the great trek.

most of my journey so far has gone in some kind of logical order. i have taken only a few long-haul trains, but most of my trips have been from cities that are fairly close to one another. until i decided to go from split to amsterdam.

yes, i am insane. and yes, it is as far as it seems. as soon as i went to croatia, i knew my journey back towards london (where my flight leaves next week) would be a long one, but i never guessed how eventful it would be. my train just arrived in amsterdam, so i have gone two days and two nights without a shower, a proper bed and my sanity.

the first leg of my journey began with an overnight ferry from split to ancona, italy. i did not pay for a cabin, so i was stuck sleeping in these airplane-style seats. lucky for us - or so we though - the boat was air conditioned. however, waking up at 1 in the morning shivering uncontrollably in a tank top and shorts was not as refreshing as i had first envisioned! in these sub-zero temperatures, i only slept for about four hours.

arriving in ancona at 7 AM, i was instructed that the train station was about 1 kilometre away. i hoped to catch an 8:15 train to milan, so i set off with my backpack, thinking that i had oodles of time. but something didn't feel right. so i stopped a lady who spoke little english, and she responded, "train station, about two kilometres". phew, i thought. i can still make it. fifteen minutes later, i still felt that i wasn't making any progress. i stopped another man, who said, "oh. train station AT LEAST three more kilometres." what is with europeans having NO sense of direction and distance? an hour later, i crawled into the train station, with five minutes to spare.

when i boarded my train to milan, i was slightly flustered and completely exhausted from my hike. as i lifted my backpack into the air to put it on the rack above me, it slipped out of my hands, and landed on my face. it gets better. i was wearing my glasses - and they got smashed. so now i out of breath, and blind. perfect. i am left with contact lenses for the rest of the trip, and still haven't figured out where i am going to find 300 dollars to buy new glasses when i get home. but that is another story!

i got to milan, excited that i would have five hours to explore the city before my next train departed. after searching the station for a few minutes, i discovered that there was only ONE ticket office open for international train tickets, and the line was about a mile long. needless to say, i saw none of the city. after more than two hours in line, i spent ten minutes being yelled at by the dude, and had enough time to quickly book some hostels in amsterdam and brussels. only ONE ticket office for all international tickets? what were they thinking? the problem was: you couldn't complain, or go and talk to someone, because there was no one to talk to. and, even if there was, i don't speak any italian! so we all stuck it out in line, our patience tested to the max.

i arrived in basel 30 minutes late, with five minutes to run to my overnight train to amsterdam. i slept relatively comfortably, was served breakfast on board, and only got to amsterdam 1.5 hours late. not bad, all things considered!

48 hours later, i have switched the heat and sun, for rain and cold. the biggest journey of my trip is done, and i am eager to live up my last six days in europe.