Train to Naples

Something always goes wrong on a long holiday, but sometimes things work out for the best. The night before our train ride from Palermo (Sicily) to Naples (mainland Italy), Anna pointed out that I had booked tickets for a day later by mistake! Determined to remain calm, I tried to phone the train station to arrange new tickets. As I'm sure you can guess, the phone messages were all in Italian - even the hotel concierge was stumped when I asked for his help.

Next I got on the internet to try making the changes online, only I now needed a login and password that I didn't have. I requested that a new password be emailed to me, but the email was taking a long time to arrive and the concierge was getting a bit annoyed by my hanging around the front desk (with no shoes on).

Eventually I got dressed to walk to the train station that night, but fortunately I prevailed on the concierge to let me check one more time - success! In the end, we managed to get tickets for an earlier train, which meant that we arrived in Naples at 4 in the afternoon, instead of at night. Lonely Planet suggests that "travellers should be careful about walking alone in the streets late at night, particularly near Stazione Centrale..." So you can see that things worked out for the best!

Anyway, to nervous mums and dads reading this - we are fine and happily ensconced in our safe hotel. We also have plenty of strategies for dealing with Naples' dodgy streetlife. From all accounts this is mostly just pushy beggars, so we will be carrying the minimum in the streets. For all the talk, Naples really is a lively little city. We've just had a couple of fantastic (and ginormous) pizzas, and will be seeing the treasure troves of Pompeii tomorrow at the archaeological museum. Not to be missed!