Europe, which is considered most romantic and usually every girl wishes that she will do a first Europe trip with her boyfriend…thanks to the DDLJ dream that we all have lived for years.
But age is catching up and you can’t keep waiting for the ideal man to come into your life who is going to take you on the most romantic vacation that you have read about or seen in movies. We are independent women…what are we earning for?
So my friend and I decided to take a trip. Now the question was where? After multiple sessions of sitting with the map and figuring out which is the most exotic location, which is also economical, we zeroed in on Italy! Guess what, we chose the worst month to go…July. Wondering why? That was the only time we had leave dates in common. So despite our travel agent trying to convince us, we stay put and got ready to be burnt.
We were all set to embark on a journey of 14 days to explore the ancient ruins, the beautiful scenery, the most delicious pizzas and the awesome gelatos!
After a crazy day at work, off we go to the Mumbai airport middle of the night…extremely tired and sleepy. After all the security check, immigration etc, we reach the gate and plonk ourselves on a small little bench, make our haversack into a pillow and crash. Boarding had started but the sleeping beauties were probably romanticizing Rome!
Thanks to the Kesari tour coordinator who was shouting and yelling to ensure that his entire group was at the gate. We finally woke up and ran to the gate only to once again plonk ourselves in our cramped economy seat and crash.
Finally we are ready for our first destination – Venice! After we take our luggage and walk out, we see this extremely good looking dude waiting for us and in 30 seconds while walking up to him, we had multiple thoughts – is he our guide, is he gonna be with us throughout etc etc. This was shortlived as we got into the car, he said “Hello ladies…hope you had a good flight…I am here to drop you to the water taxi.” Finally we reach our hotel which is both cute and quaint.
We were ready to step out after a nice shower and experience the charm as we stepped on to the canals and narrow waterways adorned with pastel-coloured buildings. A chance encounter with a local artist in a quaint café led to an impromptu music session, capturing the essence of Venice on strings.
This was just the beginning! We then headed to Lake Como which has now become famous thanks to Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh (they got married there!). Nestled between the Alps, Lake Como offered a serene escape. The boat ride across crystal-clear waters revealed charming villas and lush gardens. One of them by the way was owned by George Clooney and his wife Amal. In a lakeside trattoria, we tasted rustic vegetarian dishes prepared with passion, where the chef was sharing secrets of traditional recipes. As the sun set behind the mountains, Lake Como cast a spell of tranquility, where we could hear every wave and feel the breeze passing through our hair. We also tried the famous Limoncello which we thought was totally overrated. Bellini was much better.
Anyways…as days passed, the trip got even more exciting…wine tasting in Tuscany where we bumped into two other girls on a trip who were extremely annoying and “chipku”, to seeing the famous David (Daaveed) statue in Florence, the azure waters of Capri and the dramatic cliffs of Amalfi Coast and not to miss the vibrant villages of Cinque Terra where we got baked like a potato and while the whole world was skimpily dressed in summer clothes, my friend decides to wear a black t-shirt with animal print leggings and black sports shoes just so that she’s “comfortable” during travel. Obviously, that was the worst decision, and she was so embarrassed that she was even willing to buy a 100-euro flimsy outfit from a shack!
The trip was coming to an end with our last destination being Rome, the land of ancient history, grandeur and glory. After an overdose of history at the Colosseum, we decided to go shopping, and the excitement was so high that we didn’t realize that it’s got late, no cabs available, took the last available bus only to get down at the wrong destination, walking on a dark, dingy road with no streetlights, no network on the phone and of course not a soul on the road.
We finally reach our hotel and instead of being worked up about what we just experienced, we were more interested in ordering some good food through room service and checking out all the shopping we had done through the day and oh eating the bag full of fresh candy that we had bought…can’t believe we did that.
While we had planned to do certain things on our own during our trip so that we don’t get bored of each other, we spent every single minute of the day together and made so many memories which I would love to relive all over again.
Every trip with my friend has had so many adventures but I would not change a thing about this as she’s my travel partner and my food buddy. Cheers to many more such exciting and crazy adventures.
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