A Palace And A Prison On Each Hand

Whenever people complain about the speed of planes and how they take the "travel" out of seeing new places, I have to wonder what they mean. Certainly a slower means of transportation affords greater views, but there are so many pitfalls and so much time wasted on the road. Removing "travel" from a trip means getting to wake up fresh in a new city without the annoyance of waiting at train stations at the crack of dawn, lugging your suitcase up dozens of stairs, and wondering when you're going to stop rushing long enough to get a bite to eat. I do like walking around new cities rather than taking a taxi or metro or other means of swifter transportation. I don't mind going out on a boat and just taking in the ocean. But when I'm trying to get to a new place, I'd rather skip all the time spent on the road getting there. Needless to say, our train ride from Pisa to Venice was less than enjoyable. However, we survived and even befriended an Italian actor along the way (random strangers like to talk to me and I can't really dissuade them otherwise).