Goals-revisited

As I sit in New Jersey at the end of a multiple country 428 day trip, I feel it is necessary to update the things I wanted to accomplish with the reality of what was accomplished.

I gave myself some goals in my first post near the beginning of the trip. I think the better way to refer to them is expectations...

Lets see how I did.

1. Get better at writing my adventures down. 

I did help out-- but mostly by getting Rebecca motivated. I added my two cents and Rebecca fleshed it all out. So in terms of my own posts, I created only two and even then I had Rebecca look over them. I still feel like a 12 year old working on a book report. 

So I give myself a C. 

2. Get Rebecca more confident in world travel (one month of traveling on her own is the goal) 

Very glad I gave myself a specific goal to work towards but this month goal was not achieved. Though Rebecca is quite familiar with what it takes to be in many (in fact any) foreign countries. I am unable to determine if she can do it on her own since the longest period of time we spent apart was 8 hours. Upon reflection I think that I require more personal time than I had previously thought, but traveling together sharing every moment allowed me to get to know one person in my life better than any other person on this planet.  

I gave myself a B- but I feel I was being a little too optimistic in my original goal.

3. Document the travel costs of two people 

(creating a real number for those interested in wandering the world) 

This I am proud to say I did with flying colors this spreadsheet shows my expenses for the year. I was worried that I would not be able to stay focused on the day to day grind of this monotonous behavior. I got a wonderful little Moleskin pocket book (though an iPhone app I imagined would easily type right into the spread sheet) that I kept in my pocket for easy access, next to my pen. I broke down the finances into these 5 catagories.

We spent January-June in Central America, July-October in Europe, November and December in Morocco.  Holland was the big spike in July since we did not change our spending habits with regard to eating until biking to Paris. 

This taught me more about my spending AND most importantly how to do it cheaper in future. Food is by far my favorite entertainment and is a sharable experience.  Even though it did fall under Fun I kept it as Food. In hindsight I should have separated out the meals I bought for others under Fun.  

If you want to travel for a year or any extended time frame (more than ten days) go to a cheap country like Guatemala or Morocco (I have also heard Turkey, Bolivia, Peru, India or Southeast Asia).  Rent an apartment for cheap and cook your own food and use local transportation to explore the surroundings of each spot you come across. The less long distance transport you have the better off.  

If/when doing it again I will pick four places to spend three months each. Maybe Guatemala/Honduras, Peru/Bolivia, Turkey and Malaysia.  Offering enough cultural variety and enough time in one place to rejuvenate yourself to go further. Before this trip I found only one website that seemed to focus on the financials of traveling . As it turns out I was probably being too specific and lost the forrest... This was that site .  It is a very good place to start in multi country budget estimation. I estimated the cost of the trip at $26,000. In reality the cost came to $21,000. Also you adjust your trip according to how your budget is being depleted. We had not planned on biking across France for three months but it allowed us to stay in Europe and enjoy traveling at our pace. 

I give myself an A, though I got lazy in the charts and implementation of the results. I am hoping someone will look at my spreadsheet and see some details that could be of benefit to those wishing to travel abroad. I only recorded the first 13 months and gave myself the last month off to reflect and to remember what it was like to just make a purchase without writing it down. I wanted to prove that traveling does not have to be extravagant. I believe our expenses should be evidence that cost should not be a hinderance for travel. Certainly 20K is a lot of money but you don’t need that kind of money to have a really long fantastic trip. According to my numbers $3000 will provide just over 2 months of travel in Central America (and longer if you stay in one place - Guatemala!). After this trip I believe I am ready to take on the budget for the TBoL project .

The road of excess DOES lead to the palace of wisdom.

4. Get myself more comfortable with long term travel (in hopes of multi year travel in future.) 

The hardest part for me was finding a good person to watch over my properties. Once that was discovered freedom was just around the corner. Thanks Ian Ray! The next hardest will be doing it on my own.

I give myself an A+

5. Perpetuating the portions of the Dallas life we hold so dear. 

For those that have not found the joy of Facebook you were probably dissuaded by the game applications (Farmville, Tarot or Mafia Wars) or the flood of people posting about every little thing they do in their day “I just parked my car”. Like all technologies,  they change and we adapt with them.  It has been fantastic being aware of what is happening in New York while at the same time knowing what is going on in Morocco, Dallas, Paris, Holland and Costa Rica all in the same digital space. It does bend the mind some for those not familiar ....but who is familiar with keeping in touch with the whole of humanity?  It is new to the entire human race to be able to communicate with ---everyone. Soon each person will have the opportunity to speak whatever they like to the entire planet (btw -Social Translate  is WONDERFUL for those that have friends that post in different languages and have Google Chrome -a must). One really interesting fact. I got more Facebook accounts a preferred form of contact than I did email addresses on this trip. Blew my mind. I think FB or a spin off will become the new replacement for email/IM/chat rooms etc.  Just need to figure out a better way of filtering the information. Fact is FB filled in this gap of connecting with home and abroad wonderfully. 

I give myself a A+.

6. Practice on a weekly basis an exercise in distance connection through meditation. 

Not so good. In concept yes but in practice no go. I did embrace more breathing techniques - more aware of my breath every day in fact. It has taught me that I am not very patient with myself. who knew? For the original goal of distance meditation with another I give myself an F.

7. Practice yoga on our own (does GREAT things to your body) 

After the first month at Bikram in Berkeley this was a fail. As I said above breathing has been quite a wonderful way of getting to know more about myself. I notice the jitteriness (i.e shaking/nervous energy in my leg) in my body go away when I pay attention to my breath. Since yoga does include control and awareness of breath which I practiced on a daily basis.

I give myself a B-.

8. Allow chance to determine direction using I Ching 

Really was hoping this would have come up more but it was a no go. Had the book but there were only about four real unknown points on the trip and the moment allowed for the evolution of the direction. I really did love that aspect of not knowing where we were going next. Something that gets lost when you get settled into a place for a week or so. I get very comfortable in a place very easy and lose motivation if not pressed. 

So F on I Ching usage but A+ on just going with the flow.

9. Go to Machu Picchu and participate in a Ayahuasca ceremony 

Well I should have seen this as being a two parter ...but I am still learning about this setting goals thing. So I get an F for Machu Pichu. But an A for Ayahuasca in Costa Rica with Vismay and his pregnant wife - a moment for the books. I still desire to explore Ayahuasca another instance to see what can be learned.  

10. Develop www.TheBallOfLight.com for Burning Man 2012 

( Please donate if you see it a worthy goal) 

This has been on my mind almost constantly. I don’t know if all roads lead to The Ball of Light or It has just become my reference point for the understanding of the world/existence. I have come to see what is most important in this project and it is to see it from beginning to end. To see the full life cycle of a larger scale project and watch it as it evolves. If it does not end up being 100 foot tall not to worry. In fact I have found a way to incorporate sacred geometry (in short the way the universe grows itself) which allows the project to scale depending on the space provided. Giving myself this time period of a year to focus on having one project to rattle around in my brain has done some amazing things. I am quite an impulsive person. Usually when I get an idea I act on it and have the idea evolve in a very quick cycle. This time I was not able to actually build anything immediately for over a year. QUITE frustrating! Though it has allowed me to scrap ideas before ever beginning. Since after discussion/consideration it was determined completely unnecessary, saving time/money/effort. Also the pent up creative energy has spurred a LOT of other projects which I am burning to get started on.

I give myself high marks A++.

As I said these are better seen as expectations. Which I am trying to figure out a way to get rid of or at least see them differently. Once I feel the pressure of expectation I get anxious, start to create doubt and begin to worry. 

Breathing helps.

Before

After 14 months

Before we left, I got rid of quite a lot of stuff I had been accumulating or had locked away in storage in Dallas -most through gifting to those who wanted the stuff. That way I get to visit the new owners and see the next chapter in the life of those things I once possessed. Not only does it make my life easier to move it also frees up space in my head of how much stuff I feel I need to manage. I feel so much time is spent knowing where stuff is even if I am organized. These two photos are the before and after shots of what I took on the 14 months trip.  You can click on the links and hover over the photos to find out more of the details of what was brought. The basics: 4 shirts button down, two pair of pants (replaced both after 9 months) and four pair of socks - PLENTY. Bought a pair of pants in Guatemala for spinning fire, a jellaba in Fez, an external flash, replaced the day pack, picked up a scarf in SF at a lost and found some comfortable and rain pants(cycling in the rain). It looks like a lot but when weighed at the airport it was only 10K(22 lbs). I wanted to stay light so carrying my pack did not factor into my desire for moving.  You see a lot of stuff along the way but really replicated touristy stuff. Experiences were the best since they are very personal and they have no weight. Sadly those are the ones you lose first as you get older.... just have to keep mak'n em.

Happiness is not real unless is shared - Into the Wild

Most importantly I have become as close as I have ever been to any one person on this planet - Rebecca. I knew this would happen to some extent but it went beyond my expectations.  Learning and sharing with Rebecca has been my absolute favorite part of the trip. It has expanded my understanding of how close two people can be. Reminding me how little we know about the people we hold close in our lives.  It really challenges my mind when I consider doing this trip again without a companion.  So much of the trip was spent happily watching her learn something new. I smile when I think of being able to relive the trips experiences with her years later.  

I hope to have a follow up blog post after being in Dallas for awhile. Thank you for following us on our trip. Thank you Rebecca for being so patient with me.

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Things I felt I needed to add but couldn't bring it all together.

Found this to be great back fill on my science knowledge (a touch professorial) 

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. Torrent 

Some Must sees

City Museum (land of wonderment)

Avenue of the Giants(Humongo trees)

Fez(craftsmen/architecture/culture) 

Venice(get lost)

Amsterdam(get on a bike!)

Guatemala(spring all year round)

Our time here is momentary 

Face your fears

Get out there

Never stop exploring

Ramona & Eggroll's Last Ride

October 8, 2010 to October 21, 2010

The Photos

October 8 ~ Early-ish start gets us 40 miles down the road to Bourbon-Lancy.  We are exhausted by the time we get up the hill to the city center and that exhaustion increases exponentially when we realize we have to double back to camping.  Pay for three days of camping and settle in.  Attempt to buy desert stuff and juice but we miss the closing time by mere minutes.

October 9, 10 & 11 ~ Little bit of internet and a sorely missed taste of home ~ chips and hot sauce.  The brand is Old El Paso which I would never buy at home but it’s pretty damned good in France and then even more wonderful when we combine it with a kind of cream cheese, YUM.  Gregory sends out his first official CouchSurfing requests.  We do our now redundant walk into town on a Monday to find NOTHING open, I’d think we are too dumb to learn but I know it’s merely a disconnection from the days of the week.  Pay for one more night of camping with road hitting plans in the morning.

October 12 ~ Set the alarm for 7:30 but tickle fight, breakfast and packing means we don’t mount up until nearly noon.  Fortunately, this section of path is super easy and we get to Digoin a little after 2.  Try to decide if we want to continue biking to Lyon or take a train.  One map makes it look really easy and I’m stubbornly set on seeing the biking out to the very end.  Partially out of guilt that Gregory bought the BoB and we have only used it for a few weeks.  Gregory’s superior map reading skills inform him that there are too many of the 5% gradients that nearly killed us getting to Bourbon-Lancy.  A quick trip by the train station indicates that it’s only 20 euro to get to Lyon … but we are told there’s no train today*.  Heading away from the station, I recommend that we stay in a hotel tonight knowing it is easier to get going if we are warm and don’t have to pack up the tent.  However, hotels near the station are exorbitantly     expensive and decidedly unfriendly to Gregory.  They do direct us to their sister location on the cheaper side of town.  Gregory and I have some communication problems because I feel like I’m forcing the issue to stay in a hotel when he would rather camp and he’s perfectly content to hotel it because he sees the sense it makes.  Either way, we end up at a hotel, take long hot showers, eat a little and then watch a movie until sleep claims us.

*Later I find out through FaceBook that train workers are on strike.

October 13 ~ Wake up plenty early but not particularly rested.  It is a cold, foggy morning.  Easily leave the hotel by 9 and bike to the train station.  Only to find out that the trains are on a different schedule from yesterday (due to the strike) and that we can’t get a train to Lyon from here.  Our only option is to bike 11+ kilometers to Paray-le-Monial.  That train is at 3, giving us plenty of time, but since we are up we decide to press on.

Biking next to the foggy canal is beautiful and serene but very, very cold.  We are not really prepared for cold weather (I mean give us a break we thought we were going to be in South America for goodness sakes!)  Make it to P-le-M in no time.  Go directly to train station.  Do not pass go, do not collect $200.  Only to find out we can NOT take our bikes on the train, but we can on the bus … which will be here in a little more than an hour.  Scramble, rush and hurry to repackage our stuff into the most efficient use of space.  We put all our personal items in one backpack (it was neat to find out it all fit after sending stuff home with my mother), the bedrolls in another, removing the panniers and packing all the bike and tent equipment in the BoB trailer.  Then I strapped all five tires into one bundle while Gregory strapped the two bikes together.  We finish just in time and Gregory goes to find celebratory brunch items before we get on the bus for who knows how long.

OMG, you would not believe the trouble we had getting on the bus.  The station attendant indicated that we should buy the ticket from the bus driver.  Then by the time the bus arrived and informed us we should have bought tickets inside, the station attendant was gone.  The ticket machine wouldn’t take ANY of our cards and the bus driver couldn’t take cash.  To complicate matters, we still don’t speak French and the driver didn’t speak any English.  The two young men at the station waiting for their own trains and busses spoke some English but not confidently enough to be of any help.  Ultimately, the driver lets us load our gear and get on with the ‘understanding’ that we will buy our tickets when we get ‘somewhere.’  After we drop off the only other passenger, we change bus drivers and he never tells us where to pay for our ticket.

Riding the bus we see more and less, more variety of landscape but for less time.  This variety becomes both more valuable as we enjoy the changes and less valuable as the changes happen too fast to keep track of.  I have missed the rattle and squeak of a long distance public bus.  Strangely neither of us feels the desire to read or sudoku or otherwise involve our minds as we seem content to enjoy the movement without the expenditure of physical work.

Arrive in Lyon and quickly check on the train situation, there’s no point in putting Ramona and Eggroll back together if we have to disassemble them tomorrow.  Trains schedules are still in flux, therefore continue with reassembly of our bikes.  Someone asks if we need help, we reply no and I keep working while Gregory stops to talk to him.  Come to find out he know the guy and place that Gregory wanted to CouchSurf with.  Our new friend is Aaron and he starts to give us directions then decides to lead us there instead.  How serendipitous!  We finish reassembly and repacking quickly to start the 10 minute ± bike ride to the squat known as La Friche to meet Fox.

Although Fox’ reply had been only maybe, we hadn’t had the chance to check e-mail before being dropped on his doorstep like stray kittens, he graciously found space for us and welcomed us with little hesitation.  He showed us to an available caravan and we settled into the squat life.  Despite the comparatively effortless day of travel we were strangely exhausted.  Dine on a canned dinner and retire with movie watching.

October 14 ~ Wake up and nosh some cereal and yogurt in bed, I love lazy mornings.  Make our way to Fox’ bike workshop and offer our assistance.  Our first job is to sort a large pile of bikes into Trash (technically sell as scrap metal), Trash with usable parts and Good Frames.  Finish the sorting tout suite and move on to removing those usable part from those trash frames.  Learn how to remove pedals and pull axles amongst the more general job of simply unscrewing one part from another.  Get greasy, greasy fingers despite initial gloving.  Gloves are much to bulky to do some things in.  Then once they are off and your fingers are greased there’s not much point in trying to re-glove.  After working we follow Fox back to his house and talk to him while he prepares his meal.  He ends up making enough for all of us and shares his really wonderful veggie stir fry over rice grits*.  Lots more talking and Gregory washes up our few dishes before we head to bed.

*Yep, rice grits.  Fox’ friends mill hemp and to clean the mill of hemp oil they run plain rice through it.  This cooks like grits do but of course have the rice flavor and a slightly strange color compliments of the hemp oil I guess.

October 15 ~ Slow morning but we finally make it over to the bike warehouse.  We only do a little bit of sorting, pedals and axles, before we leave so Gregory can paint his face and I can get warm before our Critical Mass/Velorution ride starts at 5:30±.  I go out to acquire bread and cheese for our lunch and we watch Kill Bill while Gregory paints and I pet the cat named Rustine, which means inner tube patch.

Velorution is crazy as we stop traffic and create havoc throughout Lyon.  Gregory and I are biking a tandem cargo trike with trailer and are the longest thing in the parade of tall bikes, small bikes, cargo trikes and even one six person 4 wheeler that virtually defies description.  We are just about the most disorganized conglomeration I have ever been a part of.  We completely stop traffic to argue about which way is the best way to go.  One problem arrises when an irate BMW driver tries to cause trouble.  He has been weaving in and out of regular traffic and coming shockingly close to our parade until, of course, he makes contact and loses a small bit of paint.  The police come but A) Gregory and I are removed from the action because we don’t speak the language and we weren’t involved directly with the event and B) the Police realize that it’s a bullshit claim by the driver trying to create drama.

Back on the road and it looks to be smooth sailing the rest of the way home until a lady tries to hedge us over and one of the bikes on our trailer gets stuck in her wheel well.  We extricate, she doesn’t pitch a fit and we continue on … beyond the points of comfort and fun.  Finally we return to the warehouse, park the bikes and remove ourselves to dinner nearby.  We end up at a place that looks very fancy especially when compared to the ‘bombed’ out look of the squat directly across the street.  We share a salad, real quenelles (not out of a can) and desert before heading home to wash Gregory’s face and rest our aching sit bones.

October 16 ~ Rainy cold morning keeps us in bed, as if we needed excuses.  I’m developing a sore throat and runny nose which will not be helped by my next act of a quickly cooling shower (it started out warm enough but didn’t last).  Gregory and Fox talk while he waits for me and then we try to find a warm place to read and eat some lunch.  Share an interesting meal where we get to cook our own meats on a hot stone brought to the table.  Tasty and Unique.  Now we waste time till Indian dinner with Fox tonight.  I write and Gregory reads.

*I’m feeling the pressure of needing to decide our next step.  Do we hike and camp in Corsica or do we try to get to Turkey and do who knows what.  We both still want to go to Damanhur and Parma, Italy but don’t see how they fit into our plans, nonexistent as they are.

October 17 ~ Didn’t exist at least as far as my daily writing went.  In retrospect there was probably a concert/art installation at La Friche, which I did not enjoy and therefore didn’t stick around for.

October 18 ~ Today the members of La Friche go to court.  They find out the next step in their imminent eviction from the squat.  We arrive with only minutes to spare … well some of us do anyway.  Florian, Fox’ CouchSurfer from Germany, and I follow Silvere to the court room.  Gregory, Fox and several others are delayed either by the riots outside or the metal detectors inside.  Once in the court room, it quickly becomes clear that it is beyond full and police officers are outside preventing anyone else from entering.  I think it makes sense for the two non-French speakers to switch out with two French speakers who have a vested interest in the proceedings.  However, I am unable to convey this correctly to those outside and Florian and I continue standing in the back of the court, fully expecting to be ejected at any point.

The proceedings start and it reminds me of my few dealings with traffic court.  The lawyers and magistrates are all wearing black robes with white sashes, which is cool because, like all uniforms, it attempts to diminish any class distinctions.  One magistrate is rapidly going through a HUGE pile of case files calling out the case and handing it off to one of several other magistrates at the bench.  The representative for each case comes forward and discusses with the magistrate in charge of their file.  Eventually the officer asks Florian and I to sit down in the now available space beside Silvere.  Silvere asks if we are understanding the proceedings and we have to say no, at which point Silvere hits upon my earlier idea of exchange.  We concur and Florian asks him to explain it to the officer watching the door, who agrees to exchange two CouchSurfers for Fox and Thomas … except that neither is standing outside waiting.  The exchange still occurs but for people that I didn’t know.  Gregory, Fox and Thomas show back up after about ten minutes and Gregory has been enjoying the chaos of strikers and riot squad outside.

After a little while the La Friche representatives come out of the courtroom and everyone gathers around to hear what the lawyer has to say.  In a nutshell, they all have to come back at 5 o’clock for the actual presentation of information in the case.  Fox and his surfeit of (couch)surfers leave shortly thereafter with stops to check out the menus and prices of two Indian restaurants.  A plan is formulated to dine at one after the 5 o’clock return to court.  Back at La Friche, Gregory and I internet and work on our next move while Fox and Florian work in the shop.  Florian has fallen in love with tall bikes and is learning all the steps while at the same time making one of his own.  We all quickly loose track of time and at 10 till 5, I rush out to ask Fox if he’s headed to court.  The warehouse is absolutely full of people and there is no way Fox is going to make them leave to be one more voice in a sea of voices.

Being on our own for dinner, we decide we still really want Indian.  However, I have no idea how to get back to the places we chose with Fox.  Instead we follow the directions I found online to a different restaurant.  We drive right past it because it doesn’t exist anymore.  Unfortunately we have to retrace our path to figure that out.  We end up at a little square with shops and cafés but no Indian place.  At Gregory’s insistence, it’s my plan after all, I ask for directions at a pharmacy and he directs us straight to the place we had found earlier.  We thoroughly indulge in the great food and wonderful warmth.  *Have I mentioned yet that our caravan is not heated … neither is most of La Friche … that I feel like I’m nearly frozen to the core … and that I thoroughly despise the cold.  Well, now you know!

Arrive back home to find out the court proceedings did little more than delay the inevitable and as it stands now, they are supposed to know in about 3 weeks time exactly how long they have until they are evicted.  Also of note, but not of my experience, Gregory goes dumpster diving as our host is completely Freegan!  

October 19 ~ Decide to bike to the bookstore for more English books for me.  As we are getting closer we notice the streets are crowded with people and police.  We bike across the bridge and into even thicker crowds of people and a smoky haze in the air.  A block later we stop as we realize through bleary, teary eyes the haze is tear gas because this is where the strikers started this morning.  We attempt to continue but we are not strong enough to continue to an unknown destination.  We hightail it out of there and head back towards home for internet and food, with a stop for groceries along the way.  We intended to ask Fox’ recommendation on a place for internet but we end up at McDonald’s.  Two large fries and almost all my battery power later, we potentially think we possibly might have a probable next plausible destination … maybe.

October 20 ~ Spend a little bit of the morning fully packing our backpacks to see what we are and are not taking on this next leg.  Disassemble the BoB trailer, pack it with bike shoes and parts and send it to my parents house.  Plan anew to venture to the bookstore and the train station to see what our options for Torino tomorrow are.  After several blocks we are roadblocked by crowds and riot squad.  The strikers have moved across the bridge and down the street.  We stop to gawk with the rest of the crowd and follow the riot squad twice as they attempt to take back two blocks.  Eventually we move beyond this impasse to find that there is additional chaos at the bridge.  We aren’t sure why the bridge is completely empty but the riot squad book ends encourage us to chose a different route.  Despite Gregory’s continued interest in the happenings, we move on to the bookstore hoping to arrive before they close.  I buy the Complete Works of Jane Austen and I have to admit I’m dreading the read.

I fear I have gotten us lost trying to find the train station but then things begin to look familiar and suddenly we are there.  We are told that we need to take a bus to Chambéry where we can get the train to Torino.  The bus leaves at 1:30 (YAY!)  We don’t have to rush around tomorrow morning.  Final Indian dinner before retiring to bed.

*Later I am very sad to have left our trusty steeds, Ramona and Eggroll behind in Lyon.  I know that they will be cared for or made use of in a tall bike creation but I can’t help feeling the loss of security and freedom they allowed us.

October 21 ~ I write this (and the last few days) sitting on a nonmoving train, having just realized that the reason we were encouraged to take the bus was so we wouldn’t miss the train to Torino … but I’m getting ahead of myself.  Wake up, tickle fight, eat breakfast, tickle fight, pack, tickle fight, check out of our caravan and say good-bye to Fox and Florian.  The short walk to the Metro and figuring out our stops and connections is easy peasy, except they keep announcing something about our stop that I can’t understand.  As Gregory peruses the map, a French girl asks if we need any help.  Gregory tells her where we are heading and she assures us we are on the right track.  She starts to go and I ask her what the announcements have been.  Exactly what we should have puzzled out, this is the last Metro stop because the following stop is shut down due to the strike.  Fortunately the strikes didn’t effect us at all … cue ominous music!

Arrive in plenty of time but can’t use the ticket machine to buy our tickets.  We divide our forces, putting Gregory in the outrageously long line to buy tickets while I get in the significantly shorter but much more impatient information line.  The info I get is that the train we want is leaving in 10 minutes and that if we ask the conductor we might be able to ride for free.  I motion Gregory out of the ticket buying line and we haul ass up the stairs, clear our lack of ticket with the conductor and take our seats … where we now wait … and wait … and wait …

Our 12:45 train finally pulled out of the station at 2:24!

Arrive in Chambéry with enough time to grab a slight meal and play my first game of pinball before catching the train to Torino, which is PACKED!  At first we thought we had lucked out with a nearly empty car, but we were quickly moved to a car that was ACTUALLY going to Torino, rather than staying in Chambéry.  We find two seats across the aisle from each other, which was better than we had hoped when initially getting onto the train.  My seat mate is Melissa an organic esthetician from Paris via New Orleans.  She immediately recognized the American in us and we talk about our trip, her life in Paris and things to do in Torino.  The main thing she recommends, and the reason for her trip today, is the Salon de Gusto, a slow food festival happening this weekend.

Gregory completely fixates on this opportunity, despite our arrangements to be at Damanhur in the morning and once we arrive in Torino we spend at least two hours trying to locate a hotel with vacancies.  I’m completely detached from this process as I watch the desperation of trying to force  this chance to happen.  After driving us to two or three hotels with no luck, the taxi driver even offers to let us spend the night at his place.  At this point Gregory turns to me for help and decision making but since I refuse to offer any advice, he decides against it.  We eventually return to our original plan of train to Ivrea, spend the night in a hotel, then taxi to Damanhur in the morning.

Finding a hotel in Ivrea was’t easy and there were not that many people out and about to ask directions of.  We did find a group of young people who directed us to a hotel nearby (in relation to everything else of course!)  Showers!  Hot Wonderful Showers (remember no heat or hot water at La Friche!) Clean hair and mostly new clothes for tomorrow.