Solo in Italy

So today I am going to share my solo travel experience to Italy. I took this trip back in March 2010. Once again it was me, myself and I (my favorite people😁). Like most of my vacation destinations this was a pretty random decision. Italy is one of the those countries that I was intrigued about from history lessons in school, mythology and popular culture. You hear about Italy or the Italian culture in many TV shows and books. So hey why not go for a visit?

I decided to join a tour group for this vacation to make it easier in terms of planning. The trip package that I chose was a seven day package with stops in Venice, Florence and Rome. I had heard a lot about both Venice and Rome. I didn’t know much about Florence but I was game to see what was happening over there. I was intrigued by Venice because its surrounded by water and I love to be in or near the water. Of course everybody has heard of Rome. So I went on line and booked the trip. Got everything together that I needed and got excited about the trip. No Visa is required for entry, so didn’t have to worry about that.

I flew out of St. Louis, MO, on to Newark NJ, where I then flew to Frankfurt, Germany and finally on to Venice, Italy. The flight arrangements were included as part of the tour package. This may be an unpopular opinion but I love international flights, or at least I used to. I am not sure how things will be once I resume travel after COVID 19. For now I am grounded. However, I tend to love the long flights because I get to rest, watch movies and for some odd reason, I love the food that they serve on international flights.

Not surprisingly as a solo traveler I drew some curiosity. It seems that a lot of these groups tours are booked by older people who may be retired, couples or sometimes a few friends traveling together. When you are a solo traveler for some reason everyone is curious about you. As part of the group tour you travel together locally, many times eat together as a group and tour some of the sites together. So of course I tend to get a lot of stares and questions. Are you by yourself? How old are you? Etc. People tend to be amazed when you travel alone and I have been told I am “brave” more times than I can count. I have noticed on some trips much to my dismay at times people feel that they need to take me under their wing and ask me to join them for dinner or activities that are not part of the scheduled tour. I’m somewhat of a loner, but sometimes I am up for being social. However it can become tiring to keep having to tell people you want to be alone, which is one of the reasons I have kind of moved away from doing as many group tours now. I believe there were probably 40-50 people in the tour group. On this particular trip there were a few people who befriended me, an older white couple, I believe they were from New York, two older white women, from California that were traveling together and an older black lady from New Jersey, that was also traveling alone (the only other black person on the tour). Turns out she also worked in mental health and travels solo often so we had things in common to talk about. I ended being entertained by my companions for most of the trip. I did manage to get some alone time, which I will discuss shortly.

Venice

So the trip covered three major cities in Italy. We started out in Venice. We were there two days, the first day was spent in an orientation to meet the tour guide and others in the group. There were some activities at the hotel primarily for meet and greet. The next day there was a boat ride to a glass factory where we watched talented craftsmen making beautiful glassware with an opportunity to shop. There was later a walking tour of Venice which included sites such as the Golden Basilica of San Marco and the Bridge of Sighs. It was a full day of sightseeing and then there was time to explore “on your own”, however I was asked to join some of my travel companions for shopping and dinner and I obliged. Later that evening I booked a Gondola Ride with Music which was nice. Several people from my travel group also attended.

Florence

The next day we went by bus to Florence I cannot remember exactly how long it took but it was a lenghty ride. We made a few sightseeing stops along the way to Assissi and Tuscany. We saw the Pizza del Miracoil with its Leaning Tower and other monumental sites. There was a visit to a local Tuscan farm and wine tasting. That evening was free time to explore on your own. I went to my hotel room to relax and soon there was a knock on the door inviting me out for a night on the town where I was treated to some Italian Gelato (Ice Cream) by my travel companions. I think they were intrgiued with me😁. So off I went to enjoy the nightlife and I had a good time. The next day we continued with on with more site seeing, city tours and historic sites which included the Academia of Fine Arts where Michelangelo’s “David” is housed.

Ok so finally after the tours I decide to take off on my own. Yes!! Now let the excitment begin. So I started off walking around the city, going to lunch, doing some shopping. Florence is a quiant little town and I loved it but, when it was time to go back to the hotel (which was within walking distance) I couldn’t remember how to get there. This would be my first but not my last time getting lost in a foreign land. Ok, so here I am with no tour guide and I cannot speak Italian with the exception of the few words the tour guide taught us on the bus including how to say “hello” and “toilet” so you can find the bathroom. Ok so now what? Well the tour guide had told us to keep a card with the hotel name on it with us. So I had the card. I had to stop for directions a few times. I would point to the card and after a few stops with a few people literally pointing me in the right direction. I found my way back. It retrospect, was somewhat hilarious. Their English was limited and I think the St. Louis accent was throwing them off. The last guy bless his heart walked me down the street and pointed the way for me to go, complete with using his fingers as a walking motion then showing me I would turn left when I got to the next street by pointing in that direction. I found my way back to the hotel safely. I throughly enjoyed my “Me Time”. We had dinner at a Tuscan restaurant and then the next day it was off to Rome.

Rome

The last stop on the tour was Rome. In Rome historic sites and sight seeing continued. We visited the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel, The Colosseum, and the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of The Pope . Rome is a very developed and fast paced city. There was an area that I would consider the downtown district with contained upscale designer shops and boutiques. I’m not a big spender but I did buy a nice leather jacket. Rome is rich in history and was a amazing place to visit.

The Weather, The Food, The People

So this is definitely one of my memorable trips. I love to immerse myself in culture and learn new things. Here are a few of the highlights on my experience.

• Weather-So I took the trip in early March expecting the weather to be in the 60’s at the lowest 50’s which is what the research showed. I always research the weather of my destination. However the weather took a different direction and it was cold and it actually snowed the first few days while I was there. I absolutely hate the cold weather and was not at all amused because a lot of the activities included walking tours. I had only brought a spring time jacket so I had to double up on shirts and socks and put leggings under my pants, luckily I had a cute scarf (a gift from my nephew) with me and was able to wrap that around my face when it got windy and I bought the hat I am wearing in some of the pictures and some gloves at a street vendor.
• Food-Unfortunately, I was not impressed with the food. I went to Italy thinking I am going to eat good. I love Italian food or what I thought was Italian food, but I grew up in a black household where we season our food. I ordered Spaghetti and they brought me just noodles and sauce. I’m like where’s the bell pepper, onions, mushrooms, meat???…oh well like I said it was ok. My Daddy did most of the cooking and his Spaghetti, Pizza, and Italian dishes had them beat. I couldn’t wait to get home and tell him about it. I miss his cooking so much. RIP Daddy. The food was ok but fell short of what I was expecting. Maybe the places we went to were just too touristy and they didn’t have the down-home Italian cooking I thought I was going to get.
• People-The people were very welcoming and very nice. I saw a few black locals but not many. The Italian men are very flirtatious and they love them some black women. I couldn’t go anywhere without them telling me how beautiful I was. They were like “your eyes”, your hair”…I was like oh ok this is where the black women looking for love need to go. So ladies if you looking for a little romance, maybe put Italy on your list. They love us over there😉.