Should Have Walked2Alps

A smart person should know not to sign up for a pre-organized bus tour for college students to Venice for Carnival. I am apparently lacking in the common sense department regarding bus tours. Having said that, a group of us signed up for a Bus2Alps trip this past weekend to Venice for the kickoff of Carnival.

I wanted to say that I had been to Carnival in Venice. So, we decided to do a quick bus trip up to northern Italy instead of planning our own train and a stay in a hostel. Kelsey and I bought masks to wear, bought food for the trip and stayed in the night before to be well rested for an early wake up the next morning.

For reasons not under my control, I unwillingly got two hours of sleep that night. I will leave it at that. We arrived at Termini station by 8:30 for our 9:00 departure. As soon as we were loaded onto the buses, I went to sleep. I woke up around noon at our rest stop. I decided I wanted to stay asleep, so I was the lone girl still sleeping on the bus for the duration of the rest stop. I did not stay asleep for that much longer, though.

We were supposed to arrive in Venice around 3:00 p.m. However, we did not get to the city until 4:30 or so. I found out later that the bus drivers got lost by taking the exit for Milan instead of Venice. Everyone on the buses were a bit annoyed, but excited to finally be in Venice.



My time actually in Venice was amazing. (Thank you to Kelsey for all of the pictures in this blog post.) We wandered the streets for a few hours. It is impossible not to get lost in the tiny, winding streets of the city on the water. It is almost pointless to use a map. That is one of the great parts about Venice, though. You do not know where you are going to end up.

We had been told that Venice is known for its cuttle fish. Joe, Kelsey, Bob and I decided that we wanted to try cuttle fish dishes. It took a while for us to decide on a place, but we eventually got our cuttle fish. Our meals were the craziest looking meals I have ever had- all black. I know Drew will enjoy the picture of my meal. They were absolutely delicious, though. I am so glad I am now addicted to trying "crazy" Italian dishes.



We found our way back to San Marco for the opening ceremony of Carnival, which included a play in Italian. It is a bit difficult to keep your attention focused on an Italian play when you understand one out of 20 words. So, we eventually decided to explore elsewhere. We found a piazza playing DJ sets and spent the rest of the night there dancing. We had to leave around midnight to make it back to the buses in time for departure.

The next 12 hours were probably some of the worst hours of my life. We left a handicapped girl behind in Venice; we never found out what happened to her, so I am hoping she is alright. I took a sleeping pill upon boarding the bus. I fell asleep for several hours and woke up around 3 or 4 a.m. to the buses stopped on the side of the road. I was a bit confused for some time because of the remnants of my sleeping pill. Apparently, we were no more than 10 minutes outside of Venice. 10 minutes, 1-0 minutes. We should have been much farther on our journey back to Rome. I had completely slept through a first stop, too. The bus drivers were attempting to fix the buses. One boy who went outside to ask how things were going said the bus drivers were poking at things with screw drivers. Like that is really going to help.

Several different kids were on the phone with Bus2Alps trying to get the company to remedy the situation. My grasp of the conversations did not bode well for us. Eventually, things were determined to be fixed enough to continue on, and I went back to sleep. I woke up a little while later to our buses stopped on the side of the road-again! Until the early hours of the morning, we stopped about every 45 minutes for the bus drivers to do who knows what. By 7 a.m. when we were supposed to have been back in Rome, we were nowhere even close to the city.

We found out later that the other bus was having mechanical problems. Bus2Alps had ordered my bus to continue on without the other, but the bus drivers decided to ignore that order. My bus finally returned to Rome around 12:15 p.m. Our six-hour bus ride home turned into an almost 12-hour journey. I half-slept the whole time in a tiny seat crammed between two people. By the time the bus pulled over in Rome, I thought I was losing my mind. I have since realized that I am a bit claustrophobic.

Students were livid. We arrived home to an e-mail from a Bus2Alps representative apologizing for the situation. By the way, how were we supposed to receive those e-mails while on a bus on the side of the highway? Many people sent hate e-mails back to the company requesting compensation for the trip.

We learned on Monday that every student on the trip will be compensated 100% of the ticket price. Basically, we got a free trip to Carnival. We were also offered a 10% discount on the next Bus2Alps trip we booked. Never again, Bus2Alps. Never again. I would rather have walked to Venice.