Ben Murrell

Today, I’m going to Venice (Venezia). Train was at 8:50 and I’m on it now – it’s about 5 hours. The reservation was 15 euros and Ididn’t realize till I got on that it’s Eurostar (high speed). This train is like the one on Mission Impossible I & I’m in a tunnel right now. Hopefully I ride on one later that is like on James Bond or Harry Potter [[I eventually did, but not until the Czech Republic]]. I’ll arrive in Venice around 1:30 and get a hostel, then explore the City – everyone says it is beautiful. Hopefully I meet some fun people at the hostel – it’s a small city. I’m going to miss the fountains in Rome. ALso, I wish I had more time so I could go to Barcelona. A guidebook would be nice, and a daypack / small backpack to carry things with me would be nice too.

I bought a Venice guidebook in the trainstation then explored a bit, but it was very hot and I had my backpack still, so I bought a 36hr waterbus ticket and made my way to the Giudecca island of Venice. On the way, I found people going to the same hostel. After I checked in and put the sheets on my bed, I made my way out to the San Marco Basilica. It was closed but a lot of stuff was still going on (around 6). I kept close to the area and got back to the hostel around 6:45 then went to the supermarket. I got some bruschetta and brought it back and ate it. Then I went back and bought a bottle of vino rosso. On the way back I saw 3 girls sitting by the water having wine so I took a shower and went out. When I got out there were about 20 people out there. We sat from 7:45 – 11:30 and during the time some people came and shot a short film. At 11:30 we set out for Campo Margherita but we never found it (gave up around 2:30). We did manage to hang out with some girls who were studying abroad in Florence and we almost got one of them to jump into the canals (haha, Shannon). It was fun to be in Venice and walk around holding hands/etc because during the day everyone was doing it.

My room had 14 beds and was almost full when we got back at 4am (long waterbus ride). The guys I hung out with (after the big hostel group) were Brian, Aaron (Vermont), and Matt(New Jersey) – they were all traveling alone also. The girls were a mix of Pennsylvania and Illinois, plus one from Canada. Venice has a population of about 80,000 so I started thinking of it a bit like Lee’s Summit.

[[End my hand written section, begin commentary]] This was my first day in Venice. I started to have the same ups and downs I had in Rome – I was euphoric to be traveling, to be in Venice, to be in Italy; but at the same time I was starting to feel really lonely & like I’d made a huge mistake to come alone. On the way to the supermarket when I saw those people sitting outside by the canal, I decided that I was going to be one of them. No more feeling lonely – I was going to make friends everywhere. On days when I arrived in new cities and didn’t know anyone, I’d be comfortable with the fact that I’d explore the city alone, then come back to the hostel and meet tons of people anyways. That’s how it worked for the rest of the trip – I talked to everyone, I met everyone. I’d walk into big groups of people who were traveling together and we’d be friends going out to dinner an hour later. I decided I’d be what Matt & Manny were for me in Rome to everyone else everywhere else. And that’s what I did.

Also, it turns out tons of people travel alone. I haven’t traveled with other people, so I can’t really say I liked it more or less than traveling with other people. I can say that I enjoyed the freedom of being able to do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. If I wanted to stay an extra night somewhere, I could. If I wanted to leave early, I could. If I wanted to sleep in, I could. All I had to worry about was me which was pretty liberating. I would have loved having people with me that I knew, but at the same time, I probably ended up meeting more people as a result of traveling alone.