Tourists make the perfect mark for a scam artist. We are disoriented, don't know the language, are wide eyed, and are distracted by the new world that we have found ourselves in.
I have been approached by people all over the world who, while they seem kind, are actually out to relieve me of my wallet or other valuables.
Read MoreIn January of 2004, I found myself alone in a hotel in Rome — my very first time alone in a foreign country.
I was about to start a semester of university in Cortona, Italy and did not know a single soul who was going to be attending school with me. Not only was it my first time travelling alone, but it was my first time travelling in a country where few people spoke my language.
There were no smartphones, few students had laptops, wifi was not an option, my camera used film (no seeing what your photos looked like until you developed them!), and social media sites didn't exist. If I wanted contact with home, I had to buy a phone card and hope that the call would connect. And if someone from home wanted to contact me? They couldn't.
This is the story of my first few days alone in Rome — taken from my journal and my memories — that have helped empower and shape my travels ever since.
It is six in the morning and the clouds are turning pink outside my window. I can just barely see the moon through the mist.
This is probably going to be the only view I see today.
I am terrified to leave my room.
My hands are shaky and I can't stop crying. It would be easier if I could have a good, all-out sob and be done with it, but instead my tears are silent ones that steadily pour from the corners of my eyes.
I am scared and ashamed of it.
Four floors above the foreign streets, all I can see is rooftops. Eerie, lonely rooftops with weathervanes standing out against the rising sun. There is no sign of life at this level and no sound of it either.
My only consolation is the television that I have kept on all night turned to the only English station that I can find — a never-ending loop of BBC news.
My room is a shoebox, not large enough for Italian leather boots though, more fit for bargain children's shoes. The door opens into my tiny bed, a closet, and a desk. The bathroom is almost bigger then the room, but it is clean and has a window with a nice view of, well... rooftops.
What was I thinking?!
I have never been outside of my country alone before and here I am on an entirely different continent, alone in a strange hotel!
On top of the emotional goodbyes I made to family and friends just a few hours ago, I have lost and found both my bag and passport already, which, now that i think about it, may be part of the reason for the shaking.
This morning I am determined to leave the hotel.
I wake up early, shower and go up to the breakfast room on the eighth floor. The continental breakfast looks more like dessert — platters heaped with pastries and strong black coffee bolster my confidence (or at least give me a much needed energy boost).
About thirty minutes later, taking a deep breath, I take my first step out of the hotel and into the cobblestone streets of Rome. It is sunny and surprisingly warm for a January day which helps life my mood almost immediately.
I am walking along a street that borders the ancient city wall and am so busy looking at the map and trying to figure out where I am that it is there before I can prepare myself for it — the Colosseum.
I don't know why, but I can't hold back my emotions and without warning I burst into tears. It suddenly hits me how real the world is and I get a sense of how real I am for being a part of it. This incredible part of history is not on a slide or in a textbook, but directly in front of me.
I sink down on a pile of old stones in a park across the street from the massive monument and just look at it for awhile while I let the tears run down my face.
Slowly coming back to reality, I take a few pictures (and a few deep breaths). The true blue sky is the perfect backdrop and the morning sun is carving deep shadows into the ancient stone and revealing secrets that can only be seen at that certain time of day. It is early on a Sunday morning, and there is hardly a soul in sight.
I cross the street, walk right up to it and touch it.
I touched it!
The rock is rough. Worn from battles, wars, erosion, the subway cars that pass below it, the smart-cars that pass beside it, and the millions of us that reach out and touch it in our need to confirm that it is really there.
In a trance, hardly breathing, I walk around the outside of this incredible piece of history, letting my fingers create an invisible trail on its ancient surface.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
The sun is shining on the facade of the Trevi Fountain, but where I sit is in shade. The once pure white marble seems to glow in all the right places, while the deep cuts in the statues are in perfect shadow. The water is loud, blocking out the noise of the modern world as it falls majestically over the strategically carved and well worn caverns.
It is perfect.
I could not have asked for a better day. I have spent the last few hours wandering from the Colosseum to the Roman Forum, through twisting winding streets to the Pantheon and finally to this famous fountain.
Though it is one of the most popular tourist sites in Rome, there are only a handful of people milling around on this January day. Some are posing for photos while others are throwing coins over their shoulders into the clear water to ensure their return. Like me, some are just sitting and observing while pigeons mill around our feet and men try to sell us useless trinkets.
An image projected on a screen in art class is nothing compared to the experience of the real thing... nothing.
For the first time since boarding the plane back home, I feel quiet, calm... relaxed.
Ahhhh Roma...
. . . . . . . . . . . .
As my new bible, Lonely Planet Italy, predicted, I am drawn to the windows along the streets as much as I am to the historic monuments. Seriously, a girl with a shoe fetish should NOT be allowed to walk alone in Rome! I have managed to stay out of the stores today, but it is only my first day out — with so much delightful temptation (and no one to stop me) my plan to save money isn't going to last long.
Other then realizing that travelling alone is not as scary as I thought, I have also discovered that in order to eat I will have to learn a few more phrases in Italian.
I figured out the hard way that I need to know more than "Ciao" in order to get a sandwich...
by Lindsay Shapka in Travel, Destinations, Travel Adventures, Travel Tips
My friends and I had spent five action-packed days in Rome and we had just arrived back at our hostel ready to pack up to head to Venice the next day. We hadn't pre-booked anything, but we knew that we were ready for a change of scenery.
We paused at the front desk on our way in, to let them know that we would be leaving in the morning (but really to flirt with the guy working the front counter) and noticed a poster on the wall behind the desk with "FREE CONCERT" printed on it in big, bold, black letters.
Curious, we asked for details, but other than being nice to look at, cute-front-desk-guy was kind of useless. He couldn't tell us why the concert was happening, when it started, or how long it would be. All he knew was that it was at the Circus Maximus (an outdoor, ancient Roman chariot racing stadium located near the ancient Roman forum) and that there would be A LOT of famous musicians and movie stars present.
Deciding that one more day in Rome wouldn't hurt, we decided to stick around to check out the concert.
We woke up early the next morning, and headed to the venue around ten, figuring the concert would probably start in the early afternoon.
It was May, a beautiful humid day, and the 20 minute walk took us through the historic city centre, and past the always stunning Colosseum.
When we arrived, the massive green space was completely deserted except for a stage at one end and a few tech guys wandering around. Apparently we were REALLY early.
Here's the thing about being REALLY early to a free, outdoor concert though... you end up at the very front, at the very centre of the stage.
As close as you could get to the stage without being press or a producer
Oh, and it turned out that half the city knew what time the concert started, cause after we held our spots at the front of the stage for a few hours, hundreds of thousands of people joined us!
The crowd that gathered behind us — it turned out that more than 10,000 people were there.
It turned out that the concert was called We Are The Future, and was a fundraiser for children who lived in high-risk areas around the world. It was raising money to provide schools, safe places to live, water and access to healthcare.
How did I find this out standing in this massive crowd trapped at the front of the stage?
Quincy Jones told me.
Did I mention that it was a concert put on by him?!
THE Quincy Jones... in the flesh!
Oh, and those famous people that we were promised would appear?
Take a look:
Oh hey Oprah and Josh Groban...
The one and only Andrea Bocelli is still, to this day, one of the most amazing live performers I have ever heard
Oh hello Miss Williams...
Naomi Campbell strutted onto the stage
I pretty much hyperventilated when Angelina Jolie walked out on stage... I could have touched her! (But I didn't because that would be creepy)
For thirteen hours (yes, I was exhausted, starving and in pain by the end of the concert, but it was SO worth it), we watched and performances by Carlos Santana, STOMP, Alicia Keys and more!
It was an amazing experience that I will NEVER forget, but one that I would not have taken advantage of if we had pre-booked a hotel or train to Venice ahead of time.
So, the moral of this VERY long story is this:
Book what you need to in order to feel comfortable in your travels, but leave yourself room for spontaneity — you never know when a free concert full of superstars will come your way!
