> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://there-are-no-secrets.ghost.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # From [here] to [there] - URL: https://there-are-no-secrets.ghost.io/from-here-to-there/ - Published: 2026-10-09T19:27:43.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-09T19:27:43.000Z - Author: David Bass Usually, getting from a given Point A to a target Point B is extremely straightforward. You can drive, or fly, or take a bus or train. We've been in Europe over five weeks, with overnights in Geneva, Montreux, Amsterdam's suburb of Utrecht, Paris, Dijon, Lyon and Avignon, plus a number of day trips. While that route isn't much of a straight line, the travel logistics are pretty easy. Until now. Point A is Avignon, in southeastern France. Point B is La Morra, in the Piedmonte region of northwestern Italy. As the crow flies, these cities are approximately 160 miles apart. In September, with more tourists in the area, a single train ticket could get us there. (Checks calendar...) But it's October now. If you have a car, you can drive. The shortest route is about 230 miles; the fastest route is a bit longer and takes about five hours. But we don't have a car. Every option we explored had some insurmountable problem, until... We took a train from Avignon to Marseille, which has a train station near its airport and spent one night at a hotel between the train station and airport. The next morning, we flew from Marseilles to Paris, nearly 500 miles north. There, we connected to another flight to Milan, a little over 500 miles back south and a little further east. In Milan, we rented a car to drive to La Morra, roughly 100 miles back southwest. I hadn't driven a manual transmission in about 40 years. The reason this made sense (?) is that we can return the rental car back to Milan and take a train from there to our next stop. A couple of problems arose, however. I had set my google maps to bypass toll roads, which added 40 miles, countless roundabouts and doubled the drive time. And one of our rental car's headlights wasn't working at all and the other one just barely. One tail light also was out. Because of my cheapness regarding toll roads, we didn't get to our destination (a charming, hillside bed-and-breakfast) until it was nearly dark and definitely raining. To recap... one train ride, one hotel room, two flights, one piece-of-shit rental car, some dollars, and approximately 1200 total miles got us here. It's going to be great! If we were traveling with a baby, or picked up a hitchhiker, or had some ticking time bomb deadline to get here, we'd have the makings of the next great road trip comedy film. No 'by the numbers' today. There are plenty above already.