Travel Log - Italy, August 2013 (#Itantics)

I'd planned and started writing a big long blog called 'Uncertain Things'. That was going to be what I posted today, but what I'd written wasn't that great; it was off the top of my head, plus it really reflected some of my feelings of the day, and I decided in the end it wasn't best to write about those just yet. I thought I was maybe being a bit hasty, and once you've written something you can't take it back! (<-- don't pretend you didn't listen during those internet safety lessons!).

Instead,  I'm going to do a blog post on my recent trip to Italy!

I know some of you might be a bit bored by this, but I'm hoping my friends reading this will enjoy it, and it could give some of you ideas on where to go on holiday!

Enjoy!

Travel Log - Italy, August 2013

On the 6th of August 2013, me and five friends made our way to Birmingham airport. We were going to visit our Italian friend Arianna (from here on in to be referred to as 'Bari'), and we were sosososososo excited! Bari had lived in our town for approximately a year to study at our school, and we were all so sad when she went back to Italy. We hadn't seen her for 2 months- we were having withdrawal symptoms!

After having breakfast at the airport (we felt like adults) and then playing on the Mickey Mouse game stations (we're children inside), we got on the plane.

We flew with Ryanair (cue mini-rant, but I won't go on too much, if you want to know more about the negatives of Ryanair, ask my friend Abbie). They are cheap yes, but jeez they let you know it! Massive queues, plastic seats, hand-luggage limits; and they're always trying to charge you for something. Plus, unless you pay extra (see, ALWAYS charging you), there are no reserved seats.
So when you finally get through security and you're on the plane, everyone turns into vultures, desperate to get the seats they want. The six of us got split up, but even after the stress we got to sit in threes.

Here are me, Izzy and Anna, clearly having fun before take-off:

We touched down safely in Bergamo Airport, Italy (thanks Ryanair!) and Arianna met us at the airport.

It was hot and humid the minute we got off the plane, and on the way to the mountains we stopped for some lunch and the views were absolutely amazing:

Our lunchtime view.

The 'fatties' first group

 photo in Italy.

After sampling some traditional Italian bread and ham, we continued on to the mountains.

Seven big twists and a lot of little windy roads later (my absolute nightmare) we reached Bari's mountain house.

Us girls were given the top floor to share, and the views from our balcony were breath-taking. You felt like you were on top of the world. And, although we were all squished together in one room (not overly nice in the sticky heat), it didn't matter, because we were in such a beautiful place.

 

Despite only spending a few days in the mountains of the Alps, we did many things including visiting a ghost town and going to Switzerland for the day!

'Arianna's neighbours'

Dinner time at the Lavezinni household!

A tour around the ghost town
("Rubbish tour guide!")

A day out in Switzerland!

'Girls in a cave.'

After our time in the mountains, it was time to go back to reality, so we left the mountains and made our way towards Como.

A long drive in the rain later, we arrived at Bari's everyday house, and this is where would spend the rest of our trip.
Again, we were all in one room, but despite the slight sleeping issue (Anna took one for the team and slept on sofa cushions almost every night!) we had fun and got to spend as much time as possible with Bari.

"Work that thing."

Whilst in Bari's town on the outskirts of Como, we tried to do as much as possible, to make the most of our time in this part of the world. It was strange, as everything that was 'amazing' or 'cool' to us was just normal life to Bari, and I don't know whether it made us all appreciate everything more, but it certainly meant that for me.

One of the first things we did was go and hang out in a 'Sports Bar'. In England you'd expect that to be a small  smoke-filled room filled with TV screens, pool tables and old men drinking, but in this town it was very different. We sat outside in the sunshine with our drinks and just talked, not something you can always do in a bar at home.

Chubbs, Baz and Anna.

"Lets leave them
 a present."

And next on the agenda was a trip to Milan!

We went via the train.

We were all so excited, as Milan was a place that we all wanted to visit, and it's safe to say it didn't disappoint us!


In an amazing designer shopping
centre in the centre of Milan.

Surrounded by shops the entire time, Milan certainly IS the fashion capital of Italy, if not the world. Even if you can't afford to go on a shopping spree (God knows we couldn't, plus we had no room to spare in our suitcases!) it is still a massive city full of lots of exciting things to explore.

There was also a MASSIVE park, filled with live music and lots of places to buy Italian ice cream - mmm!

We had the next two days to spend in Como itself, a beautiful place home to Lake Como, and Tom Cruise!
We didn't meet Tom, but out of the number of gorgeous houses there was, we probably saw his house!

Our first day in Como had consisted of shopping, wandering and sampling yummy street food (deep fried mozzarella balls, seriously DELICIOUS, try them!), but our second day was a bit different. We took the bus into Como again, ready in our swimming gear, and went out on pedalos on Lake Como!

 

Charlotte, me, Abbie and
 Bari on a pedalo boat.

Sunshine, good music and awesome friends, and being on the water, was definitely the best way to spend our last day in the centre of Como. Pedalling around a small part of Lake Como was so much fun, if you ever go to Como I'd really recommend it - it wasn't expensive either!

After being on the boats and using up a lot of our energy, we got some ice cream and looked out over the view of the lake. Then we decided to walk around part of the lake, and have a little paddle in it. It was a lovely way to see more of it, and we got to see a 'Grand House' which was beautiful, but it was safe to say we were pretty tired after that!

Having a paddle in Lake Como!




All of us by Lake Como.
(L-R Izzy, Anna, Shiv, Caitlin, Abbie,
Charlotte, Arianna)

We only had one day left in Italy! And after the busy week we'd been having, and the late nights staying up and chatting (what do you expect with us all sharing a room?!) we decided our last day had to be relaxing. We sat in Arianna's garden (a 360 degrees garden, as it went all the way around her house) and chilled out. Arianna found a hammock in her cellar, and her friend Laura came round to speak English with us.



 

Abbie, Shiv and Charlotte chilling out in the garden.

 

But, after a scrummy lunch (Arianna's mum had cooked us some AMAZING food during her stay, hats off to Mummy Baz) Laura had to go and we had to pack :(

 

We'd had such a great time with Arianna, and seen some amazing things and eaten delicious food. But personally, I don't think it mattered a whole lot what we did - it was just nice to see our friend again, 'cause it bloody well sucks sometimes that she has to live so far away.

 

Anna saying goodbye to Mone (Martley).

It was fair to say this is how we
 all felt by the end of the week!

Our last night came about too quickly, but we weren't going to spend it sad and stuck inside! Arianna's neighbours had been so kind to us when we arrived, baking us yummy cakes and always being happy to speak to us and say hello, and they had a young daughter called Camilla, so on our last night we took her out for ice cream.

It was a popular place, people everywhere inside and out of the parlour. It had a certain buzz, and you knew you were going to be eating something special. I think I had cookies and cream and chocolate ice cream (yeah yeah yeah "how was it that great if you can remember what you had?" IT JUST WAS OKAY?) and it was SCRUM-MY.

Then, after walking through the dodgy part of town in the dark (it was dodgy, a pimp lived over the road on Arianna's street) and nearly getting run over by multiple cars, we got home and said goodbye to Camilla. We needed to be up at 4am the next morning, and someone had the (not so) bright idea of pulling an all-nighter. At first it was okay, but then one by one we drifted off.. and slept through our alarms!
I'd never gotten ready faster in my life! We were all terrified of missing our plane, but we needn't have worried, as we got there in plenty of time (and I even got to have a cheeky sleep in the car, aaaaaah).

Our flight home was good, even though we didn't get to sit with each other again, and we landed safely back in Birmingham, England.

On the last night we talked about the food we wanted to eat when we got home- Anna had been craving pasta bake, and I was desperate for macaroni cheese. A bit ironic that the food we wanted the most consisted of pasta, and we'd just spent an entire week in Italy! But greeting my mum at the airport, I asked her if we could have it that night and.. I did. Hell yeah. And it was amazing.
(Just realised I went on a total food tangent there, got lost in the moment, sorry).

It was so strange to back, and to not share a bathroom and bedroom with my best friends. And I think I speak for everyone when I say we wish we could've brought Arianna back with us.

Thank you for having us Arianna, you're an awesome friend, and you are welcome back here any time. In fact, come back asap please!

Spending a week in Italy with my friends was a great way to spend part of my summer holiday. People always get the impression that a 'girls holiday' have to be about partying, drinking, and doing mad things, but it doesn't. There is such a thing as a 'girls holiday' where you just spend time with those friends that you love, and have fun without the drinking and mad partying. I'm not saying there weren't 'crazy' moments, things went on on the top of that mountain.. but I'm not going to divulge any of that ;)

I had a great time, and I love you Arianna! <3

I know this was quite a personal blog, something more for me and my friends to enjoy as they're probably the only ones going to be interested (!), but if you did enjoy it then that's a bonus :)

I've been lucky enough to go travelling quite a lot in my life, and I intend to do much more, so keep on the look out for more Travel Logs.

Lots of love, until the next time,

x x x x