Embarrassing Incidents

One of my readers has persuaded me to share the embarrassing incidents I endured while traveling. I didn't write about them at the time because they were, well, embarrassing! But with the passage of days, the sting has faded so here goes:

The Tour Guide Incident
This one occurred at Vatican City when I was exiting the Sistine Chapel. My out-of-date Rick Steves guide book mentioned a door at the rear right of the chapel and said that if you go through that door, it will save you a lot of walking. The door has a sign on it that says it is only for tour groups but, Rick assured me, it is OK for individuals to pass through too. Well, when I found the door, I discovered a guard standing in front of it, and I did not have the moxie to push past him citing authority from Rick Steves. Instead, I decided to wait until a tour group assembled and then I'd walk through with them as if I were part of the group.

This strategy worked beautifully, but only for a nanosecond. On the other side of of the door I was momentarily confused about which way to walk so I hung back a second to see which way the tour group would go. That's when the tour guide spotted me. Uh oh. I thought he would scold me for following his group through the door and truthfully, that would have been justified. But no. He went on for a full minute in heavily accented English about how he had noticed me following his group all through the Vatican Museum, and how I was such a cheater for glomming onto his tour for free when everyone else paid. I was dumbstruck! It was totally untrue! This was my first encounter with this group. In fact, I had sat around in the Sistine Chapel for at least 10 minutes waiting for any tour group to approach that door, and his was the first one that came along.

I started to defend myself but I could see it would be pointless, so I just gave him a 'stop it' gesture and slunk away. As I did so, I heard one of his charges say “I don't remember seeing her!” and I had to stop myself from turning around to explain. Even though I was innocent of the larger crime, I did do the door-sneaking thing, so all in all, it was pretty humiliating.

The Sunglasses Incident
I brought a pair of sunglasses with me but within the first hour of the first day, they were driving me crazy. They were an old pair that had been stretched out. So whenever I tilted my head to look at my map or tourist info or anything, the glasses slid off my face. Thus, a new pair of sunglasses was in order.

There are street vendors everywhere selling guide books, hats, trinkets and sunglasses. So I finally stopped at one. Not being picky, I selected a junky pair of glasses and put them on, only caring if they would stay put on my face. I asked the guy how much and he named what I thought was a ridiculous price. Feeling very clever, I named the price I was willing to pay and we dickered back and forth until we reached agreement. I paid him, took the glasses and moved on.

Only in retrospect did I realize that I misunderstood him. I pretty sure I negotiated him UP to about twice what he was asking for !!! Oh well, he got a good story to tell all his friends that evening!

The Train Ticket Incident
As you'll recall, I decided to stop in Pisa when I was in transit from Florence to Cinque Terre. I had checked beforehand, and according to the internet, it was OK if you stop off at one of the interim train stations between your departure and destination – so long as you complete your journey within 6 hours. And I had done this type of maneuver a few years ago on an earlier trip. Still, before leaving Florence, I asked the friendly desk guy at my hotel if Trenitalia allowed for stop-offs of this nature. He assured me it was no problem.

Well, you can guess what happened. After my stop off in Pisa, I caught the next train to complete my trip to Cinque Terre. When the ticket-checker guy came through our carriage, he puzzled over my ticket for a few minutes and then explained that it was no good – it was for the earlier train and I was not supposed to be on this train. I explained that I had been informed blah blah blah but he didn't buy it. Long story short, I had to pay about 10 euro to rectify the situation, and again, endure the stares from others in the carriage who assumed I was a cheater and/or stupid. Being an American, I had the terrible urge to explain how none of it was my fault. But one of those cultural differences is that nobody cares about that, so once again, I just sucked it up.

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There you have it: traveling is not all good times and glamor. Although I did have to swallow some bile after each of these incidents, I hasten to add that before leaving, I was prepared for things like this to occur. I was also prepared to get lost, to get tired, to encounter language barriers, and to commit faux pas all of which I did. But that's part of the deal, and although it's not my normal nature, I was able to get past such issues and continue to enjoy myself. I wish the same for you on your traveling adventures!