🇮🇹 Two weeks, One backpack — Part 1
First day of my solo trip — Rome.
Flying to Rome together with my friend: The plane arrived too early in the morning. So, we took a nap at the airport before parting ways for our solo trips. I don’t remember whether we took a train from the airport or not. I remember I took a walk from Roma Termini to my hostel after saying goodbyes and wishes for the trip to him. The walk was terrifying actually. Before that, I was also going around alone in the Netherlands where I studied. However, that early morning walk felt so different. I really thought whether I should call my friend before it was too late, go to him and tell him to take me with him.
Well, I didn’t and I also thought this was a rare opportunity for me to see the world, find out more about people including myself and do whatever. Some minutes after my anxious thoughts, I got lost in the beauty of Rome.
The walk was so beautiful and actually also short. It took me only around 15 min to get to the Yellow hostel. I can totally recommend this hostel to anyone. It was so neat, tidy and clean. The staff can speak English very well and are outgoing and friendly. You will see they are running a big business. You can find them on their own website and also on booking websites.
I booked a 4-female room. When I went inside, someone was sleeping. At that moment, I had no idea I was gonna have a good time together with her later. My bed is the top side of the bunk bed she was sleeping in. It was a little uncomfortable for me to climb up stairs very carefully not to wake her up. Well, I tried my best. After resting for some minutes, I went out. I was scared but ready to face the unknown; with a huge amount of excitement honestly.
The weather was so nice. I flew from the north of the Netherlands where it was raining and cloudy everyday. Rome’s weather was very greatly different. The yellowish, brownish and greyish buildings were so compatible with blue sky and white clouds. I was not walking around; I was hopping around. I truly was happy to be under the sun.
I had no plan at all. Sometimes in life, it’s better not to have a plan.
I was just following whatever that attracted my mind. I saw very stunning long stairs going down and I walked along. At the end of them, there was a handsome Italian man who looked like Joey from F.R.I.E.N.D.S wearing an ancient Rome warrior costume. He approached me and asked me if I wanted to take a selfie with him. I was like “Why not?”. I remembered I looked ugly in those selfies. However, I did not care and was smiley.
“Hey, I will tell you one thing. This is the tradition here. You need to pay 20 euro after taking selfies with men dressing like me.”, he said. That was when all of my smiles were gone.
I told myself “Oh god! He is a scammer.”.
I was not shocked that he asked me for money, in fact I was shocked that the amount was 20 euro. He knew it was a lot but he did it. He thought I would agree whatever he asked me to just because I was alone. He thought I was a fool. He thought he could scam me. He thought I was helpless. He looked down on a woman who was traveling alone. A lot of thoughts came to my mind. I was so mad at how he dared to do this to me. Nevertheless, I knew I could not act recklessly while traveling alone and should not make him angry. It was true that I was helpless. I felt there were only two of us in this world and certainly it was not a romantic moment.
At that moment, I thought this man was the most wicked man I could meet during the trip. Little did I know, it was just the beginning.
After a long negotiation with him, I gave him 2 euro, ignored his disappointed face and walked away from him as fast as I could. I told myself to not let strangers approach me as easily as I just did. I was horrified after I witnessed it’s true that Europe was filled with scammers for tourists. Hey but I was in Rome. As soon as I turned my back on him, there was the jaw-dropping view of the Forum of Augustus.
I felt like I was time traveling. The place didn’t look a bit like 2017. I could imagine how grand and great Romans lived on this ground I was standing. On the other hand, it was grand only in my imagination. In reality, right in front of my eyes, only broken pieces of those grand and great Roman buildings were left. It was a good thought to have that everything, small or big, good or bad, is temporary on this earth.
To be continued … read part 2 here
