Better late than never, some would say.
I recently took a trip to Italy over my birthday. Six months prior, it was kind of booked on a whim as I did not have much time to think if I should book the flight or not. It was literally a once-in-a-lifetime price that was too hard to pass up: $250 round trip from USA to Italy. I'm there. I didn't know if I would be able to get anyone to come with, but I knew I was on my way! Luckily, I have the most amazing cousin and also on a whim, she took her credit card out and booked it with me! I think it's safe to say it was by far the best trip I have ever been on - it was only a week, which is no where near enough time to see all of Italy, but we accomplished so much within the time period that we were there.
My journey started a bit before my cousin, Emily. It started in San Diego with a layover in Phoenix. From there, I took the red-eye to JFK. Since our international flight didn't leave until 5:00pm, I opted to hang out in the airport all day (12 hours). It sounds torturous but personally, I love being in airports, as much as they can lack great food. I was dead tired and I still had another night to fly but I found a bright spot to have some less than mediocre food and watched the airplanes take off.
It was around 2:00pm when Emily was finally dropped off and I knew it was all about to start. I was so surprised on how well she packed, she had packed less than me which is pretty difficult to surpass!
We finally were off to our next layover; Toronto, Canada. Lucky for me, my cell phone plan had free international texting which was a lifesaver because Emily did not have any service once we left the United States. When I was in Morocco and Spain a couple years ago, I did not have the same plan so it was a little tricky getting around and staying in communication with friends and family.
By the time we reached Toronto, it was dinner time. We bought a bottle of wine and greek food. We laughed and laughed and killed the time pretty quickly. Off we went!
Now boarding: Toronto to Milano. This was it! Our trip! We had been waiting for so long! To me, part of the excitement of a trip is building your way up to the vary moment. Planning, driving to the airport, and taking off.
The next morning, we landed in Milano. Given that many international airports are, well, let's say, travel-friendly for international arrivals, it was easy to navigate with all of the English signs. We took the train to the closest stop to our hostel in downtown Milano. Going on 2-3 days of no sleep, I was becoming a zombie, but I knew I couldn't sleep and waste much time.
I know there are a lot of hidden gems throughout Milano, but as I have heard before arriving, Milano is one place that would be safe to skip for any future Italian trip.
Our hostel was great, service was superb and our next day was off to Venice, Italia! I used to live right near Venice, California so it was so exciting to see the real thing! The train ride was gorgeous; about two hours. We finally arrived in Venice, and with our heavy backpacks, we ventured over to our hostel, which was about a mile or two in walking distance. Cars don't exist there because, as many of you should know, there are too many canals. The primary way of transportation is your two legs. The second option would be the ferry or boat rides. Turns out, the touristy gondola rides were 80-100 euro so we passed that one up.
Emily and I walked a ton throughout Venice. We got lost, we took pictures, we bought souvenirs, we found bars, we made friends, we walked some more and the night was always young.
Due to the short amount of time we had in such an amazing country, the next day we were off to Florence. What a stunning city. We did not get to see everything but we saw a good majority. That evening and the following evening we had stayed at Emily's friends apartment. The city was too pretty to waste time sleeping so we pretty much stayed up both nights, met more friends and explored under the city lights. Life was grande. The second day we explored the leather markets, bought too much leather after being a tad bit too hungover, oh, and I should mention it was my birthday in Florence. Emily and I stumbled upon an amazing restaurant and we enjoy dinner along with Tiramisu with candles!
Side note: I make it a point to plan an awesome trip over my birthday and have been doing so for the last 6 years. It never fails. You don't have to plan some party or worry about who is going to show up. You indulge yourself in the new city or town you are visiting, have a nice dinner and continue to experience what life has to offer.
Knowing that Venice and Florence were by far our favorite places so far, we knew what was ahead. We purposely booked our last night in Cinque Terre, Italy's west coast, north of Amalfi coast.
I stumbled upon an apartment for one night on TripAdvisor before we set sail to Italy. I felt confident in booking this accomodation because the owner used to live in Los Angeles and also went to UCSD which is about a mile away from me! Small world.
If I were to briefly explain Cinque Terre, I would say that it is a little slice of Heaven. We arrived on a damp day with a light rain shower in the afternoon. We weren't bummed, as it gave off this amazing vibe: we were literally in a rain forest with birds chatting and the aroma from all the plants and flowers was something I've never experienced. We were overlooking a stunning cliff, drinking wine and attempting to practice our Italian with a Native. That conversation didn't go over too well, but we were able to get some laughs in!
The next day was sunny and beautiful. Cinque Terre means 5 villages so, what better way to start the day than going to each village, which is in hiking distance. We hiked to all 5 villages, while most people do not get to experience each once in such a short amount of time. We figured since we were there, we might as well go all out! Once we arrived at the last village, Monterosso, we stayed awhile on the rocky beach and took in the view. I found rocks and seaglass, we laid in the sun and we then took the train back to the first village where our belongings were, Riomaggiore. After making a pit stop, we took a night ride back to Milano, where our hearts began to sink because we didn't want to leave Italy.
Mind you, as a lover for travel, I always had Italy in the back of my mind but I never knew I would be going there so soon. To be honest, I never really knew much about the country other than the main cities and Tuscany, but it's very safe to say that I cannot wait to go back. I want to explore more and more countries but I would be okay with visiting Italy more than once. When I go back, I would probably start in Florence or Rome and explore the southern areas, including Naples, Amalfi Coast and Sicily. If I allowed myself enough time, I would even consider the little islands off of Italy like Sardinia.
Below you can find a few photos from our trip. In closing, I have to say that Italy is a MUST. It's different in person, pictures don't do it justice, you have to go!
I recently took a trip to Italy over my birthday. Six months prior, it was kind of booked on a whim as I did not have much time to think if I should book the flight or not. It was literally a once-in-a-lifetime price that was too hard to pass up: $250 round trip from USA to Italy. I'm there. I didn't know if I would be able to get anyone to come with, but I knew I was on my way! Luckily, I have the most amazing cousin and also on a whim, she took her credit card out and booked it with me! I think it's safe to say it was by far the best trip I have ever been on - it was only a week, which is no where near enough time to see all of Italy, but we accomplished so much within the time period that we were there.
My journey started a bit before my cousin, Emily. It started in San Diego with a layover in Phoenix. From there, I took the red-eye to JFK. Since our international flight didn't leave until 5:00pm, I opted to hang out in the airport all day (12 hours). It sounds torturous but personally, I love being in airports, as much as they can lack great food. I was dead tired and I still had another night to fly but I found a bright spot to have some less than mediocre food and watched the airplanes take off.
It was around 2:00pm when Emily was finally dropped off and I knew it was all about to start. I was so surprised on how well she packed, she had packed less than me which is pretty difficult to surpass!
We finally were off to our next layover; Toronto, Canada. Lucky for me, my cell phone plan had free international texting which was a lifesaver because Emily did not have any service once we left the United States. When I was in Morocco and Spain a couple years ago, I did not have the same plan so it was a little tricky getting around and staying in communication with friends and family.
By the time we reached Toronto, it was dinner time. We bought a bottle of wine and greek food. We laughed and laughed and killed the time pretty quickly. Off we went!
Now boarding: Toronto to Milano. This was it! Our trip! We had been waiting for so long! To me, part of the excitement of a trip is building your way up to the vary moment. Planning, driving to the airport, and taking off.
The next morning, we landed in Milano. Given that many international airports are, well, let's say, travel-friendly for international arrivals, it was easy to navigate with all of the English signs. We took the train to the closest stop to our hostel in downtown Milano. Going on 2-3 days of no sleep, I was becoming a zombie, but I knew I couldn't sleep and waste much time.
I know there are a lot of hidden gems throughout Milano, but as I have heard before arriving, Milano is one place that would be safe to skip for any future Italian trip.
Our hostel was great, service was superb and our next day was off to Venice, Italia! I used to live right near Venice, California so it was so exciting to see the real thing! The train ride was gorgeous; about two hours. We finally arrived in Venice, and with our heavy backpacks, we ventured over to our hostel, which was about a mile or two in walking distance. Cars don't exist there because, as many of you should know, there are too many canals. The primary way of transportation is your two legs. The second option would be the ferry or boat rides. Turns out, the touristy gondola rides were 80-100 euro so we passed that one up.
Emily and I walked a ton throughout Venice. We got lost, we took pictures, we bought souvenirs, we found bars, we made friends, we walked some more and the night was always young.
Due to the short amount of time we had in such an amazing country, the next day we were off to Florence. What a stunning city. We did not get to see everything but we saw a good majority. That evening and the following evening we had stayed at Emily's friends apartment. The city was too pretty to waste time sleeping so we pretty much stayed up both nights, met more friends and explored under the city lights. Life was grande. The second day we explored the leather markets, bought too much leather after being a tad bit too hungover, oh, and I should mention it was my birthday in Florence. Emily and I stumbled upon an amazing restaurant and we enjoy dinner along with Tiramisu with candles!
Side note: I make it a point to plan an awesome trip over my birthday and have been doing so for the last 6 years. It never fails. You don't have to plan some party or worry about who is going to show up. You indulge yourself in the new city or town you are visiting, have a nice dinner and continue to experience what life has to offer.
Knowing that Venice and Florence were by far our favorite places so far, we knew what was ahead. We purposely booked our last night in Cinque Terre, Italy's west coast, north of Amalfi coast.
I stumbled upon an apartment for one night on TripAdvisor before we set sail to Italy. I felt confident in booking this accomodation because the owner used to live in Los Angeles and also went to UCSD which is about a mile away from me! Small world.
If I were to briefly explain Cinque Terre, I would say that it is a little slice of Heaven. We arrived on a damp day with a light rain shower in the afternoon. We weren't bummed, as it gave off this amazing vibe: we were literally in a rain forest with birds chatting and the aroma from all the plants and flowers was something I've never experienced. We were overlooking a stunning cliff, drinking wine and attempting to practice our Italian with a Native. That conversation didn't go over too well, but we were able to get some laughs in!
The next day was sunny and beautiful. Cinque Terre means 5 villages so, what better way to start the day than going to each village, which is in hiking distance. We hiked to all 5 villages, while most people do not get to experience each once in such a short amount of time. We figured since we were there, we might as well go all out! Once we arrived at the last village, Monterosso, we stayed awhile on the rocky beach and took in the view. I found rocks and seaglass, we laid in the sun and we then took the train back to the first village where our belongings were, Riomaggiore. After making a pit stop, we took a night ride back to Milano, where our hearts began to sink because we didn't want to leave Italy.
Mind you, as a lover for travel, I always had Italy in the back of my mind but I never knew I would be going there so soon. To be honest, I never really knew much about the country other than the main cities and Tuscany, but it's very safe to say that I cannot wait to go back. I want to explore more and more countries but I would be okay with visiting Italy more than once. When I go back, I would probably start in Florence or Rome and explore the southern areas, including Naples, Amalfi Coast and Sicily. If I allowed myself enough time, I would even consider the little islands off of Italy like Sardinia.
Below you can find a few photos from our trip. In closing, I have to say that Italy is a MUST. It's different in person, pictures don't do it justice, you have to go!
Train ride from Venice to Florence.
Traveling keeps me sane.
Monterosso, Cinque Terre, Italia
Part of our hiking trail in Cinque Terre
Just an "average" view.
Duomo di Milano
Riomaggiore!
Florence, Italia
View from the cliffs in Cinque Terre.
View from Rialto Bridge, Venice, Italy
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