This post is written by Katie, about her travel in Europe after IROS 2015.

I awoke at 8am, packed up, and checked out of Ostello Corniglia. Then I walked down the stairs to the Corniglia train station and waited for my 9:33am train to La Spezia Centrale. I arrived plenty early, so I had time to causally enjoy a mini-pizza for breakfast.

Although the train arrived a bit late in La Spezia Centrale, I still easily made my connection to IC505 which would take me to Roma Termini in about 4 hours. My compartment generally remained full, and everyone except me spoke Italian (and I don’t think anyone spoke English besides me). To an untrained ear, Italian seems to have some similarities to Spanish. I spent the 4.5 hour ride working on various things before reading the Rome mini-book for the last bit of the ride.

The scenery on the ride was mostly farms (some vineyards, some vegetables). There were a few beautiful ocean views as well.

The train arrived into Rome Termini about 20 minutes late, which was fine for me but some people definitely missed their connections.