Thanksgiving evening 2001…Florence, Italy
My long time travel agent told me she would not be disappointed if I chose to cancel the tour, after all, it was just 2 months after 9-11. Just about every customer who had booked foreign travel had already canceled their plans. Her boss told them she did not plan to lay off anybody for as long as she could.
I told Charlotte I do not subscribe to bully mentality. I was going to Italy as planned.
The tour was fine. People were nervous. Italy is the most beautiful country I have visited by far. I was having a great time. I was having such a good time seeing Italy I decided to venture on my own in Florence. After all, it was Thanksgiving Day and I have much to be thankful for. A few others on the tour wanted to join me for my evening adventure. I found excuses because I wanted to experience Florence on my own. In hindsight, maybe I should have joined them instead.
Our hotel was 2 train stations outside of Florence’s main station. Riding into Florence was easy; just get off at the last station. Coming back was a bit tricky. Not knowing Italian, I was not able to communicate with the locals or with the train station personnel to inquire about departure schedule but I managed. I were to get off at the 2nd station from Florence heading to Pisa. I got on the right train, I even double confirmed with another passenger on the train. Though the wrong passenger to get my confirmation from, the guy was too busy on the cell phone, I think he just said yes to whatever question I asked. But then, he was the only other passenger in our compartment.
I got off at the 2nd station the train stopped like I was supposed to. Once I got off the train, I knew something was wrong. The train took off and I found myself standing on an island in the middle of many railroad tracks. The station was dark, there were nobody but me. I looked up and saw a distant billboard showing 11◦C. The train station looked deserted, and was obviously “not operational”. There was no one else but me. Why did the train stop? It was the 2nd stop since the Florence main terminal. My fear kicked in and I heard yelling. A shadow was jumping on the platform, waving his arms wildly and hollering at me in a foreign language?
I walked towards the shadow figure on the platform only to be hollered “Why did you get off the train?” I explained to the lone figure of what had just happened. He sighed and explained that was a switching station. Trains do not and were not supposed to stop. He did not know why the train stop and that was why he came out to see what happened and after the train left, he saw me standing in the middle of the railroad tracks carrying 2 large bags and that was when he hollered at me to get off the tracks.
He invited me into his office to get out of the cold. My panic subsided and began my inquiry of alternate means to get back to the hotel. We introduced ourselves. I learned that he has been working at the switching station for the past 10 years and this was the 1st time anybody had ever got off the train at the switching station. He told me I could go back to the Florence main terminal for another train to restart my journey back to my hotel. But the problem was if no train stops at the switching station, how could I get on another train back to the Florence main terminal. OK, moving onto plan B…how about a taxi cab? He called and the taxi driver said it would cost me about $45 US dollar. I was more than willing to pay that amount to travel 11 miles back to my hotel to put this behind me. Frankly, I was embarrassed and worried at the time. I heard him arguing with the cab driver and then he hung up. Came to find out the cab driver did not want to drive me out of town to my hotel because he most likely would not find another customer to ride his taxi back into town and he would lose money. After all, gas was $5.00 a gallon at the time. How about plan C…. I could take the public bus but that involved changing buses, plus I would need to walk a mile to get to the bus station. That may not be a good idea. Since it was dark with few pedestrians (shortly after 8:30pm), 11◦C, walking with 2 large shopping bags of Christmas gifts and a purse strapped across my chest may be a target for robbery, so scratch plan C. Well, how about calling my hotel for a pickup. At least I brought the hotel business card with the address on it, except he called and the hotel did not do pickup, so the “hotel shuttle” option was also scratched or because it never exists to begin with. I was stuck!!! Meanwhile, I could see trains after trains flying past the switching station, NOT STOPPING!!!
His name was Bloodymire (I guess)? He spoke broken English. I spoke no Italian. After a few repeated introductions, I decided to call him “Bloody Mary”. “Bloody Mary” told me if I would wait until he got off work at midnight, he would drive me back to my hotel. Since he was the only one at the switching station, he would have to wait until the guy from the midnight shift (the next shift) to come in before he could leave. I was just too happy to accept his offer, seeing there were no other viable alternatives. Bloody Mary drove a beat up 2 doors Honda Civic, the heater was not working, there was no defrost, so as we drove, we had to roll down the windows and be the windshield wipper and wiped the wind shield to prevent it from fogging up. Thank God he found my hotel. I insisted him accepting the would-be taxi cab fare the taxi driver was asking for. He was kind enough to help a stranded tourist and declined the money. I insisted. I was lucky to run into Bloody Mary.
I met the guy who came in for the midnight shift. His shift would last from midnight to 8:00am the following morning. Even if he was willing to drive me, he could not leave the station until his shift was over, not to mention he arrived on a M-O-T-O-R-C-Y-C-L-E. Can you imagine me riding on his motorcycle with 2 large shopping bags hanging from each of my arm for a distance of 11 miles at 11 degrees celsius?
