How I organized a trip to Italy on my own

I've wanted to go to Italy for a long time, but for some reason I kept putting it off. It seemed that an independent trip there was already the highest league of travel. We need to figure out tickets, housing, trains, public transport, restaurants, Italian names that are impossible to pronounce the first time.…

And then I thought, well, what am I missing? And I started organizing the trip myself. Spoiler alert: I only lost a few hours of sleep, some nerves, and once almost lost myself at an Italian train station. Now about everything in order.

I chose the route first.

I wanted to see a diverse Italy, so I decided to make an approximate route: Rome → Florence → Venice → Milan. I have allocated about 10 days for the trip. No one wanted to sit with my moody cat any longer.

At first I wanted to add Naples, but then I looked at the map and looked at myself. And I decided that 4 cities were enough for me for now, because a vacation is still a vacation, not a suitcase-carrying championship.

I searched for the tickets myself.

At first, I spent several nights in a row comparing dates. To be honest, this is the moment when it seems that you are almost an aviation expert. In my search engine it was:

• "If you fly on Tuesday, it's cheaper by so much."
• "If you come back on Sunday, it's more expensive."
• "If you fly to a nearby airport, you can save money, but then spend the money on a transfer."

At some point, I opened so many tabs that I no longer understood which ticket I was going to buy. In the end, I found a suitable option and bought it. And here an amazing thing happened. Before the purchase, I was just planning a trip, after the purchase, I was already on my way to Italy. There was no turning back.

Housing: here I became almost a professional critic

I chose hotels not only based on photos, but also looked at the map, the distance to the center, reviews, and especially reviews from recent months. You know, a photo of a ten-year-old room can look great. But in reality, you will be greeted by a bed that remembers the football World Cup.

In Rome, I chose a place closer to the center, in Florence – so that I could walk a lot. In Venice, it was as convenient as possible, because I wasn't going to carry my suitcase across the bridges. Although, as it turned out later, Italy decided to have a little laugh at my plans.

Rome

I purposely left the first day almost free. I flew in, checked in, left my things and just went for a walk. Without a list of twenty attractions. And it was the right decision. It's impossible to look at Rome properly if you run along the route all the time. I walked, went to cafes, looked at the streets, squares and buildings. 

And then, of course, I went to the Colosseum.

And that's when I realized one simple thing.:

no photo conveys its size.

You stand next to me and think:

"So. But now I'm really in Rome."

I tried not to skimp on food in Rome to the point of fanaticism. Because coming to Italy and eating only buns from the supermarket is already too harsh an experiment, but I didn't arrange a restaurant for myself every night either. I alternated between cafes, small trattorias and ordinary places where you could just have a snack.

Florence

I went from Rome to Florence by train. And here the independent journey showed me its real face.:

• I bought a ticket in advance.
• I checked the time.
• I checked the train number.
• I checked the train station.
• I checked the ticket again.
• In general, I was 97 percent confident in myself.
• The remaining 3% still let me down.

At first, I couldn't find the right platform at the train station. Then I found it, and after a while I saw the train and realized that I was standing at the wrong car. I ran with my suitcase as if the whole Italian railway was chasing me. But I did, and Florence absolutely captivated me. This is where I first caught myself thinking that I don't want to rush anywhere.

• You can just walk down the street.
• Look around.
• Come in for coffee.
• Sit down.
• Go again.
• That's why I love independent trips.

Venice and my suitcase

I was already traveling to Venice with some experience: I knew that I needed to look at the route. I imagined that train stations could be big, and I realized that I shouldn't relax. However, I did not take into account the bridges: there are a lot of bridges and steps.

Now imagine me with a suitcase. I go up, down, up again, and down again.

After a while, I was already looking at each new bridge with the expression of a person who is ready to personally discuss some issues with the architect of Venice. But then I went out to the canal, saw the gondolas, looked at the old houses. And she forgave everything, and Venice can be forgiven a lot.

I saved Milan for last.

After Venice, Milan seemed to me quite different – more businesslike, faster and more modern. I liked this switching of travel modes. I specifically left time just for walking and shopping. But, of course, the trip couldn't end without an adventure.

Last night, I decided to wash a couple of things. Why? Because, apparently, I decided to prove to myself that even in Italy I am capable of running a household.

I loaded my clothes into the washing machine and pressed the button. It was only later that I realized that the instructions were exclusively in Italian. I stood in front of it and looked at the buttons as if I were trying to decipher an ancient manuscript. In the end, everything was washed, but I still don't know which mode.

How much did I spend?

I set a budget in advance and tried to stick to it. The main expenses turned out to be as follows:

• the flight depended on the dates and the city of departure;
• Housing is the most visible expense item, especially in popular cities;
• I bought trains between cities in advance, where it was profitable;
• urban transport – metro, buses and sometimes taxis;
• The food–it all depended on where I ate.;
• museums and attractions were also laid out in advance.

But there was one important point, I left a separate reserve of money for unforeseen expenses. And I strongly advise you to do the same, there is always some expense during the trip, which was not in any plan. "Well," I said, "since I'm here," a sudden taxi, an extra ticket, and a few purchases that just happened to be "necessary."

What I realized after this trip

Organizing Italy on my own turned out to be much easier than I imagined. Yes, you need to spend time, you will have to study something, you can make a mistake with the train, get lost, or not immediately figure out the ticket vending machine.

But that's exactly what makes the trip my own: I chose the cities myself, decided where to live, and made up the route. She could have changed it herself at any moment.

And most importantly, I wasn't in a hurry and didn't depend on anyone. If I wanted to spend three hours in a cafe, I did. If I wanted to turn into a small alley, I turned off. If the attraction suddenly wasn't impressive, I didn't have to stand next to it for exactly 47 minutes just because it was written in the program. And when I returned home and started sorting through the photos, I realized that what I like most are not photos of famous places, but completely ordinary ones.:

• Coffee in the morning.
• The street after the rain.
• The train window.
• A small trattoria.
• A suitcase in the middle of the room.
• My tired legs after 20 thousand steps.
• And the very picture of me standing on an Italian street and smiling.
• Because at that moment, I already knew for sure.:
• I was able to organize everything myself.

And now Italy for me is not just a country where I once went. This is a country that I know the way to now. Even if sometimes this road passes through three bridges, the wrong car, and a shower that turns on only after negotiations with it.