A trip to the tech store

Gatea to Marina di Minturno - 13.24 miles

After a heavy rainfall the day before, Gaeta was squeaky clean when I passed through, charming and glowing with the post-rain sunshine. Of course, now that I had no camera, various excellent photo opportunities presented themsevles, and I bit my lip each time.

After walking about two hours, I reached the tourist information center in Formia, where I had promised to stop upon leaving Antonio at the Gaeta tourist office the evening before. Together with his coworkers, they excited plied me with questions, gave me pats on the back, and even bought me a panino for lunch. When I asked about Campania, they printed out maps of the region for me, and gave me some advice about which way to go and what to see. Finally, they saw me off with precise instructions on how to reach a shopping mall where I could purchase a replacement camera.

The shopping experience was interesting in the difference between what I expected and what I received. Going to the Italian version of Best Buy, Euronics, I found all the cameras behind a glass case, and had to wait ten minutes for someone to open it, so I could actually handle the cameras. When the service representative did come, he was mostly ignorant about the cameras, and was very pushy about slling them. The display said very little, the cameras were not charged so hands-on testing was impossible, and when I asked to see some manuals or spec sheets, I was told this was also impossible. So, I who read three online forums and hundreds of opinions before buying toilet paper (but the strongest, fluffiest, cheapest two-ply TP on the market, of that you can be sure) was forced to purchase a camera with my eyes closed, so to speak. I walked out feeling profoundly unsatisfied. How spoiled we are in the US, with the ability to touch and feel and test and research products before we buy them! You might think this whole discourse is petty, and you might be surprised I chose to mention it, but in the day to day errands lie the differences that make a foreign country feel different. These are the little things that expats find themselves missing: that is why I mention it.