Whilst traveling overnight by train from Monaco to Florence, Italy, me and a number of other young people (American college students) were robbed. The thief made off with all my Traveler's Checks as well as a wad of cash, and he did so sans wielding any sort of weapon (as far as we know). Instead, he simply quietly opened the door to our cab, and by cigarette lighter flame, delicately took what he was looking for ($$$).
Thankfully, within an adjacent cab, friends of mine were startled awake by his presence, and in turn, he fled. Unfortunately though, my things were gone, having verified this once I was jostled awake by my concerned friends who came to check on us.
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The remaining train ride into Florence was surreal, but what made it moreso was only the night before, I'd shared the gospel with a new friend, Stan (a fellow traveler within our group from MSU), who just happened to be riding with me. From that point forward, I vividly remember just sitting there in a daze and feeling extremely vulnerable.
Eventually, we arrived at the train station in Florence just after sunrise. From there, I filed a police report, and we made our way to the American Express office (having reached out to AMEX by phone earlier on). Therefore, within a few hours, I had my Traveler's Checks back in hand. This was reassuring, but didn't stave off the shock nor the surrealness. That took several days to diminish.
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As I stated within my last post, my sweet wife is currently hospitalized here in Jackson due to her recent stroke. Having not been allowed to visit with her (due to the pandemic), I can't help but feel as if this entire experience isn't reality. I cannot underestimate how bizarre I'm feeling as of late, but whilst looking back, I can definitely qualify these feelings in tandem with my memories from the summer of '94.
Very weird indeed.
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