A couple months ago, I made my first trip to Europe – Italy to be exact. A girlfriend of mine asked me to join her and her coupled-up friends since her boyfriend had no interest in visiting Europe. (Sadly, some fobs only want to visit the Motherland and of course, Japan) After she books my non-refundable flight, her bf decides to join us after all. Too exciting. I get to hang out with 4 couples. Lately, I’ve been basking in my singleness, but at this point I was feeling pretty sorry for myself and annoyed at the situation. By some stroke of luck, my friend Miguel had both the time and money to join me. And to top it off, his boyfriend wouldn’t be joining us. Score! See, everything always works out.
Or does it? My gf had made sure to let me know that this WOULD NOT be a relaxing trip. She had firmly suggested that we only bring backpacks. Imagine Miguel and me traveling w/ backpacks. Misery loves company and I was glad I had Miguel. Luckily I found myself a ROLLING backpack. Miguel complained he wanted to bring 4 pairs of shoes. Haha, I packed my tennis shoes and of course a pair of stilettos – I was ready to go.
We began our trip in Venice. I had a horrible time. The mosquitoes had no mercy. Seriously, 6 of us stayed in an apartment and I was the ONLY ONE bitten. Even worse, they were having a field day on my face. I was hysterical. My gf came up to me and tried to calm me down by showing me how she had gotten bitten too. Whatever, if she was bitten, her body had reacted 1000x less than mine had. I went to the local Pharmacia and pointed to my face and made buzzing noises. I bought some bug repellant & anti-itch cream. Whatever, they could have been selling me athlete’s foot cream for all I know, since it was all in Italian. I sprayed myself from head to toe, only to wake up the next morning with eyelids the size of golf balls. My roomies were beginning to think this was funny. I went on a rampage and started hunting those suckers down. They were so fat from eating me alive, they were easy to find and demolish. Okay, enough ranting on the killer mosquitoes. Venice looks just like it does in the movies. The scenery is great for a day. They only sell gondola rides, gelato, masks, and Murano glass. The first night I arrived, I took a long walk with Miguel. The city sleeps early. It was nice to have some chat time with him. It’s been 2 years since we’ve seen each other. So much has changed. So much has not.
We spent the rest of the time trekking through Milan, Siena, Florence, and Rome. Truthfully, I made no effort to plan this trip. I figured I’d just tag along with my gf and her friends. I made a few requests: wine tasting, outlet shopping, Pompeii. Well and of course I made another request to only travel within Italy. After all, with only 10 days I didn’t want to be all over the continent.
Milan was lovely. We discovered this great little café that charged €4.50 for soda. Well actually, I couldn’t afford soda in Italy. Vino was cheaper, so vino it was meal after meal! I learned that water comes with or without gas and that San Pellegrino is ridiculously over priced in the States. Paninos are delicious. Their café latte are far superior to Starbucks or Peet’s or any other coffee house back home. I learned the only Italian I ever need to know is “Prada”. I learned that after a full day of walking, it is very difficult to get my feet into stilettos. But I sucked it up and learned to walk on cobblestone with them on (actually I cheated, I hung onto Miguel). I was kissed in Milan by the hottest guy. He told me I was cute! Miguel dragged me away. Hehe, he’s probably jealous. After all, Miguel has been the only beautiful man in my life for a while now. ;o)
I fell in love with Tuscany. Florence, Siena, Chianti… I loved, loved, loved it there. The next time I visit Italy, I am going to spend my entire vacation under the Tuscan sun. The food was spectacular, the scenery so picturesque, and the people so warm and friendly. There was a pool, I wanted to go for a dip. Why am I the only one who ever brings a swimsuit? It should be law that if you need to pack for any trip, you MUST bring a bathing suit. My gf refused to go to the outlets, so Miguel and I decided to go by ourselves. And what an adventure it was! I scored some great finds and smuggled them past SFO customs… feeling guilty all the way.
Up to this point, all of the dining, architecture, art, and scenery had been amazing. We were sad that our trip was ending. The last leg of our trip was Rome. Aside from the Collesium, Rome really didn't do it for me. It was too metropolitan. We visited the Vatican and made an effort to see Pompeii. By now, tension had risen between my gf and Miguel. All the walking and lack of sleep had gotten to us all… On the last day, we took the wrong train to Pompeii and had wasted 4 hours on the train. I could practically see horns grow out of my gf's head - she decided to take the 4-hour train ride back to Rome to purchase a sweater she was obsessing about. Miguel and I decided against madly chasing a sweater, and instead, see Naples before heading back to Rome. When we arrived in Napoli, we realized we were in the WRONG part of town. I can’t describe to you how scared we were. The streets were filthy. People were sleeping on the street among their own feces. We could hear beer bottles being broken as fights broke out everywhere. The streets were lined with vendors selling boot legged copies of anything you can imagine. The people were no longer tall and beautiful and chic like they were in the North. Dingy, dirty teenagers stood around the streets looking us up and down. When Miguel and I decided to get back on the train, we bumped into a Dutch couple that was obviously tourists. They explained to us that we needed to go towards the water, the embarcadero and advised us to leave this part of town. We hired a taxi, and the driver offered to give us a tour for € 40. It was the most excellent adventure. He drove us all around town and pointed at everything we needed to take pictures of. He told us where the espresso was “Number 1 in all the world”, and took us to try it. He showed us the “Beverly Hills” of Naples. I was so glad we had not immediately gone back to Rome. I later found out that there were train delays (expected) and my gf didn’t make it back in time to purchase her sweater. Poor thing...goes to show, nothing can be forced, and we have to just make the best of everything put in front of us.
I discovered on this trip that I have more resilience then I ever thought possible. I had the time of my life; I can’t wait to do it again!!!
