World Trip – Underway at last

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First Thoughts – Lynne

We’re on our way, hooray…!

… a day later than planned, and taking an aeroplane first off – which was not really how we wanted to travel. But flexibility is key.

We are now flying to Turin to join our train to Bari tomorrow morning rather than crossing France by train. Our current plan is to return from New York on the Queen Mary 2 towards the end of August and go directly to a wedding north of Venice. Perhaps we can take the train from Italy to Paris, and then the Eurostar home to London to compensate.

I’m so excited to be setting off at last. I was obliged to pull out of an Inter-railing expedition in Europe, after my first year at university. So finally 49 years later,  I can recreate some of that experience, although we will be away for much longer and further afield, with more resources available (and more medication too)!

We arrived at Stansted with plenty of time to make our rucksacks flight safe – let’s hope we meet up with them again at Turin airport. We have made many trips back and forth to Stansted, but this time we have allowed ourselves more time to navigate the steps and escalators with our heavy rucksacks. No running up the escalators at Tottenham Hale and jumping onto a train this time!

First Thoughts – Peter

I too never managed the Interrailing experience- but I always felt the thrill of travel. Ever since I flew, as an unaccompanied child, on SAS and Linjeflyg when I was seven years old: Heathrow (only one terminal then) to Copenhagen to Stockholm to Sundsvall to Östersund. And back.

And then, of course, as a fresh 18 year old on the two-overnight ferry from Gothenburg to Harwich. Standing by the railing as dusk descended, Sweden vanishing in the dark and the dazzling lights of future promise in London preceding the rushing bow waves…

So, this journey culminates a lifetime of travel excitement, with the added charm of being able to afford lodgings with a modicum (or more) of comfort and a glass, or even a bottle, of wine with a meal.

It Starts….

The forced change to taking a flight to Turin found us on Ryanair, landing in a nearly deserted airport, where we spent some time re-configuring our rucksacks from the air-safe state.

Gleaming and fresh, Torino airport sported a robotic cleaning machine, guarded by three cleaning staff, chatting and joking, while the machine slowly mopped the floor.

The city bus was found a very short walk outside the airport door, taking us on a 45minute journey to the grand central station Porta Nuova, near our Hotel Bologna.

Across the busy road, we scouted the station to check where everything was, and that our home printed tickets were valid. A determination to celebrate the start of the journey led to us finding a charming patisserie, Caffe Platti, dating back to 1875, for a glass of bubbles and crisps. Though cold, Torino looked very rosy after that.

A short research on the digital telephone, recommended a restaurant just across the road from the hotel. The Osteria Nuova surprised us with a gorgeous short menu, jolly good wine and a splendid chap looking after us (plus a rather good grappa for Peter). Neither of us commanding sufficient Italian, Lynne’s French came in handy, reflecting on the history of Torino and the Aosta valley.

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