Breakfast as usual, left at 1030 am as usual, but today I split up with the rest of my family on the subway line to have my own day in Rome. No sightseeing, no historic monuments (not by foot anyway, signed up for a bike tour), nothing else. Just me and the city. Or at least me and the cheapest bike shop in the city. I arrived there at the spritely time of 1125 am, to fond it closed. Then I found out, after walking to a second bike shop that was also closed, that bike shops open at 4 pm? Maybe they were open in the morning, who knows. So now I have a bit of a problem. The bike shop opens at 4, but the tour of unusual sights in Rome starts at 3, so now what do I do? The bike shop is only a priority if I'm renting a bike in Venice, but the guy hasn't emailed me back yet with a quote. What do I do now? I asked around for the nearest internet cafe (never pulled out a map, wouldn't have helped me anyway) and checked my email. No email from him. Options? I see telephone booths, so the guy tells me it's 30 centi/min to call a cell number. I do, and after a bit of trouble I manage to get him on the phone. His mother is dying, he hasn't responded to over 300 emails about rentals in the past week. He says if I just send him one more email with the subject "spoke on phone about bike" or something like that (his english wasn't perfect) then his brother would be able to send me a quote. I was apologetic for harassing him and he insisted it was okay. Then I went back to the email (this time for 6 minutes instead of 15 minutes, saved myself an extra 20 centi that would later be put toward an orange soda in exchange for a street-side seat), and I emailed him about the bike. Then I called the tour people and cancelled. I'm going to buy those shorts and I'm going to fight tooth and nail for my vacation, my way. This time, I'm okay with it not working out, but I have to negotiate this until it works out for me, one way or the other. I'm sitting in front of that orange soda snack bar, outside at a small table with a small chair, waiting for 4 pm to roll around.
I hate that I've been in a lousy mood every time something went wrong with this vacation, most of the time it's probably a better idea to be more complacent when problems arise on holiday and to just try to have a good time. However, if I were always naturally like that, something to which I sometimes aspire, I may have long ago accepted that my GPA was too low, and I may have given up and tried to pursue something else. Because I bitched and complained and, to put it more politely, negotiated and persevered my way toward whatever it was that I so badly wanted, despite many telling me I wasn't wanted, needed, or even adequate, (inhales slowly while everyone reading this prepares to roll their eyes), I'm somebody now.
-----Update-----
I bought the shorts, and now I'm sitting in the hotel lounge area, feet and legs recovering, blogging in the dark. They emailed me back! The bike rental people, that is. A man e-mailed me back and asked for my height and inseam. I don't know my inseam off hand, but I told him the make and model of the bike I last rode and that it was a 50 cm bike, and I told him my height. Hopefully that will take things somewhere, and hopefully this rental doesn't cost an exorbitant amount of money because he has yet to tell me the price of the rental. Nothing is set in stone, but at least there's a dialogue going. I may have my rental by the 22nd yet, we shall see. I will continue to be optimistic, and I will not be let down by failure if it occurs because this is just how things are in Europe. Fine.
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