on Sunday I jumped on a train to lake Como from Interlaken. This was quite the long travel day i left my hostel at 7:30 to walk to the train station it was quote the cold morning walk but extremely peaceful with the sun rise and the slight mist in the air. I had to switch trains 4 different times and two of the transfer Times were super close to each other, so once again i was running through the train station. I made ever one of them so that was quite reliving. The train didn’t go to the town i was staying in so i had to get off at a town across the lake. Mind you this was Sunday so i wasn’t sure what the ferry situation was going to look like. When i got off the train, but that was the least of my worry’s when i got off. We were in a tunnel for 20 minutes so i wasn’t sure what the weather was going to be like. To my surprise it was absolutely dumping rain it was like buckets of water falling it was insane.

I got my rain coat on in the train before i got off, the second of got off the train my phone got wet and was unusable so i had no idea where to go to find the ferry so i just walked towards the lake and hopefully i would see something that pointed me in the right direction. Luckily my idea of just finding the lake worked out because I popped out right where you buy the ferry tickets. I asked when the next ferry was scheduled to Bellagio. Luckily it was in 20 minutes but I had to stand outside and wait in the line to board the boat so that was not ideal but it was it was. I got off the 15 minute ferry ride and it was so pretty with the rain, fog and little city’s on the lake. I looked up how to get to my hostel and it said 25 minute walk, i was not thrilled to have to do that in the rain but oh well. I made it to my hostel and got checked in. The hostel was nice kinda different to find but the rooms were Very clean and welcoming. I got dried off and took the bus back to the town, one major mistake i made when i was finding my hostel was I didn’t look at the bus route so I could of avoided the walk but that is what i get for not being smarter.

AI made it to town and the town was so pretty it was everything you think about when you think of an Italian town. Narrow walkways cobble stone streets, little dining areas outside with music playing it was something out of a movie. I ran across a wine tasting store and I figured for all my troubles with travel I should get some wine. I walked in and felt so out of place, i don’t know anything about wine, all I know is I like white and not red. In college we would go to the local convenient store and get 2 bottles of wine for 10 bucks and drink that, so that’s my knowledge about wine. So when i walked in the guy asked me what type of wine i like and i said white so he started to explain to me the difference and grapes and what im supposed to taste. There were 8 bottle of white wine and i tried everyone of them and i couldn’t tell a difference between 5 of them. 2 were so nasty and the last one was super sweet. I finshed my wine tasting and tried to find a dinner spot, but some restaurants close at 5 then open again at 7. Finding one was a little difficult but i ran across one that was open, i sat down and told them it was only going to be me. Then the server started asking me where my friends were and if i had a girlfriend, i was kinda getting grilled when I just wanted dinner. I order rigatoni bolognese with a glass of white wine, the food was so good. This whole trip I have refrained from getting any pasta because i wanted my first time to be in Italy. And it was sure worth the wait. I walked home I didn’t take the bus because the weather was nicer and i figured why not just walk.

I made it home took a shower and started to watch football. Then a girl in the room asked if i wanted to go to dinner with them, i figured sure why not I got dressed and asked this other kid if he wanted to join us. We went to this little restaurant right by the hostel and since i just ate I had a small meet plater with cheese and wine. We ate and headed back and went to bed.

Monday morning i woke up and had breakfast at the hostel and was trying to figure out what to do for the day. The kid that went to dinner with us the night before his name was Zixiang from China but he was studying in France. He was kinda goofball at dinner he ate his pizza with a for and knife, he was just kinda funny. I was siting on my bed and asked what he was going to do for the day and we kinda had similar plans for the day so we hung out before he had to head out to Milan. We walked around bellagio for a while then took the ferry to Varenna where the train station was. We walked around that town for a while before getting lunch and gelato. After lunch we sat by the water for a while because we were not sure what else to do. He left to the train station and I got back on the ferry to Bellagio. He was so nice and friendly it was good to hang out with someone for the day. We made plans to maybe meet in Rome in a week to or so, we will see if that happens.

I made it back home and sat around for an hour or so. I wasn’t sure what i was going to do for dinner because it was starting to be that time but i didn’t want to go back to town. My next best choice was the grocery store but it was a 17 min walk away and it didn’t make any sense to take the bus so I started my walk to the store. I got some wine, cheese, meet and bread, I didn’t bring my backpack so i had to buy a bag. I was not thrilled about that but oh well. I made it back home and had dinner then went to bed.

Tuesday i got up had some breakfast and left to go explore some more towns. I got to the ferry ticket office and bought the all day pass for 17 euros, which was a great deal because one ticket was 6 euros. The first town i went to was Leno it was a small town that had a giant market going on. Right as we got off the boat there were probably 50 tents set up along the walk towards town. I walked around that town for a while then got board and hungry. I hoped back on the ferry to a little town called Menaggio. When i got there the first order of business was to find some food. I found a restaurant with spots available outside, I had a pizza and glass of wine. The pizza was very good Dave Portnoy would rate it about 7.9 i finshed my meal and explored the town a little. I know you wont believe it but i got board again headed back to Bellagio. While i was waiting for my ferry, a different one pulled up the port and it was a high speed ferry but what made it special was it was a hydro foil boat. It was the coolest thing I have never seen one in person.

I made to back to my town and didn’t want to go home so i did another wine tasting for a while. I really liked a wine and bought a bottle of it because it was pretty cheep and I figured if i get a pizza for take away i could have it with dinner. After that i took the bus back to my hostel and laid around for a while before dinner time, i went to that little bistro by the hostel and got a pizza for take away. I got the margarita pizza and it wasn’t very good, it had wayyy too much sauce on it and no basil. It was kinda disappointing but my wine was good at least. After my very mediocre dinner i got my bags packed for the morning because i was going to Venice for a few nights.

Wednesday morning i got up early and got a quick breakfast before getting ready to head out. My train was scheduled at 10:30 so I left my hostel at 8:45 and took the bus to the ferry terminal instead of walking because it was pouring rain and I didn’t want to walk with my giant backpack. I got there around 9 because I wasn’t sure the ferry schedule and i would rather wait then miss the train. I got on the ferry at 9:30 and made it to the train station by 10. I waited 30 minutes before getting on the train Milan where i would switch trains to head to Venice. The train was absolutely packed it was insane. I made it to Milan and the night before i was seeing so many TikTok’s saying there are so my pickpockets at the train station so i was very worried about that. I had a 20 minute connection and was hungry i looked in a shop and they had a sandwich for 10 euros I though what a scam so i just got on the train. I was blogging for an hour or so and got really hungry i walked to the restaurant on the train and got a sandwich and the smallest pice of pie for 17 euros I almost passed out when she said the price. I should of just got the sandwich at the train station. I guess that’s what i get for being JTJ.

I got it Venice and my hostel was super close to the train station so that made it very convenient. On the train i was looking for somewhere to get my haircut when i got to Venice. I got checked in and found a place to get my haircut, it was kinda close and had good reviews so i figured why not. The haircut was pretty good and cheep so I couldn’t complain too much. I made it back took a shower and got changed too go to the island of Venice. There were no hostels on the island of Venice so that’s why i stayed about a 10 minute train ride away. Almost everyone that is backpacking stays on the main land. I got to Venice and i was shocked with how big it was. I wasn’t expecting Venice to be that big but it is huge. Earlier in the day I texted the hostel world group chat asking if anyone wanted to get dinner and one guy responded. We met and went to this famous spot that had meet and bread for 2 euros a pice and was a great deal. I got 5 of them and a drink for 12 bucks. I was shocked with the price but i guess that’s is the Appel of the whole thing. After we ate we walked around for a while and ended up at the palace and sat there for a while. It was quite breathtaking with how big it was and the architecture of the whole thing. We walked around for little while longer and bot got hungry. We went to get an actual dinner and not just a snack. I got a pizza that was pretty good but a little underwhelming from what i was expecting. We headed back to the train station to head home. We were both staying at the same hostel so that was super convenient.

The hostel has events every night and Wednesday event was club night. We met some more people at the hostel when we were waiting for the event to start. We met peater from Scotland, Giannis from Greece, Sean from England and this kid from the states. They were all a great time and the party started and i got to bed around 1:30.

When i got to bed i wanted to watch the movie The Italian Job. This was one of my favorite movies growing up and i wanted to got to all the spots in the movie from Venice. It got about 30 minutes into the movie before i fell asleep.

Thursday morning I got up and got breakfast at the hostel and headed back up to the room to finish the movie and relax until 11:30. I go ready and headed back to the island to explore for a while i walked around for 2 hours before I got hungry and found a caffe to get some lunch. I got pizza again and a glass of wine. This pizza way better than the night before so i was very happy about that. After linch i started my 40 min walk back to the train station. It was about a 1.5 mile walk but the streets are so small getting around is kinda difficult.

I made it back home and was just relaxing for a few hours. I was planning on going back to town around 5:30 but i fell asleep and didn’t wake up until 7:30. When i woke up i was so lost I thought it was morning and I was nervous i slept through the night and missed my train to Rome. But luckily it was still night, i saw this Chinese restaurant right by my hostel earlier in the day so i went there for dinner. I got this duck dish and it was so good. The food was is good but the service was so bad i was finshed for 20 min and just wanted to pay and leave but no one came. I finally just got up and walked inside to find someone to ask if i could pay. I made it back home when I got home i met this guy from Canada they was also backpacking until may and he literally only had a little backpack for his travels i was so shocked. We talked for a little while before i just relaxed until bed time.

Friday i got up at 8 to get breakfast and get packed to head to Rome. My train was at 9:30 but the train station was so close i could leave at 9:20 and still have plenty of time to make it on time. I got on the and looked for my seat but some one was siting it the seat we checked the tickets and they were the same seat. I found the train operator and asked them what I should do they checked my ticket and i booked it for Saturday not Friday. I asked they could just transfer the ticket for Friday and they told me no and i would have to pay extra to stay on the train. I didn’t really have a choice but pay or get off.

I made it to Rome at 2 and wanted to go see the vadicain city first because it is so far out of the way and I didn’t think i would have had time for it on Saturday. I took the bus and it was a good 20 minute bus ride and 15 more minutes of walking. I go off the bus and you could really only see the top if the dome from the street it was so cool because it was just so big you could see it over the buildings. I made my way it and was amazed with how big it was. I didn’t go in because you needed a ticket but it was still very cool from the outside.

By time i got there and walked around it was 3, i was planning on meeting some people at 4. I still had to get back home and shower. I waited for the bus for 25 minutes it was a complete joke. The bus kept getting delayed and delayed by time i got home it was 3:30 I showered real fast and met everyone at 4:15. We met at this bar called yellow bar it is attached to a hostel called yellow hostel. One guy i met in Venice was there so it was cool to see a familiar face his name is Riley. If you are staying at the hostel you get 20 percent off drinks, so as one does when they ask if you are staying at the hostel of course you say yes because money doesn’t grow on trees. We were at that yellow bar for a while then wanted to go see the sunset but we were a little late to it. We walked to this one bar because everyone needed to pee and we wanted a bev. We got our bev and kept walking i swear to god we walked for 40 minutes it felt so long it was kinda miserable.

We made it to this square where there is always live performances and people just having good time. We stayed there for a good hour or so then wanted to go to a bar. We made it to this one bar and Riley wanted to play cards and spoons he asked if they had cards, they told him no then he asked of they had spoons. At first they told him no and i was like perfect we can just enjoy our drinks and talk. THEN he asked them again if they had any spoons they gave some to him. I knew it was not a good idea to play games because it’s inevitable someone’s drinks spills and it’s just not a good look. We got through one round before someone’s drink was spilled. I was like let’s get out of here before we get kicked out, everyone agreed with me but Riley. The funny thing is he works in the service industry so i feel like he would know better, but what do i know?

We left and went to this famous bar called Scholars it’s an Irish bar with two rooms to it and one was more of a club and the other one was live music. We were in the club the whole time and we were having a great time. It was so fun and they were playing all white girl music it was awesome. We were kinda up on the stage type deal. It’s kinda hard to explain but there was the ground and then there was this little area that was above everyone and we were on it having a good time. And Riley kept waving girls up like he was a big time star it was so funny. I have never seen someone repel so many Woman in my life. It was actually so funny because all of us are just having a great time and he is just being a bot. I went home at 1;30 but i made the mistake of waiting for the bus. It said the bus was going to stop right by my hostel but it just went straight to the train station. So i could have either walked 15 min or just take a 5 minute Scooter ride, i chose the scooter of course.

Saturday i got up early because i wanted to see everthing and i wanted breakfast. Got breakfast at my hostel at 9:30. Then started towards the colosseum, it was so cool to see because you hear about it all the time and see pictures of it but seeing it in person is a different story. I didn’t go in agin because you needed a ticket and they were sold out of them.

After the colosseum I just walked around the Roman forum for a while then i went to the Vittoriano it was just a museum with a church attached to it. The building is so massive it unbelievable you can see it almost everywhere in Rome.

After the museum i went to the Trevi fountain, it’s a very pretty fountain but I don’t understand why it’s so famous. It was so packed you could barely walk around it was insane.

I made my way to the Spanish steps and once again it was very cool to see but I don’t know the history behind them so they were kinda underwhelming. I hiked to the top and looked around for 5 minutes.

The pantheon was one of the cooler thing i did see. Apparently it’s 96% saved so it’s almost the exact thing that the Roman’s were playing around in. It was stunning to see a building that old still standing and how well it was persevered.

After the pantheon i went to get lunch and i had a great carbonara at a little restaurant. I went back home to get changed because there was a group of us that were going to meet at the Spanish steps and “wander”. We sat on the steps for a good hour and just talked. It was pleasant but i was so uncomfortable just sitting on the hard steps. We finally walked to the colosseum and took some pictures then made our way back to that yellow bar around 4:30. We made a plan to go see the sunset at 6:10 we left yellow bar at 5:30 took the metro to this park/ overlook. It was pretty but the little cloud cover made it harder to see the sunset. We walked around the park for a while before deciding to head back to yellow bar. We got on the metro but it skipped 3 stops and we were not sure why. We ended up 45 minutes away from where we wanted to be. So we made the 45 min walk back to the bar.

We got back to yellow bar i had one drink and we all just talked and had a good time, they have an outdoor seating area that is very pretty and just good vibes. I went home at 9:45 i was so tired and didn’t feel good at all.

Stock up/ stock down

Stock up my hostel in lake como it was very clean felt like a home. Stock down Riley being a bot, he is giving us Americans a bad name when it comes to travel. Stock neutral Venice it was kinda underwhelming and not much to do there. Stock up everyone i have met in Italy so far they have been so fun and nice. Stock to the moon the food here, it’s so good I can’t even explain it. Stock down pickpockets i hate being worried walking through crowds and am so nervous about my phone. Stock up Jo& Joe hostel in Rome, they let me check in 2 hours early. Stock down the beds in Jo& joe they are so loud and they have a cover on them that is like plastic so your sheet will just slide off and is just kinda uncomfortable. Stock down i am getting sick, Saturday morning i woke up feeling sick and felt sick all day.

What’s next?

On Sunday i was supposed to go to Naples but i am staying one more night in Rome because apparently Naples is kinda sketchy. But i will be in Naples on Monday until Saturday then i am going to Morocco. I am staying with a friends family on Tuesday to Saturday. It will be nice to have a local tour guide around Naples.