I have gotten really bad about finding Internet these
past couple of weeks, (Sorry Mom)! So, where to start….?? I came back to Italy, already, and
have been staying in Milan with some old friends from school days, Bryan and
Adam. We were staying in an apartment that Bryan’s aunt owns in Milan.
Then…dun dun dun….Aunt Ralfy’s friend was coming into
town and she wanted her to stay in that apartment. So, that afternoon we found
ourselves with nowhere to stay. **Cue bright idea from Holly**
“Hey guys, why don’t we just buy a train ticket and go
check out Austria?” says Holly. Considering we had nowhere to go and all hostels
in Milan were completely booked, the guys were in for this idea.
We headed to the train station with our bags and asked
the lady for 3 tickets to Austria. There were no trains until that night and it
was going to be an expensive overnight train ride for the guys. So we asked
her, “Where is a good place to go that won’t take long from here?” She
suggested we go research some places and come back with a better location than
“Austria”, (where in Austria she kept asking before. We were like….uhhhh the
central station? We don’t know…)
So we go upstairs and chit chat and decide we have a new
master plan. We go back down to the ticket counter, wait in line again, and
when it’s our turn she says “Where to?” Thinking we worked out the kinks to our
master plan….“Athens, Greece” we say. “Ummm….you have to take a boat there.”
She laughed. Riiiiiiight. About that…
So, strike 2. Next we say “What about Switzerland? Just
send us to a main city there.” She starts naming cities and we all liked the
sound of Zurich. “Zurich it is!” we said. This ticket lady thought we were
completely nuts. Oh boy, were we in for a treat with this decision.
The train ride to Zurich was longer than scheduled, so we
got in at about 7:30pm. We were starving, sick of carrying our backpacks, and had
nowhere to stay yet. We walked until we found a hotel. In we went to book a
room. The receptionist was very friendly and told us it would be about 200
Swiss Franks….PER PERSON. That’s a bit over $600 for a night…for a 3 star
hotel.
Ummmmm….we started asking questions about hotels over
there. She was telling us that we wouldn’t find cheaper so she started calling
hostels for us. Booked. Booked. Booked. Cha-ching…she found one and if we could
get there by 10pm we were in! Woo Hoo!
Then, in true form, we walked the totally wrong way to
the hostel and ended up having to take a taxi. When we arrived, we walked in
circles looking for the actual hostel and then found a small sign, “City
Backpackers Hostel”. This hostel was actually in a questionable dark alley
underneath a spaghetti warehouse. You literally walked past the open doors of
the restaurant kitchen. We went in and walked up, up, up about 4 flights of
stairs and found ourselves in the most disgusting hostel I’ve seen. I mean
gross. The showers and bathrooms were co-ed, just a tiny curtain to decide your
fate from creepsters. I was certain that this place was packed with fleas and
bed bugs. Considering it was 9pm, we couldn’t afford anywhere else, and we
managed to snag the last 3 beds in the hostel. Our fate was sealed. What a
treat! We had a crazy Polish roommate in our ghetto dorm room who liked to chit
chat while in his underwear. Just thought I’d toss in that fun tid bit.
We were all dying of starvation and none of us were even wanting
to talk to each other at this point, so we decided to find somewhere to eat
dinner. That’s when we found the Mexican restaurant. All the way to Switzerland for Mexican food,
you say? Well, yes. At this point, I would have eaten out of the trash can.
I went simple, a small soup, chips and salsa, and water.
Only set me back about 40 USD. Yep, $40!! And I’m pretty sure the “salsa” was
tomato paste. Mmm Mmmm. Now we were
feeling a little depressed about our random trip to Switzerland so we decided
to get some wifi and look up things to do. What were the first things that kept
popping up online?? “Most expensive country in Europe.” “Switzerland:
Impossible on a Budget.” “Things to do in Switzerland on a budget: go for a
walk.” Hmph. Should have done our research first I suppose J
We walked back to our bunk and SOMEBODY dropped a bag
that had a bottle of whiskey in it. When I came back into the room my entire
backpack was SOAKED. Laundromat, here I come. Pretty sure at this point that I
was about in tears and mentally checked out!!
The beds were so nasty. I slept with my shoes on, my coat
on, and stole Bryan’s jacket to put under my head for good measure. After a
night of tossing and turning and feeling like bugs were crawling all over me, I
opted to skip the shower and even the bathroom in the morning. Still though, as
with all adventures so far this trip, I wouldn’t take it back or trade it at
all. Horrible unpredicted messes make the best memories!
However, the area was stunning! Beautiful scenery,
beautiful buildings, clean, friendly people, and you can’t beat the mountain
views. Just wish we knew what we were in for financially on this adventure! I
am definitely putting Switzerland on my list of places I want to vacation. I’d
love to come back here one day and actually do it right…aka…skip the Mexican
nachos and hit the Alps!
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