By plane... by train... by boat

It is pretty obvious from all of my previous blog posts that I have done a fair share of traveling during my time studying abroad in Italy.  Because of this, I have had the opportunity to become familiarized with many different modes of transportation.  The first experience I had was, of course, an airplane to get to Italy.   I can only sleep on planes if I have the window seat and minus about thirty minutes of listening to a screaming baby, I was able to catch some rest on my flight to Europe from New York. 

 After getting off the final plane into Florence, I had to take a shuttle to the bus station and hop on the Siena Rapida bus.  Since I've been in Siena, I have learned to depend on the public transportation system within the city.  I take the bus almost every Tuesday and Thursday to go to service learning at San Benedetto kindergarten, which is outside the city walls.  I have to validate a ticket for each ride once getting on the bus.  Police will do random checks of buses to make sure people are buying and validating their tickets.  Many of the citizens of Siena use the bus system here, rather than using cars.  Having to rely on something else to get me places was very outside of my comfort zone because I've been driving everywhere since the day I got my license at age 16.  The bus definitely isn't the smoothest ride possible and tests your balance at times, but gets you where you need to be!

Ticket validation machine

While studying here in Italy, I got to take my first train ride!  The train system here is very efficient.  It's not extremely expensive and goes virtually anywhere you need.  The trains also have a ticket validation machine and if you try to ride the train without validating your ticket and someone catches you, you will be thrown off at the next stop! I have taken a train to Pisa, Lucca, Cinque Terre, and took the "fast train" to Venice.  The normal trains are much smoother than the buses that go further distances and they are typically faster, depending on how many times you have to change trains.  That was the only point of confusion for me at first; knowing where to change trains.  However, once I became more familiar with the train system, it became much easier.  The fast train that we took from Florence to Venice only took only a little over two hours to travel about 160 miles.  The train only stopped three times total and traveled up to 155 mph.  Despite its high speed, the train was extremely comfortable and actually reminded me of a plane that didn't leave the ground!

Normal train

Train ticket validation machine

Fast train!

Train coming into Venice

In some of the bigger cities of Italy, such as Rome, there are underground metros as well as above ground trams.  I'm pretty handy with a map, but Katie was my saving grace when it came to understanding the metro system in both Rome and when we went to Barcelona for the weekend.  I'm not a huge fan of these systems, but I see why so many people use them; they are fairly cheap and they are effective.

Tram in Rome

Metro Map of Rome

Sign indicating a metro station

Metro

In Venice, there is a completely different way of traveling.  Even the people that live there have to get around by boat, vaporetto (water bus), or by walking.  Cars are not allowed here.  Even products for stores must be transported place to place by some sort of water transportation.  For the tourists, they also have gondolas, but a ride in one of those is 80 euros, so it's definitely not the most economical or even practical choice of travel.

Gondola in Venice

Water bus stop

"Road sign" for boat traffic

Water bus and water bus stop in Venice

While there are many ways to get around in Italy without having a car, there are still many around.  It took some getting used to in Siena to remember that the tiny things that I would consider alleyways, are actually roads.  European cars are small, especially when comparing them to the large pickups that I'm used to at home.  Most cars here are manual transmission and actually seem to be mostly environmentally friendly ("smart" cars).  Taxis are also used in many cities because of the large number of tourists that visit Italy.  Using a Vespa is another mode of transportation that is very popular here.  Although I didn't get to ride one with a tall, dark, rich, Italian man, I'd imagine they aren't great when the unpredictable thunderstorms roll in!

Normal sized car

Taxi located conveniently in a main piazza

Vespas!

I have had the opportunity to become a much better traveler by using all of these different modes of transportation.  All of them have their pros and cons, but I am definitely looking forward to driving my own car again!  Probably the most important thing I have learned about traveling is that regardless how far you go or where to, don't be surprised when expect things to go wrong and know that when they do, in the end, it will all be okay and you will know more because of it.