{"id":15418,"date":"2026-02-26T16:42:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T16:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.strangethingstraveling.com\/wrong-travel-companions-touring-southern-italy\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T14:32:39","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T14:32:39","slug":"wrong-travel-companions-touring-southern-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.strangethingstraveling.com\/en\/wrong-travel-companions-touring-southern-italy\/","title":{"rendered":"Wrong travel companions touring southern Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In this article I cite some examples of mistaken fellow travelers, touring southern Italy.<\/p>\n\n

\"Me
On the on-the-road trip to Calabria and Basilicata, there were also funny moments<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

In August 2020 with what I renamed the lady of the woods we went on a road trip. Why we got this nice nickname I tell in this article.<\/a> We had also brought along our marbles and bucket, but I didn’t have as much fun. We basically argued h 24 for 2 weeks. <\/p>\n\n

I had no intention of letting Covid castrate my desire to travel. There was no going abroad and it was potentially risky to use public transportation, so I decided to embark on a trip I had had in my head for some time. I had been working for months on the itinerary that, with several stops in between, would have me explore mostly Calabria<\/strong>, a region I knew very little about, alternating between sea and mountains; hotels and campgrounds; villages and towns, going down the Tyrrhenian side and up the Ionian and then the Adriatic. <\/p>\n\n

We had been together for a month and a half; I would have been sorry not to see her for two weeks, so I proposed to her to do all or part of the trip and to share the itinerary possibly reevaluating it. She agreed to everything and for the return we included Matera where I had already been but I would have loved to see her again together. We were still in the idyllic phase of our relationship, but there were some warnings that I ignored. Traveling around southern Italy, as often happens by vacationing as a couple, structural difficulties emerged. <\/p>\n\n

Consciously she was not 100% convinced and unconsciously her body sent her a signal, she got the flu in August! Moreover, at the departure she arrived very late and still we had to go through her house because she had forgotten I don’t know what. <\/p>\n\n

I didn’t know yet that she would become my queen of the wrong travel companions.<\/p>\n\n

Litigious spouse spoils, in part, by turning to southern Italy<\/h2>\n\n

We stopped in Orvieto. The next day we would have breakfast and a tour of the cathedral. On the schedule was lunch in Tivoli and arriving in Salerno in the late afternoon. We skipped Tivoli because we lost a lot of time in Orvieto, and because she insisted on navigating with decades-old maps. Even the right highway exit was not indicated. She suffered in silence the 45 degrees we had in the car. In fact, as she was still a bit ill, air conditioning was forbidden. <\/p>\n\n

At 6:30 p.m. at his request we had stopped at a beach in Salerno where he wanted to swim. I forced me to move because we were already late for the bnb check-in. He accused me of being dictatorial. We arrived late anyway; the hostess had already left and left us a kind of treasure map to find the keys. Compared to what we had planned together, we also skipped the visit to Salerno, and I flooded my side of the bed with sweat, dreaming of the tent where we were supposed to be cool the next day. <\/p>\n\n

Actually even in the tent there were problems because he took it out on me for not being able to get the guys who were next to us to make less noise. Also the location was never good, but in general everything was not good and we were constantly fighting and not fully enjoying the beauty of the places. We did at least one tour in both the Pollino<\/strong>, Sila<\/strong>, andAspromonte<\/strong>, as well as sea days. Going from the Mediterranean maritime vegetation, to alpine landscapes in such a short time is one of the aspects I appreciated most, as well as the many culinary delights. Already in Tropea<\/strong> I had suggested that she get on the first train and go home. <\/p>\n\n

\"Sandy
Beach of Calabria<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Example of wrong travel companions? The jealous girlfriend <\/h2>\n\n

She had told me about her unfortunate previous relationships, all with emotionally unstable people. For example, the one who, while they were talking, ran, she chased him, and he threw himself into a dumpster. In Matera<\/strong> I understood and justified that. <\/p>\n\n

He would squeal when a notification (like credit card payments) came to my phone. Also in the restaurant it was not really appropriate to address a waitress, for example. So I would try to sit facing a wall. I had to be focused and look her fixed in the eyes all the time, at most in the cleavage. <\/p>\n\n

In Matera<\/strong> we struggled to find a table downtown. She was reluctant to make reservations, and pointed me out as too much of a planner. It had not been possible to choose a table, and my observant nature came out. I think the beauty of being in company is also to make silly gossip about the people around, like rankings. <\/p>\n\n