The journey so far!

I am currently writing this blog 2 hours into the 6-hour train journey from Amalfi coast down to Sicily, our next destination, well for tonight at least.  The sea is on my left and the lush hills are on my right, not a bad view!!

It is 4.45 in the afternoon and we left our little home in Positano at 10.30 this morning. We have had a rather eventful day so far. The journey required a bus from Positano to Amalfi, then a change of bus, then new bus Amalfi to Salerno where we were to pick up the train for Milazzo in Sicily.

After a relatively painless start we got to Amalfi and then boarded the next bus. Now the Amalfi coast road is terrifying for someone such as myself, scared of heights and an increasingly nervous passenger (by road, well by Italian & French roads) these people drive like maniacs, we had countless near head on crashes on the bloody bus and the bus actually crashed into the 3 foot high safety (???) barrier (protecting us from the 150 meter drop into the bloody sea!!!) at one point going around a blind bend and coming face to face with another bloody bus!

Now we were nearly at Salerno when all of the passengers at the rear started shouting to the driver, we had no idea what was going on. The bus driver made an abrupt stop and everyone rushed off of the bus bar a few of us at the front not having a clue what was up. I got off to go and investigate and found out that the bus was overheating and could go no further!!!! They were sending another bus but they had no idea how long it would take to get to us!! Perfect!! We had given ourselves extra time due to being used to the Italian time (or lack of) schedule of public transport but this was 1.10pm and our train departed at 2.33pm, there was not another one until about 10pm!!! A load of people disappeared, some were trying to hitch a ride and I managed to flag the only cab down that passed only to find that a bunch of Italian women jumped into the other side of the car before I even got to it!!! Another young couple were desperate to reach the train station too so we walked to the nearest hotel with them to call a cab and share the ride, we were just about to order the cab when a random bus stopped, not the one they had sent but it had stopped so we all had to hot foot it back down the road and cram onto the local bus with all our luggage and no where to put it.

Crisis averted, we arrived at the train station by 2.10pm only to be told the poxy train was delayed by 20 mins. The train is going to a different destination than where we booked, we have been told it goes there too. Who the f**k knows? We’ll see in a few hours I suppose, but first this train has got to cross the Mediterranean Sea that separates the long leg of Italy from the little island of Sicily?