Couple on ‘White Lotus’ Honeymoon Get More Than They Bargained for on Train

A video capturing a couple’s unique train ride on a ferry has gone viral on TikTok.
The video posted by Mandy (@mandy.ahoy)—a 34-year-old from the United Kingdom who lives in Sydney, Australia, with her husband Ray—has garnered over 201,000 views since it was first shared on June 27.
A message overlaid on the clip reads: “When you get the train from Sicily to mainland Italy and you didn’t realize the train gets on the ferry too.”
Mandy, who did not share her last name, told Newsweek that this “ferry train” runs between Messina, a city in the northern part of Sicily, and the port city of Villa San Giovanni in mainland Italy. But the journey starts in Catania, another city in Sicily, and can run all the way to Rome, the Italian capital, she noted.
The footage shows an aerial view over train carriages sitting on a ferry along a coast, as Ray is shown going into one of the carriages. A caption shared with the viral post reads: “If you love trains, you need to do this trip.”
The viral clip was shot in Sicily during the couple’s honeymoon this year. Mandy said: “We had our wedding in London and then honeymooned in Taormina, Sicily—White Lotus inspired!” The second season of White Lotus, the American television series about a fictional resort chain of the same name, is set in Sicily, with Taormina being among its filming locations.
Mandy said she moved to Sydney on her own a couple of weeks before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. “The country closed its borders, so I had to stay, which turned out to be a blessing as I met Ray and now call Sydney my home,” she said.
Mandy is not alone in her unexpected permanent move abroad as a result of the pandemic.
Around one in five U.S. adults (22 percent) were found to have either changed their residence due to the outbreak or know someone who did, according to a survey of over 9,600 adults in the U.S. conducted in June 2020 by the Pew Research Center.
Around one in 10 adults ages 18 to 29 (9 percent) said they moved due to the COVID-19 outbreak, which was higher than the share in any other age group, the survey found.
Mandy told Newsweek that her husband is “a bit of a train enthusiast, so we wanted to do something a little different for a day trip,” noting that “Italy has a great train network.”
The first-class train tickets, which cost €16 (around $18) for a round trip, were booked via an app, which allowed them to reserve their seats. The train departed from Taormina, and “it’s a really beautiful train journey along the coast,” she said. It stops in Messina for about 15 minutes before it boards the ferry via a track.
“You wouldn’t even notice you were boarding a ferry unless you were looking for it,” Mandy noted, explaining that the train, which is made of four carriages, “splits in half.” During their journey, there were two trains on the ferry, with the other train having come from Palermo, a city in southern Italy. The ferry has eight tracks, so it can accommodate up to four trains at once, she noted.
Mandy recalled: “Boarding the ferry while still on the train was cool, and then you get to experience crossing by boat. We were fortunate that it wasn’t a windy day. The crossing takes about 45 minutes. When we got off the train and went up to the ferry deck, we were advised not to leave anything on the train as thieves operate in the area. The ferry has toilets, seats, and a café-bar, though the amenities are fairly basic.”
Upon arrival at mainland Italy, both trains joined together to form an eight-carriage train that continued to Naples, Italy’s third largest city, before heading to Rome, she said.
The viral post has amazed users on TikTok, such as Life of D who said, “This is so cool, didn’t know!!” Allu wrote: “This is wild.”
Vio_World_Citizen said, “That looks amazing!…” And user5719677697140 added, “Brilliant – love this.”
Juju said, “I’ve done this trip!! It’s so cool!!” Stefmicalleff noted, “I’m always fascinated by this.”
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