This weekend was my first time traveling alone in Italy. About 15 people from our program all decided to go to Verona for the weekend to see the Valentines Festival. After successfully navigating our first train trip without assistance, we arrived in the City of Love.
Things went less smoothly from here. Because the Airbnb that Vaughn, Lainey, Emily, Amanda, Cassie and I were staying in was across the river from the historic city center of Verona, we decided to take the train to Porto Vescovo, the train station closer to our place. Before leaving, we contacted our Airbnb host about how to get from the station to the flat. He recommended taking one of the many buses or taxis that would be waiting outside the station. Upon arrival, there were no busses or taxis in sight so we decided to walk 20 minutes to the Airbnb. After walking for maybe 8 minutes, we came across a major highway with no crosswalks in sight. If we couldn’t make it there on foot, we would have to call a taxi but we didn’t have a number for a cab company, know where we were, or have any cell service.
Before panic could totally set in, Amanda and I decided to try our Italian at the nearby bar and beg someone to call us a taxi. Luckily, the woman working was very kind and called us a cab. We all thanked her profusely, bought snacks as a way to say thank you, and got in our cab. After arriving at our Airbnb, we all laughed about the stressful experience. Things could only go up from there... or so we thought.
After 5 minutes of standing out in the cold and ringing the doorbell of our flat with no answer, we decided to call our host. We had been in contact with him during the week but he hadn’t been responding that day. We called him and he sounded very confused. 10 minutes later our host arrives on his bike and says hello. He tells us that we have a "small problem." He cannot find our reservation. We don’t think much of it and Vaughn pulls out her phone to show him our conformation. Turns out she had booked the Airbnb for March instead of February and there were people already staying in the Airbnb we were at. Here we were in Verona for the weekend without a place to stay.
As panic starts to set in, our amazing host, Francesco tells us not to worry. He manages multiple Airbnb’s in Verona and coincidentally, one of the other flats opened up just that morning because of a last minute cancellation. We walk 5 minutes into the historic center of Verona and he takes us up into a gorgeous apartment complex with a grand staircase, statues, and flowers in the lobby. Lainey and I are looking at each other and thinking “great... he’s going to charge us double to stay here since it’s in the city center and a nicer building..” We walk upstairs to our flat to find that it’s even nicer that the one we previously booked. It has 2 bedrooms with 2 queen beds, a large living room with a sofa bed, a kitchen and dining area, and best of all - a huge terrace! All I can think is that this must be too good to be true. As Francesco checks us in, he lets us know that he the only price difference between the old flat and our new one is €5 a person for the Verona city tax since we are now in the historic center. We agree, give him cash, and he is on his way. After he leaves, we are all shocked. Somehow, even after all our mishaps, we ended up in an even better situation than we had previously planned.
Once we all had a good laugh about our eventful evening, we left to explore the city and find a place to eat dinner. To our surprise, we were maybe 2 blocks away from Juliet’s House and all of Verona’s main attractions. We ate, took in the city at night, and eventually made our way back to our new flat.
We spent the next 2 days enjoying all that Verona had to offer. Museums, shops, the festival, and Romeo and Juliet attractions galore. I had an amazing time and would love to go back again someday. This weekend was a great way to make mistakes, learn some lessons, and realize that things will go wrong but that we’re intelligent and capable enough to figure things out. We’ve also learned to always double check our dates and reservations.
Until next time!
