Italy was the most anticipated country for me. Originally, I had planned to spend an entire week exploring Italy during my spring break but the opportunity to go to the Sahara Desert forced me to change my plans. My friends and I decided that we wanted to tackle 3 cities in 4 days. If you wanted this to be an informative guide on how to properly do this, you’re wrong. Everything that could’ve gone wrong definitely did. But it made for some cool stories and some lessons learned. I actually consider ourselves to be lucky. Despite much of the trip ending up not going as planned we happened to avoid a lot of other problems too.
It’s Thursday morning, we’re flying into Turin and the plan was to train to Milan, explore the city for the day and spend the night. On the way to Turin, I opened my window to find a view of the Italian Alps. I was instantly struck with the realization that I was going to Italy. At this point, I’m getting really antsy and excited. The plane lands and one of we connect to cell service. We check our train tickets and realize we have 20 minutes until it leaves. I’m not an advocate for standing up as soon as the seatbelt sign turns off but in this situation it was necessary. I kindly ask the old lady next to me to move and we all jog out of the boarding bridge and scan the airport for signs pointing to the train station. Thankfully, we were able to run to the station with a few minutes to spare. We scan the signs and departure signs hanging on the walls. “I think we’re in the right place” I say. Wrong. My friend Ella looks at the platform on the other side of the train tracks and shrieks. I look up and read “Milan. 10:30” we all run back down the stairs with our large backpacks bouncing on our backs and run up the other platforms stairs and make it just in time. We find a few seats on the train and sigh. We almost missed our train.
I had one request for my friends while in Milan and it was to wander into a few designer stores and feel up a few bags. We check into our AirBnb, and walk an hour into the city center. Our first stop was Gelato and whilst walking we ended up surrounded by a few guys. They begin tying bracelets onto our wrists saying, “Gifts from Africa!” and “Hakuna Matata!” I tried to refuse but before I knew it I had 3 bracelets. Before they had a chance to ask for a few Euros we walked away. We took a few pictures at Porta Sempione, walked through a really big park, stared at a horde of turtles, and made it to the famous Milan cathedral. Then we went window shopping in the Vittorio gallery. For dinner we ate a Fortuna, a pastaria that prepares their own pasta. A waiter flirts with my friend and although we wanted a discount we didn't end up getting one, but my friend did get his number.
The second day was looking up to be much better than the last. Or so we thought. We train to Lake Como and walk to the ferry and find ourselves in front of a line that seemed to wrap a dozen times around multiple sanctions. We realized it was the line to board the ferry. Knowing that we’re here for just a few hours, we realize we have to board this ferry or we wouldn't be able to see other parts of the lake. The line is beginning to move incredibly fast and the workers are checking tickets and letting people onto the boat. My friend Ella hurriedly googles how to buy tickets for the ferry. She finds the site and we all watch anxiously as she types in her credit card info. The purchase hadn’t gone through but we’re up to the boat now. The workers don’t seem to be checking the tickets thoroughly and when they come to us my friend flashes her phone on the payment screen and we enter the boat. If he had taken a few more seconds to look, he'd find that they purchase hadn't gone through just yet. We sigh and get on the boat. We decided to get off at Bellagio and walk around the city for the remaining time. We got some pizza and took lots of pictures.
Our journey to Venice was going to be a long one. The plan was to take the train from Lake Como back to Milan, board a train to Verona, and board another train to Venice. Two words. Train strikes. I had no idea but I would learn soon. This was probably the longest night of life. We board the train in the Lake Como station and wait for the train to leave. It doesn't last for about 2 hours. We were gonna miss the train leaving Milan for Verona, and the train leaving Verona to Venice. We all brush it off and collectively agree we were gonna figure out something later. We make it to Milan and make our way to the customer service booth. It’s closed. We have no choice but to take the next train to Verona and wait for the next train the next day. I think to myself, it’ll be fine. There will be some chairs, a bathroom, a charger port- it’s going to be fine except when we get there we realize that this particular train station was strictly outdoors. It’s 2am and as 4 girls, we can’t sit in the cold with a bunch of random guys walking around. We type hotels into our maps and ask about 4 hotels if it’s okay to sit in the lobby. They all say no. Until we walked into a smaller hotel, it might have been a motel and asked the old man at the desk. He contemplates for a second but eventually gives in. He lets us sit on a table and we all take our backpacks off and lay our hands on the table in a circle. We could’ve used a bathroom but we didn’t want to test our luck and waited for our 6am train.
We board the train to Venice with about 2 hours of sleep and when we arrive we immediately make our way to our AirBnb. My friends are too tired to start the day so they all take a nap. I decide that I can sleep later, take a shower, get ready and leave. I wanted to explore a little and grab some coffee. Venice was definitely my favorite city on the trip. It was incredibly gorgeous and despite the long night I had, I felt incredibly blessed to be in Venice. Although our luck with timing was shot, the weather in each city was absolutely perfect. I walk through a crowded street and succumb to a vendor and purchase the ugliest shirt I had ever seen and then head to a leather shop and buy a few purses for myself. I stumble across a cathedral with the sign, “free entry for students”, and walk in. In the cathedral, I find a painting of Jesus that mom carries in her wallet along with figures popular in Filipino households. I leave and make my way back to wake my friends. We all leave for lunch and enjoy some pasta on the water. Walking through the city, we decided to take some pictures on a wooden plank on the water. We definitely should’ve realized that this was going to be a bad idea. I begin taking pictures of my friend when my roommate yelps behind me. “MY PHONE!” she says. I turn around and say “What?” I look into the water and realize what just happened. She just dropped her phone into the canal. At this point I lost count of how many stories I had to retell about this trip. She kept her composure though. She takes it as an unfortunate loss and says let’s just keep going. If I were her I think I would’ve sat in the AirBnb and sobbed.
It’s about sunset and we walk past a few gondola workers and my friend begins flirting with a specific worker. They don’t exchange much words but I could tell they were going to want to talk later. A couple walks onto his boat and he leaves. We ran up the bridge to watch them glide on the canal. He looks up at my friend and says “Meet me at San Marco Square!” to which my friend replies, “Okay!”. We make our way there and my friend convinces him to let us all onto the boat. What a save I thought to myself. The price of gondolas were about $100.
We make it back onto land and go to a bar. It starts pouring rain and begins to hail. A few guys are harassing my roommate and I. A specific guy looks at us and bows, followed by the words, “Jackie Chan” I couldn’t help but laugh. An hour later, I leave my friends to walk home and the same guy runs up to me, kisses me on the cheek and says, “You’re so different. So beautiful.” I reply, “I thought I looked like Jackie Chan?” and leave.
As soon as I get to the apartment, I lay on the couch and pass out. The next morning we attempt to board a train to the airport but guess what. All the trains were canceled. So we were forced to take a $140 Uber to the airport to make our flight on time.
If you’re going to Italy keep these things in mind. There will be train strikes, long lines, and time does not move slower for you even if you’re on vacation. Though Italy was a whirlwind, I’d do it all over again.