Exercise 2 Writing Skills

EX2
Composition: A nightmare journey
Carmelo Attolico

A nightmare journey I remember was last summer, in August,
when I was going to Bari to my parents’. I was travelling alone by
train to go on holiday for one week

and, soon after the

departure, the air conditioning in my coach broke down. The day
was very hot and there was no air in the coach because there
were no possibilities to open the windows. Thinking about a fourhour trip to arrive in Bari, I was starting to feel sick with the idea
of travelling without the air conditioning.
At a certain point I stood up and I went to another coach where
the air conditioning was working. But I didn’t find a free seat to
sit down and I preferred to stand in that coach until the end of


the journey. I arrived late in Bari and I was tired and very
stressed.
During the journey the speaker of the Italian Railway Company
was often apologizing to the passengers for the discomfort
caused and was announcing the ticket reimbursement.

Loredana Palermo
A nightmare journey I remember was in December 2010. I was in
Palermo with my sons and we had to return to Rome. Our flight
was booked on Saturday 27th December but we forgot the day
and we went to the airport the next day: Sunday 28th December.
When at the check-in desk they told us that we had lost the flight

and there wasn’t any other opportunity to fly to Rome, so we
decided to take the train. So we took the tube from the airport to
the station and we travelled by train during the night.

Carolina Scagnolari
A nightmare journey I remember was 8 years ago when I was
cominng back to Rome from Colleferro alone. I went to Colleferro
to teach at the hospital of the Sapienza University of Rome.
I was travelling by train but in the middle of the trip, after about
20 minutes from departure, the train stopped in a railway station


whose name I don’t remember. Then all passengers and I got out
of the train and took a bus to Rome.
Unfortunately, after ten minutes the bus stopped in the middle of
the street because it got a puncture. Then I waited for a new
one. The bus took 50 minutes to arrive in Rome, so that day I
waisted a lot of time! It wasn’t a lucky day!

Sandra Fersurella
A nightmare journey I remember was five years ago. We decided
to go to Prague on Christmas Holidays. The weather was awful
and the aeroplane couldn’t take off. We had to wait about three
hours in the airport.
During the flight there was a lot of frightening turbulence. When
we arrived in Prague we were very tired! My older son (he was
eighteen years old) was complaining because he wanted to
remain in Rome with his friends. My daughter (se was fourteen
years old) was complaining because it was too cold.
The first day in Prague we wanted to see the city but it was

raining cats and dogs! On the second day, my husband caught
the flu and he had to stay at the hotel. My kids and I went to a
museum but my son didn’t like that kind of art and my daughter
got bored.


When we returned at the hotel, my husband was very painful and
he asked us to take the plane to Rome. I booked seats on
another aeroplane for the following day. We were supposed to fly
five days later but we decided it was better to get home!

M. Gabriella Cetroni

A nightmare journey I
remember was on August 31st, 2013, in England. I was going to
the Edinburgh airport with my partner, Ugo. We were going to
London on holiday and we had to be at Edinburgh airport one
hour before the flight.
Margareth, one of our friends, picked us up very early in a “Park
and Ride” located across the famous Forth Road bridge, near the
motorway to Edinburgh airport. Soon, Margareth didn’t look sure
about the way to the airport, because she asked it to a pedestrian
and to some people at a bar. So she took the wrong direction a
lot of times.


Ugo and I didn’t know what to do, because Margareth looked
nervous,

confused,

but

also

very

sorry

about

what

was

happening. So I told her: “Please, don’t worry, be calm: we are in
time for the flight.” Anyway I remembered that 15 days before,
when we had arrived at Edinburgh airport from Italy, Margareth
had picked us up with John, her husband, and then he had
driven, so I was thinking that perhaps Margareth wasn’t used to
driving. Maybe John was busy when we were leaving Edinburgh
and his wife was too kind, offering to pick us up and to drive their
car.
But fortunately, fifthy minutes before the plane was going to
leave, we met some women who were talking in the middle of the
street and Margareth asked them the way to the airport and one
of them finally told her the right way to the airport. Then we
arrived at the airport in only ten minutes. We told Margareth:
“Thanks a lot!” and she was very happy because we were on
time. In fact we waited 15 minutes for leaving because our flight

departure was postponed. We weren’t travelling with a lot of
cases, so we didn’t need a luggage check-in and we calmly went
to the departure gate with our hand luggages.

Antonella Magagnini
My personal nightmare journey took place in the year 2006 and I
remember it very well. I was going to Palermo where I was
teaching etruscology at univerisity and on that day I had to
discuss the final dissertations. I travelled alone by plane with my
usual – but in that case very heavy – suitcase full of books.


When I arrived at Termini station, the train to Fiumicino Airport
was overcrowded, but I absolutely had to get onto it. In the end I
found a little place for me but I was being crushed by the crowd.
We arrived at Fiumicino Airport just in time, although the train
was moving very slowly. I remember it as a tragic situation. It
was very hard for me to arrive at the check-in desk and then run
with my heavy suitcase to the far airport gate. I was sure I would
miss my flight.
Luckily, in the end I caught my flight but when I flopped into the
seat I promised myself to travel with just one very light case in
the future.