Episode 70: The Italy Trip

Have you ever felt the thrill of wandering through ancient ruins or the delight of sipping wine in a sun-drenched vineyard? Join me, Alessia Tenebruso, as I recount the enchanting escapades from One Girl Travel's maiden voyage to Italy. We're not just talking about any trip; this is a heartfelt narrative about the bonds that form when a group of intrepid women set out to explore this historic land together. I'll take you from the quiet ski lifts of Ana Capri, where we found our Zen, to the awe-inspiring ruins of Pompeii that demand your undivided attention. Laugh along as I share our impromptu vineyard visit that turned into a feast for the senses and discover why a pair of custom-made Italian sandals might just be the most cherished souvenir you can bring home from Positano. And let's not forget the allure of purchasing Ravello's fine ceramics – I've got insider tips on that, too.

But it's not all about the group; there's something truly special about solo adventures, and I'll share why. Before our group rendezvous, I navigated Naples on my own, armed with nothing but a sense of adventure and a hop-on-hop-off bus ticket. Here, I'll reveal the humorous tale of my unintended hitchhiking experience, a story that's as much about laughter as it is a lesson in the art of preparation and safety. My solo journey underscores the importance of taking time for personal discovery, whether it's before the group's laughter fills the air or after the echoes have faded. So, whether you're a lone wolf or a pack traveler, this episode is your invitation to experience Italy's magic and the transformative power of travel shared.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to the One Girl Travel podcast episode number seventy.

Speaker 2: 0:05

Welcome to The One Girl Travel podcast. Your passport to the world of solo travel. With certified life and travel coach, Alesia Tenibuso. Join Alesia as she shares her own journey self discovery through solo travel, while also focusing on topics such as life coaching insights and travel tips along the way. Now, here's your host, Alesia Tebruso.

Speaker 1: 0:31

Hello, my friends, and welcome to Up so number seventy of the one girl travel podcast. I'm back. I'm back from Italy from the first ever one girl travel group trip. And I'm here to tell you all about it because it was truly a dream come true. It was better than I could have ever hoped for it was everything and more than what I thought it would be. And I am just so full of gratitude for the women that joined me on this trip and for the trip itself in Italy because Italy is incredible. And yeah, let's get into the trip. I wanna tell you all about it. So the trip began April fourteenth and it concluded on the twentieth. I got there a little beforehand. I spent a few days by myself to just get acclimated to Naples. I've never been there before. And I just wanted to get into the right mindset to welcome all of the women into the trip. And I also wanted to spend some time by myself So I do recommend if you are taking part of a group trip to allow some time for you to experience solo travel, whether it's in the beginning of the trip, or after. I do recommend after. That way, you kind of have your feet wet to the experience and you're more comfortable with the area. And that way you can spend some time by yourself to explore. But when the women came, right? So actually, let me take you back to the day before everybody came. So a few women came beforehand, my sister and my childhood best friend included. And we the thing that I always do when I'm going to a new place is doing the hop on and hop off bus. So those are those double decker buses or the trolleys. That you can buy a ticket for twenty four hours and you can get on and write it as much as you want. Now, these are great for exploring a new city when you're not familiar with it. And it's also great for transportation purposes as well. So whenever I arrive to a new city. I buy a ticket for the hop on and off bus, and I'll ride it completely. I'll take the full route. It might be one or two hours to complete the full route. And that way, I have an idea of where everything's located. It really helps you have get your bearings to a new location. So we I mean, I did that bus three days in a row before the trip started, and I loved it. It was great. And it's a great way of getting around, getting pictures, and seeing all new places. And this is just a some words of wisdom from our experience when we were enablers on our final day of the hop on and off bus. We took it and we wanted to get off to have lunch. So we took it around and then we got to you know, the mountainside and we it was overlooking the water and we're like, alright, let's go and have some lunch in the area. Let's go find a beautiful restaurant to overlook the ocean and we're cliffside, gorgeous. Right? So we find a place, we walk down these many, many, many, many stairs and hills, and we get to this restaurant where it's only locals. We're the only tourists there. And we're sweating. It's hot out before we get there. And the lady's like, yeah, you need a reservation. We're full. My gosh. No. This can't be happening. So we go to another restaurant. We found a table. We got sat. We had the most incredible lunch. Were singing along the head musicians there. It was so much fun. It had a beautiful view. Had a great time. Now this is actually the day of the welcome dinner. So this was the first day of the trip. So we finished our dinner and we're like, alright. Let's get an Uber. Let's get an Uber back to the hotel. We're about thirty, forty minutes away from the hotel at this point. And we realize there are no Uber's. There's no Uber's there. And I kind of knew that, but I thought that the Uber app would pick up taxi companies also, which is something I read about. And it would pick it up, but it wouldn't confirm a taxi for us. So now we're stranded. In the middle of nowhere. By ourselves, we're, again, we're the only tourist there. There's no taxis or anything. Try calling a taxi company, and they didn't understand what I was saying. And we didn't really know where we were. So, I mean, I don't know how else to put this, but basically, my sister, my best friend and I ended up hitchhiking and and I don't I do not condone this for anybody to do, especially if you're solo traveling, do not do this. I'm just telling you what happened with us because now that were safe. It's a funny story. At the time, it was not funny. It was I was very anxious. I wanted to get back in time for the welcome dinner and That was our goal to get back. And, yes. So thankfully, my sister made friends with this guy when she was walking up this massive hill. And he drove her my best friend to up the hill. And she had asked him, hey, can you drive us back to our hotel? And he's like, no. No. I'm not going that way. But thankfully, he had a change of heart and he came back around for us. So we got in this guy's car. He was so sweet, such a nice man. He drove us all the way back into Maple City Center to the hotel where we made it in time he would not accept any money from us, super sweet. And thankfully, it worked out. Again, I do not recommend ever doing this, but I was with other people figure three against one, whatever. This is not. Just don't do it. Okay? So We got back to the hotel and all was good, and we had our welcome dinner. And I welcomed all of the travelers and a lot of them I have known through different stages of my life, through different events or people, and it was so nice getting to see them all. And then they were my solo travelers. And my solo travelers were there and it was their first time in Europe, their first solo trip the first time meeting me, and I was so so excited to welcome them along with all my other friends that were there. And we had a great welcome dinner, and then we got our trip started the next day. So we were located in Naples, If you're not familiar with Naples, Naples has a pretty bad rep. It's more of a tougher city I live in New York. I'm used to cities that can be a little dangerous, obviously, in New York City. But Naples is a very old city and there's, you know, there's crime. Just like any other city. So you want to be very aware when you're going into cities like this, especially if you're not used to being in cities. Need to be aware, you need to take precautions. You have to protect yourself. That will be another podcast episode where I'll go over solo travel safety again. And go into more detail with that, but you just have to be aware. So we're in Naples, my first time, a lot of of the women's first time, and the first day we did a Naples food tour where we walked around. We tried all this incredible food from the street. I mean, Naples is a birthplace of pizza, so you're gonna eat a lot of pizza when your Naples. We definitely eat a lot of pizza and no regrets. It was amazing, so definitely go try that out. The next day though, we went to Capri. Now this might have been my favorite day of the trip. We went to Capri. It was a free day for the actual trip itinerary. But a lot of the ladies wanted to do a boat tour. So I booked four private boats from Gianni's boat tour. So write that down if you're ever going to Naples or Capri or that area, Gianni's boat tour, look them up. We got four private boats. We were split up six, six, five, and four in the boats. We had Gianni's mother make us a picnic lunch. So we all I forgot how much it was per person, but we paid for this lunch and she made homemade pasta with pesto, eggplant parm, we had a fruit salad, we had chocolate cake, we had wine, and then we had for SECO. We had the best time. We were living our best life on this boat, and it was truly just magical, experiencing Capri, from that just being on the sea and exploring and just going into the caves and the Blue Lagoon. So if you haven't heard of the Blue Lagoon, it is a really magical place. You go and you can't go on a big boat. You have to go on a little rowboat into the Blue Lagoon and it's basically a tiny little opening in a cave and I'm sorry, it's the BlueGratto, not the Blue Lagoon. BlueGratto. So you pay eighteen euros, you get on this rowboat, four people max on the rowboat. I'm sitting in between my sister's legs. My two friends are on the other side of the boat and then we have our driver. And you wait in the queue to get through this little cave hole. And basically, you have to lie flat on the bottom of this row boat. And then the driver of the boat is laying on top of you so he can get under because everybody has to be low to the ground. So he's pulling on his chain, he gets us through the cave. He's laying on top of us we all pop up and we are in this magical grotto where the water is just illuminating this turquoise color, and it's so beautiful. And the reason for that is because the the sand on the bottom is white. So it's a reflection of the sun hitting on the sand, illuminating the water. It's magical. Definitely recommend doing it. It's only about a ten minute process. But the queue might be, you know, a few hours wait. So, you know, you have to look at that. But we were in there. There's singing, and it was just a really cool experience. And, yeah, so we did that. We went to Capri We also went to Attic Capri, after the boat tour, we are four hours on the water in Capri. Ana Capri has this ski lift that you go into individual seats. You sit on the ski left by yourself and it just takes you above the island. You are above everything you are as high as you possibly can be. And for me, I thought it was the most peaceful experience ever. It was very Zen I felt very relaxed. My sister, I heard was doing a livestream and did not feel that way. So if you're not into heights, or, you know, being suspended in the air, it might not be for you, but I do recommend you try it. You're safe in there. It has a bar that goes over your body. I mean, you're not secured in there. You're not locked in. It's just a bar, so you just have to sit and not move around too much, but it was perfectly safe. It was magical. And, yeah, it was such a fun day. I loved the Capri day. The day after that, we actually switched guide, so we had one guide for in Naples, and then we were moving over to Sorrento for the second half of the trip. We had this amazing guide who brought us to Pompe first. Pompe was just extraordinary. Never experienced anything like that. It's massive. So we did a very quick tour because there's so many of us and we have a full day scheduled. If you go to Pompeii, allow yourself to have, I would say, a full day to really take it all in and experience it or at least a half day, so you don't have to rush through it. But Pompe was just like, nothing I've ever experienced. After Pompe, our guide was like, hey, what do you want to do for a lunch? I know this great vineyard. And like we love wine. That sounds great. So he took us to this vineyard. And to say that it was magical is an understatement. I felt like I was in a movie scene. We arrived to the most beautiful vineyard I've ever seen in my life, and we got there and we had champagne being poured for us as we entered. We had let's see, is my alarm spun off. We had champagne as we entered the building. We walked outside to this beautiful, just included area where the vines were just covering the terrace and it was just this long beautiful table set up for us and I'm gonna insert my videos on YouTube. So I would definitely listen to this podcast on YouTube because I'm gonna put some visuals in there so you can see what I'm talking about. But we're sitting at this table and we have wine tasting and just course after course of incredible Italian food and it was just so beautiful and so unexpected. We didn't have that planned and it was just such a wonderful surprise and experience for us. After that, we went on we got checked into our new hotel in Sorrento. We did a walking tour at Sorrento, and then course, our guide, who is awesome, hooked us up with reservations at a restaurant he really loves and the food, I think that was my favorite meal we had. I don't remember the name of the hotel off the top of my head. I'll get back to you on that. I'm sorry. Not a hotel. I don't remember the name of the restaurant off the top of my head. I'll get back to you on that. And then there was a singer there. We're all singing along. Had a great time. I think fourteen of us actually went to that dinner. And then after that was are a multi day. So we started in Positano. Positano is the most picturesque and beautiful city. In the world. I think it's so beautiful. If you are a fan of under the tuscan sun, you can stop by hotel California. That is where Marcello is up in the apartment, and Francis is yelling, Marcello, Marcello, Marcello, and she's wearing the white dress. Like he dreamed I did a little reenactment or Instagram on that. And you go and you walk through and it's, you know, it's very steep. It's cliffside. You walk down to the beach It's a lot of walking, a lot of stairs, a lot of hiking, a lot of elevation. So wear comfortable shoes and take your time. While I was there something on my bucket list was to get handmade Italian sandals. So they're customized to your foot. And this man, you get to pick out your style, you know, obviously your size, colors, and he hand makes these sandals right in front of you within, like, ten to fifteen minutes. And it's such a great souvenir cost me about seventy five euros. I got the more basic one, but they had beautiful rhinestone ones, very elaborate ones. Very cool silver gear to bring home with you. After Positano, we went to Ravello. Ravello is a great place to buy ceramics. Highly recommend picking up something from Marvello. You can always have it shipped home if it's over two hundred euros, I believe. We also had a beautiful lunch overlooking the water. It was I'm telling you, every experience was just better and better than the last one that everything was magic. It just felt like a dream come true. After Evelo, we stopped in Elmafee really quick. There's not much to see in Elmafee is more shopping and, like, the piazza. So he took a little peek in there headed back because it is a decent ride back to Sorrento. And that concluded that day. And then the day after that was our free day. Free day in Sorrento to do whatever you wanted. There's so much to see and do in Sorrento. Sorento is a very big contrast from Naples. Naples was a city. Naples is old. Naples is kinda grimy and dirty, lots of graffiti, but it's amazing. I love Naples. Naples is a vibe, but Toronto is calm and safe and beautiful and just like soft. Naples is hard. Sorrento is soft. I that's just how I can explain it, but I would definitely go back to Sorrento and just spent at least a week there to experience it. And you just go shopping and there's so much shopping there and the leather goods on that hashtag. So I brought home so many things. It's ridiculous, but I love it all. So we had a free day, and then we had our farewell dinner, and that concluded the trip. And this trip has meant so much to me because, first of all, it was a drink I'm true. Literally, something that I dreamt of doing back in twenty nineteen when I had my epiphany for one girl travel. I knew this was something I wanted to do. I wanted to take women solo traveling with me. I wanted to introduce solo travel to women and be there to help guide them through that and to know that it happened, and there was an interest in it. And these ladies had a fabulous time and just the laughter and the phone that we shared, just made it all worth it. It it was just everything I could have ever hoped for. And I'm so thankful for the experience and I'm so excited to host more trips in the future because I saw the power of this. I saw the connections being made. We had friends that were childhood friends who reconnected twenty four years later. This was our first time seeing each other in twenty four years. And they reconnected. This was my sister and my best friends first time in Europe and I got to experience it with them. I got to reconnect with friends that I met from all over the country and we got together and shared all of this amazing experiences together. And that's what solo travel does. Solar travel gets you out of your comfort zone and allows you to experience new things in your life It also allows you to meet new people. The solo travelers that attended this trip with me, they gotta take experience what solo travel is like, but with other people. And then they extended their trips, so they got to experience the solo travel aspects of it. This was an introduction to the solo travel lifestyle for them, where now maybe they feel comfortable going out and doing more trips by themselves. Meeting new people, getting outside their comfort zone, showing up for themselves, taking the time for themselves, I was talking to one of my travelers and she, as a mother, and she focused so much of her life on her children, and now she gets to focus that time for herself. This was a the first major moment for her to go and give a hundred percent for herself. To take that time for herself and just do whatever it is she wanted to do. And she set This is something that she declared a long time ago and she finally made it happen. And that's so powerful that she finally took the initiative. Or herself to go out and experience the world and to connect with these women's, connect with her friend, It just brings me so much joy and it just confirms the fact that this is what I was made to do. I wanna bring women together. I wanna bring women all over the world. And you can join me. Italy is done for twenty twenty four, but I'll listen to you wherever you wanna go, you let me know I know more people wanna go to Italy, but I have Germany, the German Christmas market trip in December. And that is magical I experienced the Christmas markets in Edinburgh, Scotland, and I I'm somebody that loves Christmas. It is pure magic and it is just the flavors, the sides, the sounds, the festivities, and it's so fun. And I have never been to Germany. So this is gonna be a first for me, so you can join me. And experience Germany along with me. So if you're interested in that, go to one girl travel dot com or the link in the show notes and check it out. Maybe the trips for you. I also want to remind you if maybe group travel isn't your thing, maybe you just want to get comfortable going away from the weekend by yourself or doing the local trip by yourself or just doing a full blown trip alone and not with a group. Maybe you're unsure on how to do that or maybe you're not ready to eat by yourself that makes you feel uncomfortable. Maybe you don't know how to meet new people. If that's the case, let me help you. I have the one girl travel club. That's my signature membership where I offer group coaching monthly lessons. I have a whole database of guides and lessons available to you that you can choose whatever you need when you need it. And access that information and apply it to whatever scenario you're in at the moment. We have a community where you can meet other solo travel females. You have me at your back in call whenever you need me. I'm there. And I will guide you with whatever that you're struggling with. I wanna see you experience the world. I know the power that solo travel and life coaching can bring to your life because it changed mind. I wasn't this person when I began this journey. But I started solo traveling and I started working with a coach and I got outside my comfort zone and I started loving myself and knowing that I deserve more and knowing that I'm capable of doing more. Even if I'd never done it before, I learned that I was capable of doing it. And now I don't let anything stop me. Whatever it is I want to do, I believe I can do it because I've proven proven it over and over again. Now this doesn't always have to be about solo travel. Maybe you wanna start a business, maybe you want to write a book, maybe you want to get a relationship. It all goes hand in hand. Once you have that confidence in yourself to know that you can do anything, then you're gonna go after your dreams in every aspect. So it's not just about this solo trip. It's not just about a vacation not just about traveling. It's what you learn from that experience. It's what you learn about yourself, your likes, your dislikes, how you want to live your life, what's important to you, all of those things you're gonna learn when you're solo traveling. It's that exercise of getting to know yourself and overcoming any limiting beliefs that you might have or any foundries or restrictions you've had or implemented on your life and breaking through them and becoming who you're meant to become. And then taking those lessons and implementing them into your everyday life, which I like to call the solo travel lifestyle, You bring it home with you and you apply it to your job, to your family, to your relationship, whatever, and you become unstoppable because you know your worth. And you know that you can do anything. And that my friends is a power solo travel. And I would love to support you with whatever you need I would love for you to join me on a future trip. Let me know where you wanna go. I'll talk to you soon. I love you. Have a great day. Bye.

Speaker 2: 25:05

Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode of The One Girl Travel podcast. If you're enjoying the show, please feel free to rate Subscribe and leave a review wherever you listen to your podcasts. You can find out more about your host on our website, one girl travel dot com. Or follow her on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and TikTok. Thanks again for tuning in. And we'll catch you in the next episode.