day 33, napoli

got up early this morning hoping to sort out my next bit of my trip, preferably to bologna. it was pretty dear to get there plus there doesn't seem to be any hostels in bologna, so had a look to venice and have booked meself a sleeper for tonight, that leaves at 8 tonight and gets in to venice and half 5. booked a hostel for 2 nights in venice which is cool, so once that was done set off with nathan ellie and pat to go see about them leaving to go to sicily tonight. after a wander through some cool side streets and some great visuals, finally found the ticket office, 8th time lucky and they are booked on a 10 hour boat for tonight. all of us were hungry so went to some local shops to buy some food and make a pasta lunch. met some super friendly italians who couldn't understand us so phoned their nephew who spoke about as much english as i did italian, trying to translate 'basel'. after about 10 minutes and 8 different people (only one of them who worked there) and them pointing to every fruit and veg in the shop we arrived there at basillico! we then cooked some amazing pasta, finished it and then realised we forgot the bloody basel! at the moment just chilled out nursing food babies with shrek on in the background trying to work out the best way to spend 6 and a half weeks, doesn't look like i'll be going to the ukraine as it is too big and out the way, i can't believe i've only been to 3 countries so far, feels like loads of them. really looking forward to getting east, going to slovenia after venice. i'm also starting to understand the italians and how they act, it's very different to the uk, and takes alot of getting used to. if i could speak a bit of italian could easily spend more time in italy, though it was nothing to how i imagined it. looking forward to my first sleeper train, despite hearing alot of horror stories think it will be cool.

day 32, napoli

Yesterday night davide, this dude that works in the hostel cooked us some decent pasta, while having a few beers with people from the hostel. There was 7 of us I think, Nathan, this aussie working the hostel for a month while travelling, me pat and ellie, 2 Swedish girls, flo a brazilian girl, plus davide and his mate who had a punto parked outside and the number plate was 'it 8ooby', which made us childishly giggle in our state and me pat and Nathan posed for a photo, till we realised no one had a camera and we were just on the dirty ground like pricks. We went to this little bar and had some massive shot, not sure what was in it but they weren’t the greatest,so had another and moved onto a piazza, where there was around 500 people, between 15 and 70, all drinking, smoking and chatting. There was a really cool buzz in the place, everyone was really close to each other, there was no fighting, stealing or bitching, it was proper cool. People weren’t bothering people for beer or dope, everyone was just enjoying themselves. We walked back to the hostel in the early morning, feeling pretty merry. Slept like a baby and was woken up by pat shaking my leg for us to go do summat. We set off (me, pat ellie and a not too fresh Nathan) to Sorrento, a hour and bit train ride, which was really pretty but full of rich tourists, then onto amalfi, in search of the cliff diving championships that were taking place. The bus gave us all car sickness, as it was winding up through the hills right next to the cliff. We had a scoot round amalfi which was really pretty, couldn’t find the cliff diving so retired to some rocks (aint paying to get on a beach(!!)) and jumped into the clear blue sea, which was awesome. Got the bus plus train plus metro back to our hostel which was super crowded, then went out to dinner in a nice pizzeria restaurant, which had been going since 1738. Had some amazing bruschetta then a calzone, which was bloody lovely, and great company. I’m hoping to go to bologna tomorrow but at the moment do not have a place to stay, so will give them a call in the morning or stay here for another day. I also hate computers. Ciaox

day 31

had a really nice chilled out evening doing fuck all, went to sleep early and had a killer sleep didnt get up till 11. left the hostel at 12 to go see herculenuem, like a little pompeii, just better preserved and a little bit smaller then pompeii. on the way there met some people from american and canada who were studying for a month onboard this massive ship, and they knew a bit about the place so we tagged along and had a lookaround. it was interesting but a bit same-y after a while, and it was baking, so put up with just having a look at vesevius instead of going up it. now just sat in the hostel with two of the blokes who are working/travelling here who are sound, they've given us some cracking advice. tomorrow going to amalfi/sorrento, it's the coast so will have  alittle swim and beach session, before heading off to bologna on monday. yea roy

day 30, napoli

This morning caught the train to rome termini station then onto naples. We are catching the cheap regional trains so when we just about made it on to the train there were no seats, so was in the gangway which was excellent. We arrived in Napoli in what seemed like the longest 2 and half hours ever, we all managed to sneak into seats and I was with some Russian people on the four seats facing each other, and didn’t they love to talk and my ipod was dead. Got the metro to where we needed to go and as josh and tom had stayed there they had drawn us a handy map of how to get there and what to do in naples. They didn’t lie when they said it was the most mental traffic that they had ever seen, if they beep at you that means that they have seen you and you should continue what you are doing, ie moving out in front of their car which is shifting, which is strange and fucking scary. It’s got a good vibe, staying in a really cool hostel which is low key and small, with some proper dudes on front desk, one american and one aussie who are travelling and working here for free accommodation. We’ve been to the supermarket to get some food, now just chilling out before having a couple of big days tomorrow and Sunday, here for three nights so plan to do Vesuvius, hit the beach and not to Pompeii, the other one which is smaller and better preserved, but forgotten the name of it for now. Apologies if writing like a child, doing 4 different things at the moment, me internet is playing up and trying to sort that out, while copying pictures over, sorting me ipod and trying to work out the best way to get up to bologna. Hopefully the next few entries will pick up.

day 29 rome

Yday evening made some amazing wraps and chilled out with some beers with pat, ellie, josh, tom, tariq and luke, before heading off to the club they have here. They had an outside sand volleyball court so jumped on that with some germans who were already playing. It was a good evening, chilled out and sat outside most of it. This morning we woke up early with the intention of hitting up the Vatican. We went to get the train as we are a little way off the city centre, and missed our train, then we missed a shuttle bus that went to the Vatican and it was the last one before lunch. It was a weird temperature and we were all really low on energy. Josh and tom woke up also and together we went to the city centre and wandered around, went to the trevi fountain, the pantheon, some other things and then to the Vatican square. By that time I was proper tired and all people’d out, so caught the metro and bus home for the evening. Tomorrow plan to leave for naples, so tonight get that sorted hopefully if it will let me on the network (!) in the evening we got some pizza and again sat outside with some beers, before moving on to the bar and chatting outside, met some nice american people and went to bed

day 28 roma

Got the train to rome pretty easily, there was a slight hairy moment where we had a minute to change trains, but we made it with 20 seconds to go so rinsed it. We got into platform 1 of  rome termini and had to walk to platform 27, the station is bleeding massive. Caught the train to rome Aurelia and walked the 400m to the campsite and checked in. It was baking in rome, we were tired from the night before so did some washing and had several cold showers. On way back from washing directly outside our house tent opposite were sat josh  and tom, two blokes we met in Florence from Peterborough. Was really good to see them as they’re sound, and then sat down by the pool and Jacuzzi (which was freezing) and chilled out. In the evening did some drinking and went to the club they have here, it was alright, enjoyed the pre drinking and chatting part and the club was standard. Next door to us were 3 Canadians who  joined us and they were cool, one of em looks exactly like mark wahlberg, it’s uncanny. Had a damn good sleep and woke up around 8 because of the heat in our tent, and wanted to get a move on and see a bit of rome. Turned out everyone wanted to do that but when you are trying to go as a group of 8  there was some faffing involved and we didn’t get out till 11 and into rome at 12, as it’s a patron holiday in rome today. Caught the metro directly outside the coliseum which was pretty cool. We got some tickets from palentine hill, which was the first time my fuck off heavy lonely planet book has come in useful. Queue was short and it was surprisingly cheap, had a walk round palantine hill, seeing ruins and cool stuff, a cracking view of the coliseum, before heading off there. The coliseum was excellent, proper cool place, for some reason not as big as I thought it would be, loads of people wandering around. After that we decided to head back to the hostel, as not sure how frequently the trains would be running, and we were melting due to the heat and hungry, plus fed up with people. Got some amazing pizza and fruit from the supermarket across the road, having got on the most packed bus I’ve ever been on, now about to go out to the pool and chill, thankful for a bit of space and quiet, before doing something tonight. Tomorrow plan to go to the Vatican!

day 27, on the train to rome

At the moment I’m sat in a compartment with ellie and pat rolling through the lovely Italian countryside on another cracker of a day having had a super night yday. We went down to get bikes and was told that the hostel are cooking a dinner tonight and did we want to join them. We sat outside drinking wine (it’s growing on me) chatting to different people while more and more people joined us. We then assembled 3 tables with candles and proceeded to eat a lovely meal spaghetti in a sauce with seafood which was gorgeous and a tomato pasta dish, which was also rather special. The atmosphere was awesome, there was 26 of us in total, from all over the place, Swedish, Mexican, american, german, Canadian, aussies, Londoners, Italians, Taiwanese, was immense. After clearing the meal and tables away we sat chatting the night away and hit the hay. Emmanuel from the hostel drove us to the  train station in his punto, reminded me of cornwall, tiny car with shitloads of luggage. Have booked rome for 3 nights, need to do some washing as got no clean clothes, so will do that when arrive and get settled, then hit rome centre tomorrow, as around 40 mins from city centre. Realised I have lost a t shirt the other day, ah well, more pissed off that I lost me book today, left it at the hostel, was getting into brave new world, starting to make a dent on it and understand it, will have to look out for it and read it sometime, plus I don’t have anything to read at the moment. It was also good to speak to Jacob yday night, this Canadian dude who’d been to Ukraine, Poland, croatia and around there, so he gave me some tips and advice for travelling around, could easily spend a year travelling around Europe funds permitting, though it shouldn’t go anywhere so can always come back. Getting on really well with ellie and pat, and haven’t got bored of smiling yet, just sat  in the train with me headphones in listening to some tunes staring out the window, great stuff.