Not Just Pizzas – My Trip To Italy

I flew to Italy for a combined two-week trip. What does combined mean? It means that I started off alone and in the middle of my trip, my sister and mother joined me for four days in Rome. It was refreshing to travel with other people, but I am glad I combined it and gave myself some solo time on this trip as well. Italy was amazing, it felt like each region was a different country. So many different sights and landscapes. I traveled a cool route (which I will expand on in a follow-up post) and got around mostly with the help of public transportation, which functioned exceptionally well.

This time I decided to fly with a ‘carry-on’ suitcase and invest time in creating filmed content.

These decisions were made as a result of two things that I learned from my solo trip to Scotland. When I flew to Scotland I took a huge backpack and a bag. On the way to the hotel in the Highlands by mistake (of local app) I accidentally got off the bus one stop before and had to carry all my things for an hour and a half. In addition the big backpack made the transitions hard and weighed me down. In Italy I planned more transitions and decided I would be more comfortable with a small suitcase. I was right, it was amazing.

The less you have, the more you have.

I packed clothes with an option to make different combinations and even had space for things I did not use in the end. Now I understand how little we need to get by. Plus almost everywhere I stayed I had the option to send clothes to be laundered. I started the trip in northern Italy and it was a cold week. However as I continued south the weather warmed up. Luckily I was able to send my winter clothes home with my sister and mother when we separated in Rome (right at my crossing point between winter and summer).

In Italy I spent less time writing (I still wrote, but mostly for myself) and spent more time on photography.

When I flew to Scotland it was after a long time that I hadn’t written, so I set myself the goal of writing more. It worked and after I returned to Israel I continued to reach my goals for creating written content. Then I realized I was short of filmed content. I had taken my camera with me to Scotland and had taken pictures, but not enough. In addition, I discovered that in general, photos are not enough and that it is very important to take videos as well.

So this time I decided to come more prepared, in terms of visual content ideas and in terms of the way I experienced my trip.

Of course the main purpose was to travel and explore and that’s totally what I did. The difference was that I did it while I was carrying a camera, 2 lenses, a tripod for the camera, a tripod for the phone, a book, a notebook and warm clothes in case it turned cool, along with a few other basic things in my bag, like water and a blanket to sit on. I traveled with these things on me at all times in order to be prepared at a moment’s notice to create content. So I just traveled all day and on the way decided where to take a break to create the content.

When traveling alone there are limited options if you want to create content that you appear in. You will need a tripod. Mine may have been heavy, but I did not regret for a moment that it was with me. The truth is I greatly enjoyed it. I learned a lot in the process, it helped me to be more creative, to look at places through the eyes of a photographer and look for interesting angles, release fears and trust the universe that no one would steal my equipment and camera located meters away from me.

In general I felt safe traveling alone in Italy. The hostels and hotels I stayed in were very welcoming (in the next post I will detail the route I took with public transport and give recommendations). I felt that Italy was becoming very popular and even though some of the places I visited were still off season there were many travelers. Italy has a lot to offer and I’m sure I’ll go back one day.