30 For 30 – Take A Train Somewhere

MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERAThe fine folks at away.com have come up with a list of 30 Things Every Traveler Must Do Before They’re 30.  Of those 30, I’ve managed to accomplish 12 of them, or roughly 40% of them, some of which was even before I turned 30.  Today we look at #14 on their list, take a train somewhere.  Back in June of 2005, I took a trip to Italy along with about 15 other DePaul grad students.  While there, we partook in many a train ride throughout the Italian countryside.

The one that sticks out in my mind technically broke international laws.  On the way back to our home base along Lake Como, we ended up missing our stop and ended up leaving Italy and entering Switzerland… without passports.  Thankfully, an international incident was avoided and we were able to catch the next train back to Italy with little hassle.

30 Day Music Challenge Day 06 – A Song That Reminds You Of Somewhere

During the summer of 2005, I took a class as part of my Master’s program at DePaul that involved a trip to Italy for 10 days.  On one of our free days, we took a trip to Venice for the day.  Afterwards, after dinner and some (ok, a lot of) wine, we were heading back to our home base near Lake Como when the bus driver slipped in an Oasis CD.  We listened to, and sang along with, Champagne Supernova at least 3-4 times.  It was the type of thing that couldn’t have been planned and is one of my lasting memories of the trip.