openyoureyes

In June 2005 my friend Eva and I needed a break and couldn‘t believe our luck as we succeeded in obtaining two super sale train tickets to Florence! We were enjoying the pleasant anticipation...

... until we figured out a week before, that we had completely forgotten about reserving a hostel. We consulted the www - only to realize, there were no bookable hotels left. We broke the unwritten student law and went to an offline travel agency. With the result of feeling pretty stupid after hearing „You didn‘t really believe we have free rooms on the weekend of Whitsuntide“? Did you?? The laughs followed were echoing in our ears on the way home. For sure, the very small private places are not listed at the travel agencies.

I still regret I hadn‘t taken a photo the moment the train was pulling into the station of Florence at 11am. A 2x3m sign welcomed us saying „No free rooms from Friday to Saturday“ - which was TODAY. We looked at each other - and than in search of the hidden camera. We neither found the camera nor a room for that night.

We decided to make the best out of it! We found a nice restaurant with an outdoor area, ordered a drink and toasted to our greenness. What we didn‘t calculate was that the bar was closing at 23:00, as all the other bars we tried to enter later. Shortly after midnight we became incredibly tired walking around... and were longing for anything to lay down. We decided to go back to the place we had eaten earlier... and to sleep on the benches. The cold night prevented us from finding any rest. We decided to keep us warm by walking, took some night shots before heading for the main sight - the „Uffizi“. At 4:00 o’clock we started to queue in front of the entrance , at 5:00 we enjoyed our 1st coffee. At 6:00 we answered the question of other tourists „WHEN did you come here to queue up??“ for the first time, at 7:00 for the 50th time. At 8:00 or 9:00? we were the first to enter the building and at 10:00 we nearly fell asleep standing. finally, at 11:00 we felt like the luckiest people of the world allowing our bodies to sink into in the luxurious beds of the overprized hotel we had found for the 2nd night.

What did I learn from this trip?
NEVER forget to book a hostel before you head to a touristy city on a public holiday weekend!

What didn‘t I learn back then?
Book your hostel in the same city as you are actually heading to - but this is another fun travel story from the city of Warsaw - er, Krakau...