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In this article I mention a good number of my wrong travel companions, particularly visiting northern Italy and specifically in Friuli, Val d’Aosta, Piedmont and Veneto. But also two examples of perfect companions.
Wrong travel companions: the risk of meeting strangers
A few times I met people I met online. In general it went well but there is always the risk, even of not understanding what one wants or is able to do. In Friuli it did not go well.
It seemed very steep to me and although it was bare I could see no trails, but I trusted him. He flaunted confidence, claimed it looked worse than it was, and that ride was for stretching if he was short on time.
At one point I realized that I had the void behind me and if I had put the next foothold wrong I would have crumbled to the ground after a good flight. It was not a trekking route, but a real climb, perhaps for beginners but not for someone who had never done any and especially without any protection system! A great rush of adrenaline came over me and I thought: come on Fabio, here we have to pull out all the concentration we can that we have to save our skin!
Improvised mountain climber
At the top I felt a mixture of relief and lightness. I didn’t even mind the constant beeb of the cell phone. We were right on the border with Slovenia, and at every step there was a change of country. There was roaming at the time, and I got a nice charge.
I had told my hostess that I was a history buff, would like to see the trenches of World War I, and had taken up hiking. She also used to go to the mountains and often passed by the very places she had close to home. The first trek through the trenches was very interesting and appropriate for my level of preparation. Instead, on the second day she took me under Mount Sabotino . Then I found out that it too is a historical place and where for the usual useless battle many died.
Relaxed and happy, we descended chatting through a normal, somewhat bumpy trekking route. But I was so drained of mental energy that I stumbled on my own, and although I was downhill, I don’t know how, I fell on my back. I only noticed a few scratches. But opening my backpack I saw my heroic cell phone that had sacrificed itself for me. All cracked it had come between my back and a sharp rock, I think I could have been very hurt.
Wrong travel companions: the clueless man at the border without papers
One of the Italian cities I love the most is Trieste (square highlighted), partly because of its difficult history. The first time I went was on the occasion of a bachelor party. The plan was to stay only just over the border in Slovenia, but on the first night instead we had dinner at a beautiful trattoria on the waterfront.
We were split into two cars, me and another left later because of work commitments. At the time the border was closed and there were controls, so when my friend realized his ID card was expired, I knew there would be problems, but he was hopeful instead. I think we covered ourselves in ridicule and that the Slovenian customs officers at the various checkpoints along the border where we tried our luck had been voiced and laughed at us seeing us coming. Tried to pass without; showing it from a distance; holding it folded or with a finger over the expiration date, of course always in vain.
Various experiences in the Aosta Valley
Once I went to Val D’Aosta for a long weekend attended by several people who did not know each other, more or less all friends of friends. We had a good time, and despite myself I was the protagonist of the episode that is still best remembered. For a rafting trip in the Dora Baltea River, before getting into the canoes we were asked for an aquatic test, that is, to take a few strokes to cross a small stream. My aquaticity turned out to be disastrous.
I found myself hugging a rock just ahead. I was renamed Cast away in reference to the movie with Tom Hanks shipwrecked on a small island. I felt more like a cow as I was grabbed and then dragged to shore with a lasso.
As a child, being 4 children, we couldn’t take many vacations, but once a year we were almost always taken to the Alps. We would climb up the mountains, without even the proper shoes that are there now, and even with the double stroller of my twin brothers. They were half-crazy, but I will always be grateful to my parents who instilled in me a passion for the mountains.
You tour in northern Italy, but have I been here or not?
For someone who has been everywhere by now, one advantage of going away as a couple is that you may find that a place where you thought you had been before was actually missing.
The time I went with girlfriend to Val d’Aosta, having to leave in the afternoon, the trip being long and not wanting to arrive at the campsite late at night, we decided to make an approach stop, and also one on the way back. On the outward leg we stopped in Novara (where I thought I had already been), and on the return leg in Biella; I had always wanted to say Bella Biella. Well I realized that instead in Novera was the first time for me too! Still on the way we stopped somewhat casually in the village of Candelo; Italy has so many more or less hidden treasures, and this one is rather emblematic.
Partner just for silly records during my tours in northern Italy
I have taken several tours in the Veneto, almost always as a couple, and from memory they all went rather smoothly, in particular I recall with pleasantness the complete Lake Garda tour with one of my most compatible travel companions. Besides the beauty of the places and the company, for some time now I have been gratified by the idea of making silly records, like as in this case sleeping 3 nights in 3 different regions, or more generally visiting every province of Italy or even making love in all 107 of them.
Wrong travel companions: living for selfies or taking selfies to live?
In Venice I experienced the ‘perfect example of the wrong companion for both travel and life. It is often a ruthless test to take a trip with who you are with.
It was supposed to be the story of my life; we had just gotten back together after a turbulent period, to say the least. She declared herself like me super interested in discovering the world, an activity she had not been able to do due to various constraints.
She should have been thrilled with our newly mended relationship. Since she had never been to Venice, I expected a half-weekend as enjoyable as any.
He worked until late Saturday night and from Monday night. On Sunday morning we almost missed the train in Bologna because of hairstyle problems. Three months later, for the same reason he made me miss half a Springsteen concert.
We had a room near the station, the plan was to leave the baglio and head straight to St. Mark’s Square, full of gaiety and with lots of love.
Instead she was short-tempered, not with me, but really with the whole world! I premise that she would have been considered hot even with a dud on her head. The problem was that the room was not yet ready. So she hadn’t been able to re-comb her hair, so she couldn’t take pictures. Once I come here! What am I in for! If I can’t take pictures?
Yeah.
Home together travel Meetings during travel in northern Italy
Previous stop Problems with accommodation on trips to northern Italy
Trips taken, travel stories divided by continent
Anecdotes, divided by type in travel narratives
Countries visited in my travel stories
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