Hitch 2012 - Fundraising

I'm very aware of the fact that i probably should have started fundraising by now, i guess i'm just not sure how to get started. i'll talk to Aiden about it i guess, i know we have to raise our money separately, but that doesn't mean we can't do it together. i work much better with other people than on my own, it gives me more confidence. Something to start when i get back to uni i guess.

Virgin Money Giving
so the first thing, and obviously one of the most important things on the fundraising sheet was Virgin Money Giving, which apparently is responsible for more than 60% of the money raised by Hitchers! so i figured i should set one up straight away, and here's a link to it, and there'll also be a button on the side of my page;-

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserPage.action?userUrl=AnEmilyInMorocco&pageUrl=2

Street Money Collection
today me and Charlotte went into town with loads of other green-shirts and waved buckets in unimpressed peoples faces.. unfortunately we didn't make a significant amount of money, but that was to be expected considering we only managed to stick it out for a few hours. however, one guy who stayed all day dressed up in a crazy animal suit, dancing and taking abuse from kids managed to raise over £100!

this post i will continue to update, probably until i'm back from Morocco. 

Hitch 2012 - Research

So many people have been telling me that i'm going to die/ not get there, i thought i'd do a bit of research about it all to make myself feel better..


     1.  Steve The Hitchhiker

this is a blog which has been written by someone else about their Hitch to Morocco last year, and it's really useful to read for future reference, and to note everything i've accidentally left out of my own blog. it's actually a lot of fun to read as well, despite having never met the guy, although it is making me feel terribly behind - i probably should have started fund-raising a while ago. 

     2.  Digihitch
this is a site with forums about hitchhiking in general, as opposed to Hitch like the charity, but it's still pretty useful to read about what to look out for, how to be safe, the amount of money to take and just general hints and tips. i'm thinking about signing up and participating, but to be honest almost anything i could think to ask has already been asked and discussed, so i can't think that i'd actually add anything useful.

     3.  Hitchwiki
this is pretty self-explanatory to be honest; just a wikipedia for hitchhikers, this page being specifically about Morocco, although it's not particularly helpful as it seems pretty basic. however it's a good starting point.

Hitch 2012 - Arrival of things

When i got back from work at about half 4 this morning i had a quick check of my facebook only to find out that I'VE WON THE ROUGH GUIDE! i don't really know what it is or where to get it from, but winning is never a bad thing.

But as well as that wonderful news, when i woke up a few moments ago and checked the mail i saw i got my Hitch pack in the post today. there were lots of pieces of paper, including a little leaflet thing, a letter starting with 'Congratulations on signing up for the Morocco Hitch' and then insurance forms, sponsorship forms and shit loads of fundraising things. as well as the long-awaited (about 3 days) bright green Morocco Hitch shirt. naturally i changed straight into my shirt, which actually looked a lot better than i thought it would, and i shall proceed to spend the rest of the day parading this around my house in front of my flatmates.

Hitch 2012 - Morocco

So we had a fund-raising meeting yesterday where i met this guy, Aiden, and i think i agreed to be his hitch partner. which actually kind of makes it easier, because he'd already decided on going to Morocco, so that made the decision quickly, and now i don't have to worry about finding a partner. and he's pretty keen on snakes, so at least i know i probably wont die from a snake bite.
So yeah, Morocco.. which means a trip through France and Spain too, which is epic because i've never been to Spain or Southern France.. and i think because we're doing it in the Easter, it'll be quite hot. AND Morocco is in Africa, so it'll be my first time out of Europe ever. so yeah, i'm excited, it's going to be good.. just got to work out how to raise £375 now.... oh, and how to tell my daddy.

Hitch 2012 - About Hitch

'The Hitch is an annual sponsored hitch-hiking event organised by, and to raise money for, Link Community Development. It's the largest and most established hitch-hiking event in the UK and has been running for 20 years. Since 1992,over 7,500 people have taken part in the Hitch, raising over £3,500,000 for Link and travelling a combined total of almost 9,000,000 miles – that’s 360 times around the world.'
        LCD Website


Link Community Development is the charity we're raising money for, and the Hitch is Link’s biggest fundraising event. 
'We believe that quality education in sub-Saharan Africa is achievable, but there are still too many obstacles that prevent children from the standard of education that they deserve. So we are working in Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, South Africa and Uganda at all levels of the education system – including with governments, Headteachers, parents and local communities – to help ensure that children going to school are receiving a quality education - one which gives them the skills needed to succeed in life.

Although we receive funding from a number of other sources, the contribution that the Hitch makes to our work is incredible. Last year alone, Hitchers raised more than £400,000 to support our work. The sponsorship money you raise gives Link essential funds that are not restricted to specific projects, allowing us to be innovative and to ensure that all existing projects reach their full potential.'

     LCD Website

Hitch 2012 - Morocco or Croatia?

So there's this charity thing called Hitch, where you can go to either Morocco or Croatia really cheaply, while raising money for children in Africa, which is awesome. i haven't decided which one i want to pick yet, but you have to hitch-hike there, so you get to see the rest of the countries in between and meet some new people on the way, which i'm pretty excited about. it's also a pretty terrifying idea, hitch-hiking in another country, but i've been assured that it is actually pretty safe. i'll have someone with me too, so that makes me feel slightly better but i have to find someone first and the only person i know who's going is a girl, and if you're a girl, you have to go with a boy - to make it safer. so i have to find some guy who's willing to go hitch-hiking across Europe with me. excellent...

Italy 2011 - Final Thoughts

okay so i'm home, and i'm done - i've written up everything up for Italy while it's still fresh in my mind. we worked out that over the whole eight days we only managed to get 19 hours sleep, which averages out to about two and a bit hours a night! although i wouldn't change a thing, there are a few things i'll remember for next time i go travelling. sun cream for one, i figured it would be easier to buy there but i just ended up putting it off and burning myself. same goes with the toothpaste and razors. cutting myself and borrowing toothpaste was probably more hassle than it would have been to make a little more room to begin with.

I've got to say, everything here seems to suck just a little bit more in comparison to everything in Italy. we had such an amazing experience and met some incredible people. i think that's what i'll miss more than anything; the people we met and the incredible friendships we built. 

we miss you already guys..ܤ

Italy 2011 - Day Eight, To Rome Then Home.

Dan came and knocked on the door at 5am. we hadn't actually got any sleep having spent so long just sitting in the dark talking. it seemed so ridiculous, after knowing someone for less than 72 hours i'd still ended up feeling incredibly connected to Raffaele, but that was just how it had ended up. it took me less than five minutes to pack, and before i knew it we were on our way to the train station. we got there 20 minutes early, so we spent a while sitting around in pretty much silence. i think we were all pretty gutted to be leaving, and we were all so tired, making conversation was a lot more effort than it was worth.
The train eventually got there, and i have to admit, at that moment saying goodbye to Raffaele felt like the hardest thing i would ever have to do. but nevertheless after promises to keep in touch i got on the train and we settled down for the 6 hour journey back to Rome. the train got pretty busy, so when some people came who had reserved the seats we were sitting in, we ended up getting split across a carriage. a man from somewhere in Africa came over and started talking to me, but i really didn't have any patience for him and after the fourth time of asking for my phone number i got pretty rude and he spent the last 4 hours completely silent.
We got back to Termini station and Dan disappeared to get a train to an airport; he was getting on a different plane to get him back to Manchester. so me, Vikki and Eliot were left wandering around the train station for an hour, waiting for the coach to take us to the airport. it was boiling hot, i'd had very little sleep and i was irritable anyway; i really didn't want to leave and the child in me threw a hissy fit. despite this, we still ended up at the airport in time, only to sit around for another three hours waiting to get on a bus to take us to the right terminal so we could get on the plane. i was feeling physically horrible, and i was pretty sure i'd throw up any minute but we managed to make it to London without any dramatics. i'm pretty sure if i hadn't had my ipod, and Vikki holding my hand the whole time, i would have panicked and made some sort of horrible scene. we arrived in Stanstead airport at about 5pm, exhausted but alive and perfectly unharmed from our (my first) independent rampage across Italy. it had been a wonderful experience and i'm sure it will continue to be a beautiful memory.

Italy 2011 - Day Seven, Calabria

We all got up pretty late, and when we got to the beach, some of Raffaele's family were waiting; his aunt, uncle and two cousins. there was a boy who must of been about 10, and a little girl who was younger. they both spoke a tiny amount of English, but still insisted on playing with us. the little girl was especially interested in my piercings; apparently not many Italian girls have quite as many as i did but she seemed to love them. she was seriously adorable, and wouldn't stop giggling, especially when we buried her in the sand. her dad wasn't particularly happy about that; apparently the sand is from a river and breathing it in would be bad for her, so she helped us bury Raffaele instead. there was one particularly sweet moment, when she asked him something in Italian, and he started laughing, and told me that he'd asked if i was his girlfriend. i can't pin-point exactly why it touched me so much. i suppose because in England, all the little kids i know would just laugh and tease us, but she seemed to be genuinely happy at the idea of us being together. or maybe it was just because she was Italian. 

Once the sun started to disappear his cousins headed home, and we decided to do the same. we were all trying to decide what to do that night, and after the night before i didn't really want to go into town again, although that seemed to be what Raffaele's friends seemed to want. we ended up agreeing that they should go into town for an hour or two, then come here for more drinks. this is when we learnt that Gabriele had had to go to hospital the night before. he had been throwing up a bit on the way back from the beach last night, but i've seen people on nights out much worse off that haven't gone to hospital. i guess in a non-binge drinking society they're more careful with drunk people. but he was fine, he just wasn't going to be drinking so much tonight.

Everyone went off to sleep for a while before they came, our plan was to stay up all night as we'd have to leave at about 5-30am the next day to get the train back to Rome. Eliot ended up going to bed pretty early, but i was pretty determined not to miss anything; i could always just sleep on the train the next day. when Raffaele's friends got to the house we tried to teach them a few normal drinking games, starting with Ring of Fire, which we'd previously tried to teach Raffaele, who then had to try to teach it to them in Italian. unfortunately we didn't really have enough alcohol, and they didn't really understand the concept so it ended up just being a load of teenagers sitting around a table picking up cards every now and then, shouting at each other.

At about 3am we were all starting to get pretty tired, Eliot had gone to bed and Raffaele and Dan had gone to get some food. Vikki was trying to clean up and make sure everything was packed, while me and Andrea sat around listening to music. all Raffaele's friends left, all except for Adelchi who was going to drive us to the station. this was the moment when i started getting pretty sad about leaving. the room looked so lonely and empty - i had to go and sit in my room for a moment to stop myself from crying, and to be honest i felt like that pretty much until Raffaele got back. him and Dan had bought a massive box of chocolate pastries from the cafe we'd been in the night before. they tasted so good, but i really didn't feel much like eating, and after half an hour of everyone sitting in pretty much silence, Raffaele and I wandered off to his room for a bit of sleep. 

Italy 2011 - Day Six, Calabria

Everyone got up pretty early and went for ice cream, although personally i don't like ice cream, and again figured that it would be best to skip the food in favour for more sleep, even if it ended up being only an extra half an hour. we decided that we should visit the beach and try to start tanning, as we were all looking considerably white, especially compared to all the Italians walking around. here in Southern Italy we got stared at a lot; apparently this town particularly wasn't used to there being tourists, and a lot of them couldn't speak any English at all, so thank god we had Raffaele with us to translate. i was a bit late to the beach because i wanted to grab a quick shower and ended up accidentally shaving off a chunk of my leg. we'd bought disposable razors, and i wasn't used to there only being one blade, spent a lot of the day blowing sand out of a plaster.

Calabria - town area in front of the beach

We got down to the beach, and hung out under some umbrellas for a while, the water was not as warm as i thought it would be, despite it being so hot that standing on the sand in bare feet was virtually impossible. after a while Andrea came down to the beach as well, so we talked to him for a bit. he told us he didn't speak very good English, although to be honest we had almost no problem communicating which made me feel pretty bad about my own language skills.
We hung out at the beach for the rest of the day, mostly just reading or half sleeping then when it got too hot we'd go down to the sea, splash around for a few minutes while i complained that it was too cold, and then head back up to lounge under the umbrella again. in the evening we wandered back up to the house, where Raffaeles family asked us to join them for supper that night. it would take a while to prepare, so we went back to our house for a few hours where we ended up watching some strange Italian version of 'You've Been Framed' which was entirely rubbish except for this one clip of a cat in a bathtub that for some reason we all found completely hilarious.

picture from their website

I think it was at this point where the sun, lack of sleep and constant alcohol intake finally caught up with me and my epic headache hit, so i went to lie down for a while until supper was ready. their mum had made spaghetti with pesto, and there was also this tomato sauce which Raffaele had been running off to stir every 20 minutes for the last three hours. there was also some sort of fish in some sort of batter, and bruschetta of course. there was so much food, and it all looked amazing, but i felt so horrible from my headache that i could eat hardly any of it, but what i did eat tasted amazing. their mum was a bit worried about me, but didn't speak any English so it was hard for me to explain that i really was fine - i get headaches quite often even at home just from not sleeping enough or drinking enough or whatever, so i was used to it, but she would still just tap me every now and then to check that i was still fine. they also brought out this giant watermelon, and despite not really liking melon, i thought i should at least taste it, and it did actually taste pretty good, although the amount of effort it took for Raffaele to cut it up, i'm not sure it was worth it. i forgot to mention that we were all eating outside, and at one point an orchestra started playing a concert just down the road, so we had this amazing classical music as we ate pasta under the stars; pretty epic, despite feeling horrific.

picture from their website

We stayed out there for ages, talking about astrology and university and Italian history until Raffaeles friends came by to take us to look at the local town. apparently Andrea didn't normally hang out with them, but i wanted to get to know him as well, so managed to drag him along too. we were split between two cars, and i think we were on the motorway at some point, which was slightly terrifying considering the stereotypical Italian driver. when we got to the town, that we'd been told was small and rubbish, it was completely packed with people wandering around everywhere, it seemed like my town on a Saturday, but it was only Tuesday - a day i didn't even go out on during freshers week.

Sicily

The town was by the sea, and there was these beautiful step like things, shaped like the Coliseum, but people were sitting and chatting or whatever - it's quite hard to explain but it was too dark to take a picture, despite these blue lights on the steps which helped you see. I was feeling kind of dizzy, so me and Vikki went to sit with our legs hanging off the wall next to the sea which was still so clear that you could see straight to the bottom. we could see loads of lights in the distance across the sea, which we were told was Sicily, which then inevitably led to the talk about the Mafia. we walked up into the town after a bit and went into this bar where there were a few chairs around the edge, but most people seemed to just walk up to the bar, buy a drink and then walk outside and drink in the street. the way they all drank was so entirely different to the drinking in the UK, it was kind of refreshing to be honest. Dan blew their mind by buying four drinks in a go and then putting them in his pockets; i guess they weren't used to the concept of trying to drink as much as possible, because they were all getting through half a bottle in the amount of time Dan had finished his four. when we were sitting in the bar i was talking to Andrea and a Scottish guy came up to me, all excited about seeing an English person - he'd been in Calabria for the last month and apparently i was the first person he'd met who could speak it fluently, so we invited him and his Italian friends to stay and talk with us for a bit. at one point in the evening, Raffaele started shouting 'porco dio' which kind of became the catch phrase for our trip, and apparently is one of their favourite phrases. literally, it means 'god is swine' which in a catholic country is obviously not one of the best things to say, so of course you can imagine the hilarity when Raffaele turned around to see a priest standing right behind him, giving him the most disproving looks imaginable.
I was still feeling pretty horrible at this point; my head was killing me, so i asked if i could go sleep in the car for a bit. Raffaele refused, and said that if i wasn't having fun then it wouldn't be fun for them, so that we would go home and that i could sleep in my bed. i felt bad for dragging them away from town, but they were all very lovely about it, and decided they wanted to go to a beach party instead anyway, so they could drop me off at home on the way. however, what they didn't realise is that ever since i was young, i've found it almost impossible to sleep when i know there's something more exciting i could be doing, and this beach party sounded like fun. so i went to the beach with them instead, saying i could just sleep on the beach if i felt too bad. on the beach i ended up talking to one of Raffaele's friends, Gabriele, who i actually had quite a lot in common with. he had been gradually drinking his way through a bottle of wine, which i think he said he'd made himself, and was strong enough to cure my headache. wine actually tends to give me more of a headache if anything, but i figured i'd at least try it, and i'm not saying it was actually the wine, but after about ten minutes i felt completely better, and actually started to get a little hyper.

Adelchi, Gabriele, Raffaele, Me, Dan, Giuseppe, Maura, Vikki, Eliot, Andrea

we stayed on the beach for another few hours, but it was pretty cold and we were all getting hungry for breakfast so we went to a local food store. i think this was one of the strangest moments for me; in England when you've been drinking you go to a chip shop and get a kebab. in Calabria when you've been drinking apparently you go to a pastry shop and get chocolate croissants. i wish that happened here. oh, and there were firemen there too, standing outside for some reason, who stood and watched as we all lined up and took a picture. one of the best 4am's i've had in a while to be honest.
When we got back to the house i was still pretty wide awake, while everyone else was feeling dead, but i managed to persuade Raffaele to stay up and play card games with me. after a while we went to his room, which is when we realised that it was starting to get light outside. we stayed up for ages, until we heard his mum moving around in the kitchen, and not sure on how she would react to me sitting in her sons room, i decided to sneak back to my own room. on getting to the front door of our house, i realised that i didn't have a key, so Raffaele had to help me break into his own house, accidentally waking Vikki up in the process. it wasn't until around half seven in the morning that i managed to climb through the window and crawl into bed, but i'm pretty sure the night we'd had justified the lack of sleep.

Italy 2011 - Day Five, To Calabria

So we left Pompei pretty early (about mid-day but it felt horribly early) and took a train back to Naples. i bought a postcard with every intention to send it back to my family, and we got another train to Calabria, remembering to stamp our tickets first this time. after a few hours we had to get off to change trains, at which point we were told that there would be a twenty minute delay. i wanted to go out and wander around the town, but i was told that twenty minutes wouldn't be enough time. i was getting kind of hungry, having skipped breakfast, and lunch time had been spent in Naples train station where i hadn't felt like digging through all my dirty clothes to find some money. so after waiting for fifteen minutes we were told that the train would be delayed another half hour. bored of standing around, i decided that half an hour was definitely enough time and dragged everyone out a small café opposite the station, although on arrival decided that i didn't actually want any of the food because it all looked a bit dirty, and i wasn't feeling particularly adventurous that day.
After spending some time sitting outside, we decided to head back into the station - it seemed like kind of an uneventful place and we didn't really have enough time to explore properly, although back in the station we discovered that our train was once again, further delayed, so by the time we got on it was starting to get dark. i'm going to be honest, i feel pretty bad for the guys for being so moody at that point, i think i did snap at them a bit, although once we got to Calabria i was feeling much better.

Me and Vikkis room -
picture from their website

We met Dans friend, Raffaele, and his mum at the train station so they could drive us back to their house. they have a sort of spare house on the edge of there's where they let people stay with three bedrooms and a kitchen, living room ect which i actually really loved. it was very open, with high ceilings, but it felt pretty homely. so they showed us around, and left us to settle in. if we'd been sensible we would have tried to have an early night, and the beds were super comfy, so it would have been easy, but instead we asked Raffa to show us around the town a bit, so we could find a shop, buy some alcohol and have a quiet night in - standard British kids, can't help but have a drink.
So after being introduced to Andrea, Raffa's little brother, we went to have a look at the beach, which was literally two minutes down the road. we walked past this group of teenagers leaning against a car, looking like the equivalent of your average British chav, but playing this Southern Italian folk music with an accordion (see below). i wish that happened here.

Kitchen - picture from
their website

After looking at the beach, we headed to a local store and bought a few bottles of alcohol, then came back to the house and sat around the table with a pack of cards and some music, just making random chit-chat. Raffaele and Dan knew each other from a trip to China last year, so for a while our conversation revolved mostly around them talking about that, and us trying to explain how drinking games worked; it turns out that in Italy they've never even heard of Ring of Fire, which shocked us all. our quiet night in ended up with us staying up until about 3am talking about ghosts and drinking quite a considerable amount, in my case anyway. so finally, after a day of travelling on less than an hours sleep, by the time i got to bed i ended up spending ages freaking out about ghosts and spirits coming to attack me through the mosquito net.

Tarantella Calabrese Tradizionale

traditional Calabrian music

Italy 2011 - Day Four, Pompei

I was woken up a few hours later by Vikki telling me that they were heading to the ruins, so i had ten minutes to get ready. completely exhausted, and a slight hangover looming i told her where she could stick her ruins, and went back to sleep, only to wake up an hour later, boiling hot with a cleaner standing over me. apparently they'd left the door open, and she was here to clean up, so i figured i'd take the opportunity to grab a shower and try to dry straight my hair without a hair dryer. 

I spent the rest of the day building card towers, eating yesterdays pizza and feeling pretty mad at myself for not going to see the ruins. it was, after all, the reason why we'd come to Pompei, and i'd been looking forward to seeing everything. it didn't help that when they got back, i was informed that the door had been open all night. in fact, the owners were pretty mad because they'd stayed up all night, worried about us. despite finding this amazingly heart-warming, i also felt incredibly guilty for not only dragging Vikki along, but also keeping up the owners of Hotel Apollo with my nightly adventure. 

We went out to look for somewhere to eat, but there didn't seem to be much that anyone fancied, so we ended up in McDonalds. i didn't want anything from there either though, i was kind of sick of pasta and pizza and bread, and was dying for some salad (which has never happened before!) we ended up walking past the cafe from the night before, at which point the guy from the night before came out. Vikki was very determined to go home, not wanting a repeat from the night before, but i ended up agreeing to meet him after his shift finished, so we could hang out some more. after more free drinks i ended up hanging out with him all night, getting back to the hotel an hour before our train was supposed to leave. 

Italy 2011 - Day Three, To Pompei

Waking up reasonably early, i decided to skip breakfast (again) for the option of a few more hours in bed, however it still seemed all too soon before the guys were back, forcing me to pack as quickly as possible before pushing me out the door with half a pastry in my hand. i didn't really want to leave; Rome was beautiful and we hadn't had enough time to explore it, but still, an exciting new adventure was waiting at the train station where we had to work out how to use the ticket machines - luckily there was an 'English' option, so it wasn't too hopeless, and then find the right train, because trust me, Termini station is pretty big. after a pretty panicked rush, we managed to climb onto the right train, boiling hot and filled with people shouting things in Italian. after a five minute confusing conversation with the ticket man we learnt that we were supposed to have stamped the tickets ourselves, and although seeming pretty pissed off about it, he moved on so we could enjoy the next hour and a bit of our journey with our music players turned up.
We arrived at Naples, and having heard so many horrible things about the place, i have to admit i was pretty terrified to get off - expecting drugged up kids with knives to be hanging around every corner. apparently the station was supposed to be one of the most dangerous places in the city, but to be honest it didn't really feel that bad. it was clean, and there were security guards wandering around, and it didn't take us long to find the information booth were we worked out that we had to buy tickets from another part of the station to get onto another type of train to go to Pompei. it was after lunch time now, so we were all getting pretty hungry, so the boys had some ice cream, but i was still feeling kind of gross from the day before so figured i should skip the food until later. we followed signs, and ended up somewhere looking kind of like a dirty version of the underground, and got on the train with little hassle. it was pretty packed though, and me and Vikki ended up standing next to this creepy looking old guy who kept giving us some pretty odd looks, and pushing against us a bit too much, so feeling uncomfortably close to some sort of sexual harassment situation, we made a swift exit to the next carriage.

Hotel Apollo

We got to Pompei and despite it being about four in the afternoon, it was still pretty hot. it didn't help that we then decided to walk to our hotel, following directions from road signs which told us it was only five minutes away. we ended up walking for over an hour; i'm pretty sure we got lost at some point, so by the time we got there i have to admit, i was pretty exhausted and not in the best of moods. however, when we got there, the hotel itself was beautiful, and right on Bartolo Longo Square, so although being pretty basic, when we opened the doors there was a pretty epic view.
After resting for a while, we went down to the restaurant just next to Hotel Apollo where the owner got very excited about us being British, and gave us a free bottle of wine, explaining how he'd always wanted to go to London and that we had to tell him everything, which was so sweet but we were all too tired to really be excited about it. we ordered pizza again, and forgetting that the pepperoni in Italy was genuinely spicy, i couldn't really manage much of mine, but they very kindly put it in a box for me to take home with me.
Back in our room, we decided that we should go out and have a look around, it was a Saturday night, and personally i hate spending my Saturdays inside, especially in an exciting new place. it was surprisingly busy considering there didn't seem to be many bars, and no clubs at all. there were more cafe type places, where they served alcohol but then drank like they were sitting around mid-afternoon having a sprite in the sun, which seemed slightly surreal to me, being the type of girl who'd learned how to binge-drink at the age of fifteen. we managed to find an Irish bar, but it was nothing like the one in Rome. the only thing Irish about it was the green lighting (if you could even call that Irish!) - they didn't have any Guinness and they even had an American flag up on the wall!
We did stumble upon a 24 hour bar though, which was pretty amazing in my opinion. it was exactly like a cafe, with numbered round glass tables and wicker chairs everywhere, and a sort of tent like material over the top of everything. i guess this made it technically outside, so everyone could smoke and not break any laws. there were waiters with ties who came over and took your order - there were no simple 'vodka and coke's here, it was all fancy cocktails, some that i'd heard of and some that i hadn't - and then they'd go up to this massive bar and bring your drink over, along with a dish of free food; small bits of pizza, potato balls and biscuits, which tasted pretty good actually.
I'll be honest, with the lack of sleep and the small amount of food i'd eaten that day, i did guess that any alcohol was only going to go straight to my head, and i should have known better, but i guess i'll never learn. so wandering around Bartolo Longo Square, quite tipsy, and watching all the families playing with the fountain, I decided that it was too early to go to bed, despite the boys telling us that if we weren't back by half eleven we'd get locked out. we sat in the square for a bit, and Vikki and i ended up in a small cafe opposite the fountain where we made friends with the bar-owner and a waiter who ended up bringing us free drinks and inviting us for a trip to the beach in Sorrento, which was only about forty minutes away. i feel bad for Vikki at this point, because in my slightly drunken reckless state, i thought this was an amazing idea, and being the sensible one, Vikki had to try to persuade me that getting in a car with two guys we'd only just met  was a completely terrible idea.
After a while we managed to come to a compromise - we would stay in Pompei, wait for the guys to finish their shift and then go to that 24 hour bar for a while. so me and Vikki sat there drinking free drinks, while Dan and Eliot went to sleep. we realised at this point that we wouldn't be able to get back into our room until 8am the next day, but of course that didn't feel like much of an issue at the time.
Once they were finished we headed over to the bar; on the way some guys in a car pulled over and asked us something in Italian that me and Vikki didn't understand, but according to the guys they said something a bit rude that circulated around us getting in their car and doing unspeakable things to them. although slightly hilarious, it was obviously a little terrifying so i was glad to have the boys with us. we spent quite a while in the bar, where we realised that they didn't really speak much English, and one of the guys was getting pretty forward with Vikki, who had a boyfriend and was really becoming a bit uncomfortable. we headed for the toilets, plotting a way to get away, deciding that we'd just tell them that we were going home and then wait outside the hotel until the morning (it was about 4am so it would only be a few hours until it opened again) but unfortunately the guys decided to escort us back. we phoned the Dan and Eliot to see if they would open the door, but apparently they slept through their phones. after a pretty unconvincing 'phone call' we persuaded them that the boys actually had picked up their phone, and that they would be down at any minute, so they could leave us now.
The square was completely empty now, aside from the billions of stray dogs we'd been told to definitely not touch, who kept barking, and one lonely old man sweeping the street opposite. after a few minutes we decided to make our way back to the bar, where we'd feel slightly safer, however on our walk down there whose car was to pull up on the side of the road? the boys from before who began yet again telling us to get in their car. we shouted something about not being able to understand them, before walking pretty quickly down towards the bar. it was at this point we realised that the faster we walked, the more dogs that chased us, so we ended up being stuck in a strange fast-paced walk, trying to get away from the creepy men in the car without exciting the dogs too much.
Luckily the guys from the cafe happened to drive past at this point, where they pulled over and told the guys in the car to get lost. this was pretty embarrassing, as we now had to make up some sort of excuse as to why we hadn't actually gone into the hotel, they we'd said. they didn't seem too mad, and took us for coffee - they didn't have any tea! at about half 7 we made our way back to their cafe where they said we could sleep on the sofas until we could get into the hotel. so we stayed there for a while, before deciding to head back to try to get in. luckily it was open, so we made our way back into our room to find the boys wide awake, well rested, and completely oblivious of our nightly adventure. too tired to explain, i was quite happy to climb into bed and let them wonder about it for another few hours..

Italy 2011 - Day Two, Rome.

After drinking a bit too much the day before, i decided to skip breakfast in order to get an extra half hour in bed (which was totally worth it) and then we headed to the metro station, which was just next to termini station, which was actually a lot closer than it seemed the day before. it was a bit of a rush, but we managed to get on the metro before the strike started, and the ticket only cost €1 for 70 minutes of travel anywhere! shocking compared to the underground in London. we were on our way to the Vatican when a man stopped us and sold Vikki and Eliot tickets to a tour for €40 which Dan and i declined for a few reasons; i was in a pretty bad mood (i'm not good with mornings) and had taken a personal disliking to the man talking to us, i didn't really want to pay €40 for something i wasn't really interested in, and Dan had seen it before, so we decided to spend some time looking around Rome instead, and then to meet up with them later to continue with the plan we'd made earlier.

and then this happened.

So i took the opportunity to find breakfast in this small cafe where we sat outside playing the 'fuck or chuck' game, at which point i realised that there weren't as many attractive Italian men as i thought there'd be, and actually quite a lot of them were just sweaty old men. after breakfast we found an amazing comic store where i got to read One Piece and X-Men in Italian, which was kind of cool. we found a market too, which smelt like fish and was super disgusting, so we made a pretty quick exit. i also found a tourist shop where i bought some postcards to send back to the family, and then we sat out in the square under the trees to watch the swarm of traffic (both people and cars) swimming around us. the heat was kind of killing me at this point, and i'd made the stupid decision to wear flip-flop sandals, so my feet were killing me.

Giordano Bruno

Unable to get hold of Vikki or Eliot, we decided to start walking towards the coliseum, but we got a bit lost so it ended up taking about four hours. this was actually really good though, because we got to take in a bit of the culture and see some of the things that tour books are constantly writing about. it also gave me the chance to buy some batteries for my camera, which ended up being broken anyway. so that's something i'll note for next time - buy batteries before you go and check that the camera actually works. but i could take pictures on my phone, so it wasn't the end of the world. i also should have bought some tooth paste then, because i hadn't brought any in an attempt to leave room in my bag, and ended up spending the whole time borrowing toothpaste from Vikki. 

Campo dei Fiori

We managed to stumble upon Campo dei Fiori although at the time i didn't really realise what it was or that it was significant in any way. to me it was just a funky looking market with a statue that looked kind of like Altaïr from Assassin's Creed. (i was told later by Lele that it was the statue of Giordano Bruno, and was located on the spot where he was burned alive in 1600. apparently before he died he said 'maiori forsan cum timore sententiam in me fertis quam ego accipiam' which means 'perhaps you pronounce this sentence against me with greater fear than I receive it' which kind of blew me away. it turns out that the market itself is actually pretty famous, but unfortunately we got there during closing so didn't get to see it in all it's glory, but it looked pretty amazing all the same.

We also wandered past Torre Argentina which is the place where Julius Caesar was killed in 44BC, but now it's turned into more of a cat sanctuary. it seemed kind of strange to see cats crawling all over these super ancient buildings, but mostly just unfair that they were allowed to touch it and we weren't. 

Altare della Patria

Next Dan took me to Altare della Patria which i think is now my favourite place in the whole of Rome. he made me shut my eyes, and brought me round to the front; i had no idea what was going on, so i sort of just went with it, and then when i turned around it was just there - a massive white beautiful building that almost literally took my breath away. it was incredible, and i promise anyone who goes, take the time to shut your eyes and walk to the front, because it totally blows your mind. but be careful, because there's a lot of busy traffic so you probably shouldn't wander around with your eyes shut unless there's someone to guide you. it took decades to build, and was finally completed in 1935 as a monument to honour the first kind of unified Italy, Victor Emmanuel. if you ask me, it was completely worth the massive amount of effort it obviously took to build.

Dan and 'a Roman'

Right next to Altare della Patria is Colonna di Traiano which is basically a massive column, with pictures showing the battles that took place during Trajan's military campaigns hand carved in a spiral the whole way to the top, where there's a statue of Trajan. it's pretty amazing to look at, and to think that people carved the pictures in such detail. just down from there was a man dressed as a roman who asked if we wanted our picture taken with him - be careful of these guys, they were everywhere and they'll charge you €20 for three pictures where you pose (and feel) like a complete idiot. and if you ask them too many questions about the price before they'll just pretend they don't understand English, but trust me, they understand perfectly what you're asking. 

The Colosseum

So the Colosseum is basically just down the road from there - a ten minute walk, so after getting hold of Vikki and Eliot, we discovered that they were on their way to the Colosseum and that they'd be there at any minute, but after waiting for twenty minutes we couldn't find them, so decided to go in without them. we took a tour because the queue was quite long, and as we were students we got in cheaper than we would have if we were adults not taking a tour - it was only around €7 (i think) so we got to skip the queue and save about 30 minutes waiting. the tour guide was quite difficult to understand, partly because of the accent and partly because there were a lot of people and she was quite far away, and to be honest i just got kind of bored and ended up wandering off. the Colosseum itself was amazing, although a lot of it seemed like it was just rubble, it was amazing to see something in person that i'd seen in films and pictures so many times. 
We went outside to get a taxi, but they said it would cost us €30 to get back to Ape Latina so although my feet were killing me at this point, we decided to just walk back. it turned out to be a five minute walk, so watch out for dirty taxi drivers like that. once we got back, we realised that Eliot and Vikki had the keys, and after a phone call discovered that they were now in the Colosseum taking a tour and wouldn't be back for about 40 minutes, so we ended up just sitting outside in the sun. it was strange; it was around half five and yet as sunny as if it were 2pm. this was also the moment i discovered there was an internet connection that i could tap into for free, so i logged onto facebook to let my parents know that i was alive, and that everything was fine. 

Me, Eliot, Vikki

Once Vikki and Eliot were back, and we'd all rested and showered we went out to a restaurant that was kind of underground, where we had made reservations for the day before. today we had pasta instead of pizza, it sounds clichéd, but that really seemed to be all there was on the menus everywhere in Rome. then we went back to Druid's Den where there was a male bartender, as well as JJ, and again, we ended up drinking until 3am, however at this point it was a Friday night so we decided to go out and explore what Rome had to offer. apart from Eliot, who decided to go to bed.
The original plan was to go to the Trevi Fountain but we ended up making a quick detour to see the Colosseum at night, and then going in ompletely the wrong direction to the fountain, and following some music to what seemed like a drag queen/gay pride festival. me and Vikki loved it, but i'm pretty sure Dan found it super uncomfortable, so after ten minutes of me and Vikki doing crazy dances to Brittany Spears we made a swift exit. at which point it started to rain. luckily it only lasted for a few minutes, and despite the rain it was still relatively warm. after dancing with some random strangers in the street, and asking other random strangers for directions we started heading towards the Trevi Fountain but despite our efforts by 4,30am we were still lost, literally wandering around in circles until we bumped into a short Australian man with a dead rose who kindly offered to take us there. so, he got us to the fountain okay, and we sat on the side throwing coins in. personally i wanted to go swimming, but there were policemen watching (at 4am?!) and JJ assured us that swimming in the fountain will land you a night in jail, and we had a train to catch the next day, so 

Me, Vikki, Australian

there simply wasn't time. when it got to the point of leaving, i happened to still be holding that guys dead rose, and he said that i wasn't allowed to have it unless i kissed him. now, i'm not going to lie but this is sort of a low point for me - not for the trip, but just for me in general, but i must remind readers that at this point i was still pretty drunk, so kissing this guy seemed worth it for a rose that turned pretty gross before the end of the trip. so then we took a taxi back to our hotel (only €5!) getting back at about 5am to try to get a few hours of sleep before we had to wake up and get a train the next day.

So we were done with Rome, and although i was sad to leave, we'd certainly seen quite a lot considering we'd only been there for a day and a half -

Italy 2011 - Day One, To Rome.

So i had to get up reasonably early to take a 4 hour train down to London, which, being new to travelling alone, was an adventure in itself to be honest. So upon arriving at Paddington Station, i had to work out the underground, which wasn't actually too complicated once i'd stared at the tube map for ten minutes. the underground was included in my train ticket, which was brilliant because tickets seemed to be about £7 and there was a long queue for the ticket machines - not that i would have known which ticket to get anyway. so that was a plus, but one stupid thing i did was wear summer clothes. you'd think that would be fine, but in England in July, there is no guarantee with the weather, and i was freezing. i had been trying to save space in my carry on backpack, because it was a mission trying to fit a weeks worth of clothes in without the extra jumper, however i really could have used it.
I got to the airport with very little trouble, and met up with Vikki, who i'd never met before, but she was a friend of the friend i was going with, so we spent a while getting to know each other while waiting for Eliot. once he got there, we wandered around for a while, then headed to the security check in bit. i was slightly worried that they'd scan my bag and find something terrible, but everything was fine, minus the mammoth bottle of sun-cream in Vikki's bag. after security we stood around for another half an hour, waiting for them to let us on the plane. which was terrifying. the plane, not the waiting. i'd never been on Ryanair before, but now i completely understand all the jokes - it was cramped and horrible, and it turns out that i'm not really that keen on flying. i spent most of the flight with my ipod in, head down, eyes shut praying that i wasn't going to die.
We landed at about five in the evening, and the airport in Rome was really basic - completely different to Heathrow, which was surprising considering Rome was the capital city ect.. but it was nice and warm, so i was reasonably happy, and it didn't take us long to find a bus that would take us to termini station - the main train station in Rome, for about €3. that was at that moment that i realised my phone wasn't going to work the entire trip as i'd completely forgotten to go to the phone shop to ask them how to make it work in Europe. so i spent the 40 minute drive trying to work it out myself, although i did manage to glance around and stare at some of the amazing architecture and Italian writing.

Ape Latina

Arriving at termini station i realised that i'd completely forgotten to print off a map showing how to get from the station to our hostel, Ape Latina, so we spent a good while wandering around looking for it. we ended up bumping into a lovely Irish priest who helped us out considerably, although upon getting there we discovered that we were supposed to have been there at midday, and despite being a little angry about having waited for so long, the woman there was lovely and friendly, and spoke a considerable amount of English. she showed us to our rooms, and then showed us a map of Rome and told us we could look at it when we wanted. she also recommended some bars and eating places we could go to, so after a few minutes of looking around our room - me and Vikki were sharing, and Dan and Eliot had the room next door - we decided to go out and get some food.

Dan's plane had been delayed by a few hours, so we got some pizza and wandered through the streets a little. at this point it had started getting dark outside, but there were food stores open everywhere, and almost every single one we walked past had a man outside trying to drag us in to eat their food. it was a little intimidating to begin with, but you learnt to just keep confident, and they normally wouldn't kick up a fuss when you walked away. it was the same with crossing the road - you kind of had to just walk out and hope for the best, because no car was going to stop just to let you cross the road unless you didn't give them another option.

JJ - Druid's Den

After pizza, we decided to try out the Irish bar that had been suggested, which seems ridiculous - going to Italy to hang out in an Irish bar, but it was actually holds some of the best memories from the entire trip. we met JJ, this Scottish bartender who was completely hilarious, and the bar itself was adorable. there were only a few people in there, one being the owner of Ape Latina who came over and said hi, seeming pretty pleased that we'd followed her advice.

'JJ - such a legend. the best barmaid
in Italy! or anywhere for that
matter, love Vikki & Emily'

behind the bar was an entire wall covered in currency and little notes from people who had visited all over the world, so we left a twenty pence, and a little note of our own. after a few drinks, we got a call from Dan saying he'd arrived, and Eliot wandered off to find him. he was gone for a while, which is when me and Vikki ended up talking to JJ, getting quite drunk and watching her make some crazy cocktails. she showed us a map, and told us all the best places to go, so with some help, Vikki and i planned out the next day. it was then that we were told that public transport was on strike, so we'd have to walk between 8am and 5pm. the boys got back eventually, and after another few hours of what turned into basically a private party in the pub, we staggered back to our rooms, falling asleep at 3am with plans of waking up at 7.. it was a good first day in Rome.

Italy 2011 - Booking Tickets

So we've finally booked the plane tickets, so we're definitely going, which to be honest i wasn't sure was actually going to happen. we've found some hostels to stay in, but we had some issues with the one in Rome because Vikki doesn't want to stay in a room with people we don't know, and Eliot wants to stay in one that's done through Hostelling International. i think i'd rather stay in Eliots choice, because i'd feel safer, even if we were staying with people we didn't know - in fact it might be more fun if we meet new people, if they weren't scary or anything. but i think we'll probably end up going with Vikki's choice to be honest, because i don't think we'll be able to persuade her otherwise.

We're flying with RyanAir -lol- for about £148 each, return from London to Rome, which i don't think was really too bad. although i don't know a lot about travelling alone, as this is the first time i've really done it before.

One of the people who was going to come, Dan C, can't come any more because of financial reasons, which kind of sucks but there's not a lot we can do about it.

Italy 2011 - Initial Planning.

Now that we've decided where we want to go, we have to work out how to get there and what's going to happen once we're there. we figured that we'd spend a few days in Rome, then go down to Naples so we can visit Pompeii, then go on to Reggio Calabria. however, after a bit of research i realised that Naples looks like a seriously dangerous place to go. there were stories of people getting their earrings ripped out of their ears on busy streets, and someone being held at gunpoint for his bag. in fact, i couldn't really find any reviews that didn't end in '..but i didn't feel safe' and personally, i like to feel safe. so instead i went to look at Sorrento, which sounds like an adorable seaside town, and i couldn't find any reviews saying 'and then my bag was stolen...' or anything too terrible really. and it's just the same distance from Pompeii, and probably closer to Reggio Calabria.

I discovered last night that Reggio Calabria is a six hour/fifty euro each way train from Rome, which kind of sucks because i really want to go down there, but at the same time i really don't like spending so much money. so i suppose now we have to decide if it's worth spending an extra £100 for. i think it might be, but we're meeting up tomorrow to talk about it...

Italy 2011 - Planting The Seed

so basically i met up with a few of my friends yesterday, and we all decided that we wanted to go somewhere this summer. it was a choice between Rome and Athens, and although i didn't really have a preference, after a little bit of research we decided that Rome was probably going to be cheaper, and that we could definitely just do Athens next year. one of my friends, Dan, has some friends in Rome that he met on his travels around China a few years ago, so we contacted them, and unfortunately one of them wont be in Rome on the dates that we're there for..but.. he is still somewhere in Italy - Reggio Calabria - and luckily he said that we can stay with him for a few days, which will cut the costs down a bit, and give us the chance to see another side of Italy.

so after that we just talked about the places we wanted to visit while we were there - the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain, Pompeii.. and then tried to work out a way we could visit everything. at the moment, i think i'm probably the key planner, i've yet to meet up with everyone else after our discussion to start booking it all.
As we're students, everything has to be reasonably cheap - personally i'm on a budget of the left over £500 of my student loan - absolute maximum, and seeing as we're looking to travel to three different places in the space of a week, and a day trip, it's probably not going to be as cheap as it could be, but we're looking to really make the most out of the time we have there, and see as much as possible.

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