This was my first ever trip i've planned with almost 2 stranger girls i met in the new year party at my student's accommodation in london. So, i wasn't a brave girl when it comes to do things alone and face the world being brought up by love in a protected and conservative Indian family.
And while i got to be independent in true sense for the first time in life when i chose to do Masters from London and it took a while for me to convince my parents for it. Before this i've been travelling with family, relatives, school trips and likewise hardly any with even friends also.
So it was a very big thing for me first of all coming to london all by myself to do masters and then planning a first europe trip and getting schengen visa for the time was all very adventurous yet scary for me initially but full of free air of independence, fun and confidence later.
Also i spent all the money i have earned myself during part time job i was doing at a store it was truly not just a sense of empowerment but also something that filled me with enthusiasm and confidence truly that i have almost never cherished in my life before. So not just i came with my brand new friends who were accompanying me on the trip but also i made new friends on the trip for lifetime. We literally had so many types of pizza for the first time in my life though i'm vegeterian so i missed out lot of things but fresh bread and even more fresh toppings and sauce took my heart but being an Indian by the seventh day i got so bored of pasta and pizza that after coming back for 15 days (even though i'm pasta and pizza lover) i did not eat these two famous Italian Cuisine.
It wasn't a solo trip like i said since it was planned with my brand new friends i made during new year eve and trip was planned since were into same shoes almost and was mesmerised by pasta love and roman culture and have only seen pictures of venice and videos or rome so plan was made and visit to these places came out of dream to reality so our plan actually worked so did our trip became reality where we visited most beautiful towns in Italy and tasted varieties of Pasta along the way. In a week's span we've been to Milan, Rome, Venice. And after this trip came so many trips across different countries in Europe but it was first one ever and in true sense a life changing trip for me as this trip not just made me understand and explore lot of things about people and life general like not every developed country has all rich people and all that we believe isn't true. Also people are different, cultures are different but somehow we all are same in so many ways no matter what. We started our trip with Milan visiting basilica and shopping a bit from high street brands considering Milan is one of the Fashion Capital. Our second destination was Rome where apart from pizza, Colosseum, Pantheon, St. Peter's Basilica and roman forum we also visited Vatican city which is accessible by train from rome and is very beautiful. Our last stop was venice which was one of my dream come true visits and coincidently during the time we visited venice there was a mask festival going on which is like everybody in the city wears a mask on there face while they celebrate, dance and perform the rituals, whole venice was lit market was open late than usual and boats (water buses) were available all over. So you might be knowing this that transport in venice is motor boat called water buses in venice as entire city is made up of islands and canals which are linked by bridges.
This trip allowed me breathe true sense of independence and allowed me be more confident and believe in myself. Its been more than an year and i was the beginning of my travel journey since then i've visited almost 15 countries but it was something that changed me and my life completely and forever.