I survived spring break in Italia!

Bongiorno, buenos dias! I've returned to Salamanca from backpacking through Italy for Spring break. My friend and I traveled between Milan, Venice and Florence for 5 days. It was the most eventful, and most exhausting 5 days I have ever experienced. Our first day was spent camping out at the airport for almost 5 hours waiting for our 6am flight into Milan. Being unfamiliar with budget airlines, we did not realize the airport we flew into was an hour outside the city. Eventually we managed to make it into Milan and find our hostel. It was a long day. We spent the next day in beautiful Venizia (Venice). It was my favorite city on this trip and unlike any other place I have ever seen. We spent the day grabbing yummy pizza and gelato while checking out the major city sites. Every bakery you pass on the street is hard to resist and shops full of beautifully crafted venetian masks lure you in. We were easily distracted with all the shops and scenery of the city. I truly believe it is impossible to not get lost in Venice. The streets are not always clearly marked, and on a map there are many tiny streets which are often confused with the canals running throughout town. Venice seems like a small place, but when you get lost it can take hours to get around. We managed to find a place recommended to us where they fill a plastic 1 liter bottle full of your choice of wine for 1-2 euro! We spent an evening in San Marco square with our new friend drinking our bottled wine.

In Venizia with my travel buddy Jon from Salamanca

Florence was my second favorite of the three cities. Florence has many historical, artistic, and scenic attractions. The city view of Florence is beautiful with the large golden dome of the main cathedral standing out and the river with its bridges surrounding the city. What I enjoyed most about Florence was spending time with the new friends we met. The girl we met in Venice ended up coming to the same hostel in Florence where we made two other friends. We spent our last day in Florence with a half day trip to Pisa to see the leaning tower and the rest of the day at the Uffizi gallery.

Jon and I with new friends we met from Florence.


City view of Florence

During this trip we found that the train Italy was not as easy to use as expected. We tried countless times to buy train tickets online which never worked, waited in line to use confusing ticket machines, and my friend was fined for not having a validated ticket. It is a rather hectic system. One man at our hostel told us that you are supposed to have a validated ticket, but no one pays the fine. He told us that people refuse to pay it all the time. I guess anything goes for the rules of Italy's train system? It was not as reliable as the system is at home but we managed. We also found that some of Italy's museums such as Uffizi are not student-friendly if you are from outside the European Union. Student discounts are only offered to those with E.U. student ID's. By the time we reached Florence we realized that in general Italy seemed more expensive, especially to dine out. The cheaper we ate the better the food was. I think for many Americans when they see a meal for 15 euro they are expecting a pretty good meal. I think the least favorite meal we had in Italy was the most expensive.

Security in the Italian airport was quite a mess. If you think that American airport security is hectic, wait till you see the airports in Europe. It wasn't that security was better, but that security was hectic from being so unorganized. It took almost an hour to go through the crowd referred to as the security line. A lot of people were even cutting to get past security. If they were to try that in America people would have a fit.

12 hours later from the time we departed Milan (between buses, planes, metro and another bus), I arrived back in Salamanca. It was relieving to feel like I was home. After this experience Salamanca really feels like a home away from home. I never thought that 5 days in Italy could feel so long. We were so productive because from the time we landed in Milan to the time we left, we were always busy sight seeing, traveling and meeting people. Compared to the friends we met from our hostels, our stay was very short. After this spring break I do not think I could backpack as long as our friends did. I realize just how exhausting it is and how much planning is necessary. All the friends we made traveled on their own. I don't think I would enjoy doing this trip alone because it is a bit stressful. Aside from my friend getting fined for the train, I would say we had fortunate luck during our trip. Every moment was something to remember. It was definitely an experience I won't forget and I have learned a lot about traveling.