ells4eva
the ELLephant in the room
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ells4eva · 1 year ago
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Florence week 2
So far, I think I’m adapting pretty well to Florence. There are some major differences, but I’ve traveled to many paces so I had a vague idea of what to expect. However, this is my first time traveling independently, much less internationally. 
I have a philosophy in life (that I definitely did not invent) that every time something goes wrong, I have a negative experience, or I do something scary, I’m becoming more equipped for the next time, so I try to appreciate the discomfort because maybe one day I’ll have tried everything and never get to be nervous again- but probably not. And after my last weekend in Italy, I will be very equipped for the future.
A group of girls and I decided to visit Livorno for the day. Livorno is a small town on the Mediterranean only an hour and a half train ride away from Florence. We were hoping to find a particular gorgeous pebble beach in a small town 40 minutes south of Livorno by bus (ETA 15:30). 
After stopping for lunch, we boarded the bus and rode for 20 minutes before stopping randomly. We consulted the bus driver and he told us that there was a transfer; we had to wait for a different bus to continue on the same route to our destination. We hiked to  the next bus stop and waited half an hour before the bus came (ETA 16:00). 
The bus took us up this winding road: on one side a guard rail overlooking a sheer drop, and on the other side a wall separating the road from dense foliage. Though we almost missed our stop, we got off at the correct spot, although it didn’t seem right. We were standing on the side of a terrifying sidewalk-less road in the one small indented area. 
We had no other option but to walk down this horrible road, so that’s what we did. We got to an opening in what was now forest, not guard rail, and realized the beach was at the bottom of a steep hike down. That was the easy part. We were 20 vertical feet away from the beach but the only way down was via a massive rock. There were some steps carved out but they disappeared about five feet down. It took some coaching and time, but eventually we all made it to the beach and it was entirely worth it. 
We stayed on the beach for about an hour and a half before I started thinking about our plan to get back to Florence. At this point, I was not willing to walk up the road to the bus stop, so the plan was: taxi to the train station, take the train directly to Florence (ETA: 19:30). 
I asked some guys on the beach to call us a taxi and of course they did. Then the taxi fell through. Nicolo called again and when it was all settled hiked back down to the beach. But then the second taxi fell through, and with our poor Italian skills we deciphered that taxis were not offered in our location. And since we couldn’t get a taxi, we missed the direct train ride we intended to take (ETA: 21:00). Our only option was to climb back up the awful road and take the bus and take a later train with a connection. 
We made it onto the bus, hiked a mile though a very small town to the train station, bought our tickets, and waited for 30 minutes, but when your clothes are wet it feels longer. Our train arrived 5 minutes late, which would not have been an issue if the time in between trains was 5 minutes. So we missed the train that would have taken us to Florence.
That was the last train out of the station, so our only option was to taxi to a different station and go to Florence from there. (ETA: 9:45) Thankfully some locals were also intending to take the same train so they offered to split the taxi fare. They called the taxi and we waited in the cutest train station that I could hardly appreciate because I was so tired, but it never came. 
They called again and apparently the taxi driver was confused. We decided to just go to Pisa (not on the way for us) because now there were no more trains leaving from the other train station we planned to taxi to. (ETA: 23:50) We took a 50 minute taxi ride to the Pisa train station, and from there it was an hour and a half by train to Florence. 
I walked home from the train station and got back just in time (00:20) to be invited to go to the club by my roommates (I declined). I have no regrets about the day and overall I only spent 54$ including food. 
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