After this recent train trip (4 trains to get from Riomaggiore to Nice), the basic conclusion is: we’re too old for this: running up and down flights of stairs with suitcases in hand to get from platform to platform; scrambling for seats in 2nd class; re-arranging tickets on the fly when a train is too late to make the next connection; dealing with regional trains that provide no room for suitcases etc.
In our naivety, while back in Canada, we used the Trenitalia app to plan the connections from Riomaggiore to Ventimiglia – and the SNCF connect app to get us from Ventimiglia to Nice. Once here, we soon realized that the Trenitalia app is designed to minimize the number of people clogging up their train stations. As a result they minimize the connection time between trains with limited expectation that people will actually make those connections.
With that knowledge in mind, I cancelled the Trenitalia ticket that involved 3 trains and arranged 3 separate tickets, one for each train to give ourselves more time between trains. We still ended up missing one connection (having to re-book) and in another case only made the connection because the next train was late as well.
We are no longer 20 or 30-somethings, we’re 80-somethings. That means: no regional trains unless doing a day trip (no suitcases), first class where the seat is assigned (no scrambling for seats); no carrying of suitcases up and down flights of stairs (use the elevator if there is one or don’t go there if there is none) and few connections with lots of time to make them.
Things happen. We had hopes for the SNCF train and decided to get on the back of the train but then this tiny train with only 4 cars rolled by and stopped about 200 meters away and we had to scramble down the platform to get into the last car. Then there was the realization that it had not been a good idea to travel on a Saturday because all the local people took a trip and then decided to come home on the same train we were on. The SNCF stopped at 8 stations and almost no-one got off and piles more people got on so it was like a transit bus at rush hour with people standing in the aisles. Of course it was also a regional train so no place to put suitcases – except in the aisle. Add in the announcement that because it was so crowded there would be a lot of pickpockets on the train. To reinforce that, the French Police got on the train in Menton and did a car-by-car search. Finally, to add more confusion, as we tried to get our suitcases through the throngs and exit the train, we discovered that the announcements as to where the train was stopping were incorrect. Luckily, someone in the crowd was correcting the announcements in real time. What a zoo – and as an 80-something, zoos of this kind are to be avoided at all costs.
WR Foster 