I am a girl in my twenties and whenever I spoke to my friends about travelling alone they raised their eyebrows and my parents got triggered and thought I wanted to run away.
I always wanted to travel alone and experience a life where you know no one and have no one.
The thought filled me with awe and zest. This time I promised myself to travel to a new country and unravel it.
I am pursuing my masters in Travel Journalism in Barcelona at UAB and for our masters project each group was given a country to do a project on. Our project was based in Naples, Italy.
Initially we thought it will be challenging as the weather is harsh and there is mafia, But
sooner did we knew we were all geared up for a new experience of our lives. We are eight people in our group and everyone having a particular category to write abut such as culture, religion, music, family, gastronomy, so on and forth. We all travelled together and discovered amazing facts about the city and met new people. Somedays we travelled alone and discovered our beat.
The zest of knowing the unknown kept us going in the heat and made us walk each day 15kms. We went to the volcano and Pompeye (the volcano city), beaches, churches where the miracles happened, the catacombs, the best pizza places, tasting limonchello (local lemon drink), Napoleon food, Caffe del nonno( best coffee I have ever tasted), the fried pizzas and many more adventurous things. I loved the group work and how we explored everything together. I was so blessed to be in this group.
The highlight of Naples for me was when I went to Pizzeria de Michelle where Julia Roberts went while shooting Eat, Pray and Love. It was such a magnificent experience as I am a huge fan of the movie and because of the movie I wanted to travel alone as well as to Italy. In that moment I felt the whole universe aligning things for me which I had always desired.
After Naples my travel alone started. I spent 4 days in Rome and met most amazing hostellers and spent days knowing fabulous people and doing some really stupid stuffs after that I would say, what happens in Rome shall stay in Rome. (*WINK*)
My journey continued to Florence and I met a pakistani person there outside a church, who showed me around and made the day magnificient for me. I saw the most amazing sunset and the whole city of florence brimming with the sunrays. It was a life time experience.
The next day I wanted to go to to Piza and Chinque terre but I didn't know how to do it alone and in one day as both of the places need time. Another miracle happened, at the breakfast table I met a South- African woman(Chifunilo) who seemed interesting and I introduced myself to her and asked if she would like to come along and she hopped in. We became amazing friends and we had stories to share. We unravelled leaning tower of Piza for us which was always a dream and later the most beautiful villages (Chinque Terre means 5 lands). As we were short of time we could only see Riomaggiore, Vernazza and Manarola. But I was blessed to experience the beauty of the villages.
My last destination was Venice, I always wanted to see venice, I booked a sharing car to reach there as all other transports were very expensive and in that car I made two another friends and we tagged along and walked all over venice creating new stories. I lived in a camping site in Venice which was another different experience and a delightful one.
I would say travel alone, build yourself, know yourself and discover yourself. In this journey of more than twenty days I learnt a lot about myself and met people from different walks of life and with a different experience. This world is a beautiful place and safe too. Just pack your bags and write your own story.
I always wanted to travel alone and experience a life where you know no one and have no one.
The thought filled me with awe and zest. This time I promised myself to travel to a new country and unravel it.
I am pursuing my masters in Travel Journalism in Barcelona at UAB and for our masters project each group was given a country to do a project on. Our project was based in Naples, Italy.
Initially we thought it will be challenging as the weather is harsh and there is mafia, But
sooner did we knew we were all geared up for a new experience of our lives. We are eight people in our group and everyone having a particular category to write abut such as culture, religion, music, family, gastronomy, so on and forth. We all travelled together and discovered amazing facts about the city and met new people. Somedays we travelled alone and discovered our beat.
The zest of knowing the unknown kept us going in the heat and made us walk each day 15kms. We went to the volcano and Pompeye (the volcano city), beaches, churches where the miracles happened, the catacombs, the best pizza places, tasting limonchello (local lemon drink), Napoleon food, Caffe del nonno( best coffee I have ever tasted), the fried pizzas and many more adventurous things. I loved the group work and how we explored everything together. I was so blessed to be in this group.
The highlight of Naples for me was when I went to Pizzeria de Michelle where Julia Roberts went while shooting Eat, Pray and Love. It was such a magnificent experience as I am a huge fan of the movie and because of the movie I wanted to travel alone as well as to Italy. In that moment I felt the whole universe aligning things for me which I had always desired.
After Naples my travel alone started. I spent 4 days in Rome and met most amazing hostellers and spent days knowing fabulous people and doing some really stupid stuffs after that I would say, what happens in Rome shall stay in Rome. (*WINK*)
My journey continued to Florence and I met a pakistani person there outside a church, who showed me around and made the day magnificient for me. I saw the most amazing sunset and the whole city of florence brimming with the sunrays. It was a life time experience.
The next day I wanted to go to to Piza and Chinque terre but I didn't know how to do it alone and in one day as both of the places need time. Another miracle happened, at the breakfast table I met a South- African woman(Chifunilo) who seemed interesting and I introduced myself to her and asked if she would like to come along and she hopped in. We became amazing friends and we had stories to share. We unravelled leaning tower of Piza for us which was always a dream and later the most beautiful villages (Chinque Terre means 5 lands). As we were short of time we could only see Riomaggiore, Vernazza and Manarola. But I was blessed to experience the beauty of the villages.
My last destination was Venice, I always wanted to see venice, I booked a sharing car to reach there as all other transports were very expensive and in that car I made two another friends and we tagged along and walked all over venice creating new stories. I lived in a camping site in Venice which was another different experience and a delightful one.
I would say travel alone, build yourself, know yourself and discover yourself. In this journey of more than twenty days I learnt a lot about myself and met people from different walks of life and with a different experience. This world is a beautiful place and safe too. Just pack your bags and write your own story.
This is so good Divya. Have been following your updates on fb all this while and wondering how you are doing it. Glad to know you are doing what you love and wanted for long. All the best and have a great time. Stay safe :)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much :)
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