Eurotrip Pt. 2

Digression off the bat: A trauma patient came into the ER today and my ears perked up when I heard it was a motorcyclist who had fallen at low speed. Not too impressive, but what was unusual was the fact that he was 84 years old! Luckily, it was at parking lot speed and he was pretty much with it, answering questions and such. Then I found out he was actually on a bicycle not a motorbike, and I stormed out of the room.

So my Eurotrip planning continues. I think I'm going to try to pursue this couchsurfing thing for the entire 3 week length. The only hitch is that most people who are on this site say they can host for a max of days or so; some of them stipulate wknds only, etc. I suppose those cities I want to stay in for >3 days, I could always hostel it.

Trip Spotlight: Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre (Five Villages/Lands) is a coastal network of 5 villages in the Liguria region of Italy. Running along the Mediterranean Sea, there is a hiking trail that connects all 5 of the villages. And I mean they are literally on the sea...almost in it, in fact. Every one of them looks like it's hanging off the rocks or precariously terraced into the side of the cliffs. Think Hopi Indian adobe villages + Summer X Games. Or something like that.

According to my handy dandy travel guide (Lonely Planet: Italy), the hike from 1st thru 5th should take about 6 hrs if done non-stop. I'm planning on taking a day or two...maybe more? How often do you get to see this?

So I will hike, I will hydrate with tasty regional wine in my Camelbak, and I will maintain a constant level of suspicious alertness for pickpockets, of which I hope there will be few on the trail.

I am finding there are a few basic things which are different in Europe I hadn't really thought of much. Converters for electrical devices. Iffy tap water still in many of these developed countries. Different protocols for bathrooms. Buy a prepaid cell phone vs. bring my GSM Treo? I guess the overseas destinations I've visited have been underdeveloped to the point where I didn't bring things to plug in or they're countries where I stayed with family members.

I have my rough itinerary planned out now:

4/14-5/7
--------------------------
Rome - 5 days
Naples - 2 days
Sicily - 3 days
Florence/Pisa - 3 days
Bologna - 2 days
Venice - 2 days
Cinque Terre - 2 days
???- 3 days
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22 days total

Of course, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry and so on and so forth. The name of the game with this trip is going to be improvisation and spontaneity, something I know I have just a little trouble with.