Trip 2 Day 3

Up early and checking out of my convent hotel, I made my way to the meeting point for the next part of my trip. A tour of the south. About a dozen of us and a gorgeous guide called Alfonso piled onto the bus and headed south. Our first stop was at Pompeii where we took a guided tour of the UNESCO world heritage site. When our guide finished we spent some time wandering about the ruins on our own. Seeing some of the ruins and ash remains was quite moving. Vesuvius looked on in the background, innocently beautiful. The strangest part of the site was the brothel, where pictures adorned the walls of various acts so that various sailors who didn't know the language were able to point to what they wanted...
From there we made it to Sorrento and checked in to very basic cabin accommodation at a large caravan park. That night we ventured into town for dinner before moving on to a local nightclub. The rest of the night is a little bit of a blur, though I know a lot of vodka and dancing was involved...

Trip 2 Day 2

I had forgotten how confused I get with Italian public transport. I thought I was so clever remembering to avoid peak times, but then I forgot about which side goes which direction and as a result, it took me a little longer to get to my destination than I intended. But, me being me, I was early anyway, and it was no issue. I was headed to meet up with a walking food tour for a couple of hours, to try some of Italy's best food. I waited in the sun, listening to church bells ring and grinning at my awesome life for the others to gather. 
Our first stop with the lovely Jess at Roman Food Tours, was for a traditional Italian breakfast. Cannoli and coffee. We chose what we wanted in our cannoli and watched it be made fresh. So good!! Mine was cherry. From there we went to Bonci, to sample the most amazing pizza I have ever tasted. This guy is known for his pizzas and makes them according to season. So many choices, and it was as good as predicted. From there to Paciotti where we sampled cheeses, meats, aged balsamic, truffles and wine. One of the meats was $600 per kilo. It melted in the mouth but my goodness, expensive! On to another place for more cheeses and breads and then to a restaurant where we had a variety of pastas (carbonara, amatriciana and cacio e pepe) some served directly from the wheel of cheese itself. With more wine, of course. Finally a stop at a gelataria for some amazing gelato before the tour ended. Hands down the best thing I have ever done in Rome! 

After the tour finished, I wandered down to the Bocca Della Verita. Sadly, the queue was enormous and I didn't fancy waiting about just to put my hand in its mouth. Instead I made the hike up to the keyhole priorato dei cavalieri di malta - a keyhole that perfectly frames a view of the Vatican and St Peters Basilica. Quite cool - but in the searing summer heat and already dehydrated from my flight, I was starting to flag. I decided to skip a fancy dinner I had planned, and instead went to some Italian supermarkets (always a good experience, so real and not touristy, hard to manage with minimal Italian but I managed) for some gift shopping before sitting at a local trattoria to my hotel and eating seafood and drinking wine, soaking up the summer evening, the Italian accents all around me, and the moment I was in. Pure bliss.

Trip 2 Day 1

After my amazing trip with Megan in 2015 to Italy, I needed to get back there as soon as possible. I was in love with the country. Something about i touched my soul. Sooner than I thought possible, I had booked another flight back there. Twice in 12 months would I see Il Bella Italia!
In June 2016, I flew back to Rome, and this time, I was going solo.

It's a daunting thing, going overseas alone. It was something I really needed to do though, and something I wanted to do. I was safe the entire time, and had an amazing time, I will keep travelling alone internationally in the future.

I picked a cheap flight, which meant a departure time of 240am. Ouch. I got to the airport around 11pm or so and did the check in thing. I was flying Emirates this time, last was Etihad, and this time instead of one long flight from Melbourne to Abu Dhabi, I was to fly to Kuala Lumpur, then Dubai, then on to Rome. Three legs of around 6-8h each. When I checked in the lovely woman handed over my boarding passes and said 'enjoy your upgrade.' I had been upgraded to business class for the first leg of my flight! It took me a while to get my head around how exciting that was. I guess because I was a solo traveller I was easy to upgrade? Not sure, whatever the case, it was incredibly exciting!

And so began the most comfortable and relaxing flight I have ever had. Free goodies half way through from Bvulgari and champagne as well. It was bliss. The return to economy at Kuala Lumpur was tough! In Dubai the "feels like" temperature was over 50 celsius and it was awful! Thankfully I was almost entirely in the airport there aside from a terminal change where the man driving the bus kept looking at me in the rearview mirror and creepily making me uncomfortable. Was glad to get off and get in to the lounge. I arrived in Rome feeling tired but happy, my driver collected me and drove me into the eternal city. The sun was setting and I could not get the grin off my face. I felt like I was home. I was back!!!!!

As we drove around laneways and small streets navigating to my hotel, I was alarmed to see the driver attempting to squeeze between two parked vehicles on a narrow street. "He's never going to fit through there!" I said to myself, trusting though, that he knew the streets and driving better than I. THUMP. Or not. He hit one of the cars. The owner was yelling at him and they were arguing in Italian for a while whilst I sat there just really wanting a bed and sleep... Eventually the owner gets in the van with us, apologises to me, jumps out at the lights and drinks form a fountain, then back in again, and I am dropped at my hotel leaving the two of them to work it out...

I stayed at an old convent in Trastavere. Beautiful old place, and once checked in I dumped my case and fell into bed. I woke during the night to what sounded like an enormous explosion. I waited to hear reaction - sirens or screaming - none came. I now think what I had was an auditory hallucination from being severely tired and lacking sleep. I went back to sleep and all was fine. Strange...