London to Venice – In Transit

Over a thousand miles, traveling through six different countries, three blokes embark on a long and arduous journey, the destination? The 70^th annual Venice Film Festival.

Setting off on Wednesday 28^th August from London, UK, we travelled to Folkestone to catch the Eurotunnel before speeding through France into Belgium. Onwards then to Germany, where we organized a film screening at a film academy in Ludwigsburg, close to Stuttgart. The sun was battling our plasma in the late afternoon so time came to up sticks and find a stop for the night.

Cue Berkheim, Gemany – we made our stay in a strangely surreal village that was too clean to be populated by humans. Spending an evening drinking local beer and eating traditional cuisine – we slept comfortably that night, savoring the moment, knowing that soon our camping experience in Italy would begin and our home comforts left behind.

From Germany, we travelled through the beautiful mountains of Tirol in Austria, oddly astounded by three-mile tunnels and a McDonalds with a ‘super-sized’ view that would be sure to distract even the hungriest tourist.

After Austria, we moved onto Italy where the mountains shrunk and formed vast agricultural plains towards Verona.

Gaining sustenance and losing weight at various rest stops, stretching out conversations on pet hates and peeves; we occupied our minds with thoughts of the Venice Film Festival and its prestige. Passing Verona towards Venice, where we traversed the bridge from the mainland to Venice, taking in the sea air.

Getting to the festival required driving onto a ferry that took us between the Venetian islands past Giudecca, San Marco and then onto the Lido – we arrived at our campsite after dark on Friday to pitch a tent by the light of a head-torch.