A Poll! Reader interaction! Your vote will change my travels! Woo!

Hello all,

I come to you from Firenze - Florence as it's known to ye plebes. And if you keep your eyeballs peeled on the website of my damn-it's-not-sir-toby's-in-prague-why-can't-every-hostel-be-as-good-as-sir-toby's-in-prague hostel: www.ostelloarchirossi.it - then you might catch a glimpse of me on their webcam, running through the foyer to avoid the Greek (?) guy behind the desk who I think just asked me while I was waiting for my washing to wash. Now I'm waiting for my washing to dry and writing to you! Lucky you. Lucky me: clean clothes! Wow, so novel.

I had a day of trains today - read the Guardian, did the Guardian's sudoku, napped - all the usual joy of trains. I also, incidentally, got from Roma to Firenze, dumbed my luggage at this here lov-er-lee establishment, then jumped on another train to Pisa, hung out there for the arvo before the final train back here at the end of the day. Pisa was, well, the leaning tower was funny. It leans! And it's a tower! A leaning tower! ... That's about as exciting as it gets people. But I liked it. It's a cute little town where not much happens and there's nothing to do. Which is exactly what I needed after the craziarity of Roma. I looked at the tower and laughed. I had lunch and was harrassed by a busker. I watched the tourists take photos of the tower and drew a picture of them and it - them with cameras grafted to their heads where their faces should be. I call it: "Can you see anything through that thing?" I was mistook for a "genuine" artist - people looked over my shoulder to assess my work! No offers though. To buy it, that is. The tower didn't fall down, much to my disappointment. I met an Irish lass, who was also travelling alone, and very nice. I think she wants to live in Italy and it's really not hard to see why. Despite the tourists and the tower not falling down!

So, here we come to the interactive part of the blog. .... You get to vote! ... In a poll! ... Wow, it's just like Big Brother only less, ah, TV.

I am debating - Esther, indecisive? I hear you say, How is this be!? - whether or not I should take the night train from Venice to Barcelona.

To vote, leave a comment with either a "Yea" or a "Nay". And everyone who reads this should vote, you hear me!

Now, you want to hear the pros and cons before you make your vote, don't you?! Well, here they are:

The Pros (that's the good stuff):
-More time in the good places - Venice and Barcelona - and less time in the bad places - riotous France (and not the goooood riotous).
-Price is covered by my Eurail pass except for the reservation/suppliment which would be pretty much equal to the price of a night in a hostel were I not on the night train. Ie. no extra cost.
-Saves time in my book: one must sleep and one must travel, thus killing two birds with one train. So to speak. And I can actually sleep on night trains, despite Mexicans (on the last one) and with the help of my most prized possession: my ear plugs!
-Leaving and arriving in what I like to think are decent hours of the day. Ie. in daylight. Instead of cheapo flights that arrive in some obscure airport in the middle of the night and then you have to find your hostel.

The Cons (the less good stuff):
-Italian night trains are meant to be dodgy, ie. you'll have your stuff stolen, etc. I caught one from Munich to Roma and had my beanie, scarf and gloved nicked (or I lost them at the station?), all from my backpack, but not my wallet, which was in my backpack as well, with it's 6 Euros in it! So, robbers - yes! But they're stupid! ... Another guy from the next room had his camera stolen on the same train, but I am sensible with my valuables. Ie. I wear my money belt with all the important stuff in it (passport, tickets, credit card, any notes, etc) and I put other valuables, eg. my camera, in my big heavy case which is too big and heavy for someone to really "run" off with, plus it's locked shut and perhaps on the night train in question I will also lock it to some bit of the train.
-Possible horror situation of being gassed and the not-so-stupid robbers searching your body, stealing your documents and taking your soul to do with what they will. Hopefully feel it gummi bears, but I suspect they are not that nice.
-If I don't catch the night train, I have to work out another way to get there - which will most likely cost a. money and b. time. Eg. I could go half way by day, stay the night somewhere (like Nice, for instance), then go the rest of the way the next day, thus losing TWO whole days to travelling and paying for the extra night. Or flying at some ridiculous hour, from, say Milan, thus having to get to Milan during the day, catch the flight at night, then find the hostel in Barcelona at night as well. All in all, equalling, hassel and money, but only one day lost to travel. Or something... I don't know what. Please feel free to do this research for me and email me the itinerary details! I am to leave Venice on Tues 22nd. My email address is: esthergjohnson@gmail.com
-Bed hair in full public view when one wakes up on the night train.

So now VOTE! Go, scamper! Leave a comment! Leave a "yea" or a "nay"! I am in your hands. Well, cyber hands. I can't decided. Decide for me people! You have less than a week.

Other then that, life is coffee flavoured and my clothes are probably by now dry or stolen or both! In which case, I will just have to go to H&M and buy new stuff! Do they have H&M in Italy?!

xxxx
...............................................VOTE!