A Bumpy Start to Our Holidays

Getting from Malpensa Airport to the city of Milan didn't turn out easy. But this was the first time I experienced such difficulty getting from an airport to the city. We arrived at Malpensa Airport at 12.50pm on a Friday. I read that one can easily buy train tickets to get themselves from Malpensa to Milano Centrale. It will take us approximately 50 minutes to travel 35 miles.

However, we reached the train station only to discover the lack of trains. The train workers were on strike, resultin in frustrated and confused tourists. We were directed to queue and buy train tickets that cost €11 per person. But this ticket will entitle us to take a bus that will bring us from Malpensa to Cadorna Station. After a long wait in the cold for the bus, we finally reached Cadorna Station to begin the next part of the unexpected journey - to find our way via the Metro from Cardona to Centrale. That cost us another €1.50.

We alightened from Milano Centrale and it took us some time to get some bearings at this big interchange before we finally found the hotel, which is some 400m from Centrale. We reached the hotel at approximately 4pm, a long 3 hours after our plane landed. We had initially thought of exploring Milan during the late afternoon & the evening, but such thoughts were dashed after a draining and tedious journey to our hotel.

Mayeb we should have learnt some simple Italian to ask for directions. Maybe we should have read up more to prepare ourselves for such contingencies. Maybe we should have braced ourselves for such long rides. Or maybe it is just our luck.