Touchdown Italy: Lost in Milan

'Oh dear. Where am I going to sleep tonight???' First thoughts when I landed in Milan. I got there at around 6pm with absolutely no plans. All I had was an address of Piero Rotta, a youth hostel that I had quickly jotted down after googling at McDonald's. I didn't know if they even had space for me. All I knew was that it was fairly cheap, and that there would be other travelers there.

I was lost for about two or three hours. Different people were telling me different things, and some didn't recognize the address at all. Somehow I ended up at the correct stop, but when I got off the bus, the streets were empty and there weren't any people around. I stood in the curb for a while, and I must have looked absolutely lost, cause the other person getting off the tram came up to me and started talking to me in rapid Italian. Of course I didn't understand a thing. But he must've known I was looking for the youth hostel cause of my huge backpack, and he started gesturing for me to follow him.

Holy cow. Am I really going to follow this young man down this dark stretch of road????



I had no choice though, so I did. And he ended up just walking me to the hostel even if it was out of the way. We didn't understand each other but I just said 'Grazie mille!' and breathed a sigh of relief. No, I wasn't going to sleep on a park bench that night.

Youth hostelling is really quite an experience. I met people from Cyprus, India, Iraq, Manchester, Thailand and Nigeria. Exchanging stories with them about where we're from was truly a gift. I traveled with them the next day. In the afternoon we ended up finding a lake after getting lost for a few hours. There were lots of elderly Italians from a home for the aged hanging around the area. They were amused by my camera, and it was fun seeing their eyes light up when I showed them the shots I took of them. It was a nice surprise in the middle of Milan, away from the hustle of the city.

Back in the city center, we walked until our feet couldn't go any more. Milan is a mess of trams, and high fashion, and pretty interesting nightlife. It took me a while to figure out how I felt about it. It was Milano Centrale that did it for me, though.

This big, old train station is probably one of my favorite places in the world. An in between place. I didn't want to board the train, really. I just wanted to stay.


I started watching people and I could hear the sound of the rails and the engines. There were kids looking up in awe of the architecture. Because its age, I felt like I was joining generations and generations of travelers. Was a great feeling. I felt less lonely. There were people before me and people like me, who just wanted to go and be on the move. On to the next city!

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This entry is part of a series of photographs from traveling around Europe by myself with nothing but a backpack, a EuRail pass, and my camera in the autumn of 2012. I went couchsurfing, I stayed in youth hostels, and even slept on the floors of strangers' homes. I had no plan (only the intention to keep going until I was tired and broke), but I ended up with a great adventure.

Thank you KLM for sponsoring my flight!