Europe, Italy

Not all those who wander are lost…but I am!

Not all those who wander are lost…but I am!

Sooooo I get lost…like a lot; I could get lost going down the street. I am convinced this is a genetic trait I inherited from my mother. All fine and good, I accepted my disability but when traveling this is NOT a trait you want to have. I figured it is high time to share some of my best getting lost travel stories. Enjoy!

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Crespi d’Adda

My favorite story has to be Crespi d’Adda because it is one of the most out there things I decided to do while in Italy. So Crespi d’Adda is a UNESCO Site that I wanted visit (read about my obsession HERE), and I was relatively close to it but you can’t reach it with public transportation. I devised a complicated plan that in the end worked but had a few roadblocks.

I took a train from Novara to Milan to Bergamo and then a bus to the town nearest to Crespi d’Adda; unfortunately I second guessed myself and got off a couple of bus stops too early. So I ate a snack while I waited for the next bus to come in 30 minutes. Finally I got to the correct bus stop and then I had to walk about half an hour to the abandoned town. I spent a while walking around the ghost industrial town that actually had a surprising amount of tourists considering its location (by the way all those people drove there from what I could see).

This part went wayyyy better than I imagined, however I had no exit strategy. I figured I would take the reverse way back but that didn’t work out because I was totally unable to identify any bus stops along the way and I got lost and ended up in a new tiny town. So at this point I was still optimistic and decided the best plan was to follow the signs that said: Milan this way. Just ignoring I was over 30 kilometers away, I figured that eventually I would find an alternative route.

Well I did eventually find a bus stop that was heading toward Milan in which I waited about 40 minutes for the next bus. From there it was easy: hop on a train that was heading to Milan and then switch to a train to Novara. Overall I was pleasantly surprised at my ability to manage this situation and boy did I walk my butt off!

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Tivoli

The town of Tivoli has 2 UNESCO Sites so obviously Will and I were going to see both. Our train dropped us off and it was an easy walk to the first site, Villa d’Este. We ate lunch and I pulled out my Google Maps print out to walk to the next site, Villa Adriana, which was only a 30 minute walk. I mean how far could they be! It was in the SAME town!

It was probably less than 15 minutes before Will made us turn around: we were walking along a highway road on the side of a mountain with no railing. 🙂 Google Maps neglected to include that information in its estimate. We then happily got on a bus that got us there in a few minutes. If I was by myself, I probably would have kept walking to be honest lol thanks for saving my life hunny!

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Padova

I was spending the weekend in Padova and printed out very clear directions from the train station to my hotel. I specifically picked a hotel RIGHT NEXT to the station so I wouldn’t have to drag my luggage half way across town. Well, I dragged it all the way across town anyways because I’m dumb.

In essence, I missed a simple left turn which then led me through a huge, yet beautiful park to the other side of the city all while pulling my obnoxious pink floral carry on with me. I ended up going all the way back to the train station after about an hour to retrace my steps and BAM my hotel was less than a 5 minute walk right on the street that the train station was on.

Luckily I can laugh at myself in all situations. And in the end my unplanned adventures gave me great memories and funny stories, totally worth it if you ask me!

JMF

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