piss, and who knows what else... just general decay??! It is an old building, to be sure, but definitely NOT charming. I could find a place in Mexico this funky for probably a 10th of the price... (yes, I AM getting more and more nostalgic for Mexico all the time!) Glad I only signed on for 2 nights!!!
See what I mean? Endless problems and unfavorable situations. NOT a picnic! It is tiring being a nomad.. not without its great points, its fun, its adventures...but like everything else in life, it is always a mixed bag, rest assured! So...point being, do not be envious of this nomadic life of mine! It is wearing thin...
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