I came here with nothing planned. The things I knew:
1. My parents were coming July 29th-Aug 9th
2. My program ended on Aug 2nd
3. I needed to be in London by Aug 14th to meet Lindsay, one of my best friends from Tustin, for a music festival
4. I leave to head home on Aug 20th from London
I had some unanswered questions heading into Florence. Was I going to stay in Florence all month? Who was I going to travel with? How was I going to kill 6 days after my parents left until my next location?
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| The Crew in Barcelona's IceBar |
Well, if you've been following the blog at all, you know I have barely sat still in Florence. With my travel buddies Sam, Sarah, Alex and Steve (give or take a couple different people at each local) we explored all over Italy and even made it to Barcelona during our weekends. Our Barcelona trip was planned on a Wednesday and we left the next day for our flight. When we got on the plane we had no where to stay... talk about a spontaneous trip! We ended up figuring it out and it all worked out amazingly!
My parents arrived the day after we got back from Barcelona, also with no plans. We knew we had to stay in Florence for a week so I could finish classes and we needed to spend some family time with Lane and Aarika. We explored Florence for the week, doing all the tourist things I skipped for the month I was there. We then decided to road trip to San Gimignano to Wine Taste, Siena, Modena and then headed to Lane's house in Vicenza. (A whole post will be dedicated to the trips with the parentals)
From Modena, we decided to meet Lane, Aarika and their puppy Juno at Lake Garda because it was so hot outside (by hot I mean 100 degrees every day with at least 50% humidity, this California girl was not ready for that.) From then on it was day trips of our choice. At 10pm on Monday night we decided we wanted to drive somewhere for Tuesday and Wednesday. We basically looked at anything that was a couple hour radius from Vicenza and landed on Innsbruck, Austria.
Historical Note: Innsbruck is located in the mountains in Austria right past the border of Italy. It is a tiny city that hosted the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics. It's main tourist attraction is the Golden Roof and it houses the highest elevation Zoo in the world.
The reason I'm placing such an emphasis on this topic of spontaneity is because it is so unlike my parents. They are very good at planning vacations, but they do it all in advance. The fact that we packed up and headed to Austria was so spontaneous and fun!
My next spontaneous choice was choosing how I was going to kill the 6 days until I needed to be in London. My friend Matt, from my program, told me he was going to be in Prague from the 12th-15th of August which was almost perfect. I ended up finding out that my roommate from this past year Dana would also be in Prague starting the 10th, so to Prague I was going!
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| Matt and I in Cinque Terre |
I booked my ticket and then found out that one of my teammates in high school Cara, was playing on the Denmark national team while I was here in Europe. I texted her one day and said, hey meet me in Prague and she booked her ticket that night. Thanks for being spontaneous Cara! I am so excited to see Cara, Dana, and see Matt again all in Prague! All of my trips have just come together, and I am so excited to see how this one turns out.
I really think the spontaneity has added to my experience in Europe. Never again will I have this freedom to do as I wish, when I please. I am free to travel, live and learn with each step and each person I meet along the way. I really think traveling alone to Florence has allowed me this amazing opportunity and I have met some incredible people along the way.
I promise I will keep updating. Tim has been on my case about my blog, so if only for Tim, I will get my act together. I am with my brother for the next two days, my parents left today, and I leave for Prague on Sunday so there is time to write.
Miss you all!
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