Eurotrip Day 1. Naples, Italy

View from my room in Naples

The following entry is an excerpt written directly from my travel journal Day one in Europe:

Roma-Napoli 9-12-09

"When I landed, I already had my bag(I had not checked it, which saved my skin). I pretty easily managed to find the Leonardo Express train to Rome's Termini Station. From there, I had a little difficulty finding the booth to validate my Railpass. Once validated + ticket bought, I hopped a bullet train to Naples. When I got there, I decided to walk from the Napoli Central Station to the hostel(La Controra Flashpackers Hostel) because Google Maps said it was 3Km 30 mins. It was not 30 mins, very hilly, and got slightly lost, but all the Napoli people I met were very friendly + helpful, although a part of the city I walked through was covered in graffiti, and looked post-apocalyptic, like 'Mad Max'. The area where I stayed was much nicer. Immediately after arriving at the hostel, I met several nice people that I will tour Naples and the surrounding towns with. There are a lot of Germans here.

Observation: Naples is loud, people honk horns constantly,

As I write this, horns are honking.

-Traffic in Naples stops for NO ONE!

No such thing as crosswalks. "

Later this first night, I drank a bit of wine with the new friends that I had made, and a few of us decided to hop a few buses to get to an Italian rap concert in the city's main square. We took a jug of wine with us, and had a great time. The Italian language is a romance language. Italian rap music is not a romance language, and sounds pretty gross, but to me, life is about having new experiences, and a rap concert in Naples was a new one for me.

Below is my new North Face Terra 60 backpack on my room's balcony in Naples.

Euro Pack on the Way: North Face Terra 60

Before embarking on my trip to Europe, I needed to get my backpack situation locked down. Looking at my inventory of camping gear, I realized that between my K2 external frame pack and my overly large internal frame pack, the job was not going to get done. So the past few weeks, I have been doing research on what backpack I want to buy for my trip to Europe. I have solicited advice from well traveled friends. One of the recommendations that I gained from them was that the Eagle Creek Truist 55L was a great pack for Europe. I looked into this option, because it is specifically designed for international travel. Unfortunately, the price point was higher than I wanted to spend at a firm $200 everywhere.

I did more research and found that both REI and North Face had models that would get the job done and that would be suitable for trips abroad, as w

ell as trips into the wild. I decided that I wanted the North Face Terra 60.

On a walk from Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood to the Loop two weekends ago, I stopped at 2 Uncle Dan's outdoor stores, the Lincoln Park REI store and a Sports Authority.

Uncle's Dan's Southport: $125.00

REI Lincoln Park: $149.00

Uncle Dan's Lincoln Park: Did not see an available Terra 60

Sports Authority: $149.00

I followed up with some price checking, a few days later, I ran(by foot) a few miles to my neighborhood Moosejaw store, where the Terra 60 would have to be special ordered and where the sales woman tried to up sell me into more expensive packs I didn't want. When I convinced her that the only pack I was interested in was the Terra 60, she looked it up in their computer system. When she told me the price($149), I told her that it was cheaper at Uncle Dan's. She thought I was an idiot and said well that is because Moosejaw has access to different colors than them.

I said, "What Color do you have?"

She said, "...Well....well...what color were you looking for?"

I then told her that the backpack comes in green, greenish, blue, blueish, and black, and that they are identical, and that there should not be a pricing difference. At this point she realized that I had educated myself and that her sinister tactics would prove fruitless.

Yesterday, I ran(by foot) to my local Uncle Dan's on Southport, and ordered a Large Blueish North Face Terra 60, and it should arrive at the store either today or tomorrow. Their sales associate also mentioned that their store has a price match policy that applies to other stores, but not online sales.

The terra 60 will be mine soon enough.

10 days until aira non-ferma, 11 days until Italia terra firma.

REI Garage Sale- Results

On Saturday, REI had a Garage sale to get rid of items that were returned, damaged, used, or out of stock. The sale was to start at 9 AM, so I woke up around 8AM, and drove over to the store. I arrived at about 20 minutes before 9 and saw a very long line of outdoorsman and outdoorswomen lined up outside the designated garage sale parking lot. Some of the residents of this line had camp chairs, sleeping bags and one guy was wearing a Selk sleeping bag aka a mummy sleeping bag with legs check out the link to see what I’m talking about.  http://www.lippiselkbag.co.uk/store/d58-Selk-Bag-Store-(US-Dollars)

So I was in line with about 200 people in front of me. Shortly before nine, and REI employee began shouting to the crowd.

“If your mom never taught you manners, Leave now. No Pushing!, No Shoving!, No grabbing from others! If I or any other employee tells you to leave, leave immediately, you are trespassing. If pushing or shoving happens, you will be banned from all REI stores for LIFE! I can make that happen.”

With the threat of a life sentence away from our favorite store, the tension in the air was tangible. Like your first day in prison, everyone was contemplating what they would have to do to survive. I wanted to push EVERYONE.  I wanted to grab EVERYTHING!

When the floodgates were opened, I could see the people that had camped in line running like the wind to go grab armfuls of the best items. By the time I got in, many of the clothes racks had been pillaged, and the Vikings that had ravaged them were guarding massive piles of loot. I even saw one guy that had gotten his hands on three Mountain Hardware monkey man fleeces for $50 each.

I was able to snag a used REI Taj 3 tent for $39.99. It is a 3 person, 3 season backpacking tent that had formerly been used as an REI rental tent, and I’m sure it has been on many trips. It is in good condition, and as the weather improves, I can’t wait to pitch my tent!

As far as the sale went, I had the opportunity to buy some light North Face hiking boots for $35, and there were some decent snow shoes for $40, but I failed to pull the trigger before someone snatched them.  The sale was advertized as going from 9-2, but by 9:15, the place was mainly cleaned out besides a few canoes and kayaks up for auction at the end of the day. Overall, people were well behaved and courteous. For me, this was a great start to my Saturday. Up early, interaction with gear, and likeminded people, and a chance to improve my current cache of outdoor gear. I recommend REI Garage Sales for anyone; just get there earlier than I did. I will continue to look for them in my neck of the woods.