After having been in Paris for three weeks, my friends and I decided it was time
to do our first trip outside the country. Given the current covid situations, it definitely involved a lot of research beforehand. We had to look at each countries’ travel restrictions that can typically be found through simple google research on their government-official websites. Additionally, we had to look at each countries’ current daily covid restrictions, including whether masks were required (more specifically what type) or whether dining and other sightseeing were still running. One thing to note is that things are changing every day with the pandemic, so it is important to also take each restriction with a grain of salt. As I said in my first blog, being flexible is key when it comes to traveling anywhere. However, after doing lots of research we finally decided our first destination outside of France would be the beautiful city of Florence, Italy.
Luckily, it just so happens that our friends in Rome and London also wanted to join in on our trip! While many might think traveling with a big group of friends is difficult, it actually turned out to be easy and cost-efficient. When searching for places to stay I turned to the most popular site worldwide, Airbnb. Even only two weeks out we were able to find the perfect place to fit all 12 of us comfortably and for less than $90 each for an entire weekend! A tip to note is that traveling in big groups often makes AirBnb’s less expensive therefore the best option. However, when traveling in smaller groups, I would definitely recommend finding other options such as hotels or hostels that are more within a good price range.
After booking our flights and place to stay, we began to plan our itinerary. Again, more research was involved, but what also proved to be helpful was asking others who had studied abroad in Florence. For example, my cousin’s friend studied there and made a Florence travel guide document. Additionally, my roommate’s sister studied there just last semester and gave us tons of great recommendations. Even without connections to Florence, an internet search was just fine. Knowing that we had larger parties we also decided to call some places in advance to make some reservations to ensure we faced no trouble when there as well.
Flying to Florence was quite easy and quick! We did have to get a covid antigen test 24 hours before to get to Italy, but not on the way back. Fortunately, many pharmacies in Paris offer these antigen tests on the spot for about 25 euros and you get results within 15 min! With pharmacies on almost every block, it was more than easy to get this done. We also had to wear N95 masks or as they call them here FFP2 masks on the plane and in many museums in Italy, which we were able to get at the pharmacy as well. After a quick 1 hr and 20 min flight we had finally landed in Italy!
On the first day, we decided to visit the famous churches Cathedral of Santa Maria
del Fiore and Santa Croce which were absolutely stunning as you can see in the pictures. We also paid a visit to the Gucci Garden Exhibition which offered us a student discounted ticket price! I would definitely recommend bringing your student ID cards with you when you travel, since many museums do have discounts for students, especially in the EU. The best part of my day was the sandwich and gelato shops we went to! The sandwich shop called Panini Toscana is not only a great and affordable sandwich shop but an experience as well. When you get to the shop they let you do a sampling of all their meats and cheeses and then decide which combination you would like to have in your sandwich along with your desired toppings. With some amazing gelato for dessert, we definitely ate well!
The next couple of days we visited more museums such as Uffizi Gallery where we saw the Birth of Venus painting by Sandro Botticelli and Accademia Gallery where we saw Michelangelo's world-famous David sculpture. We walked around and had some more amazing food before we got back to our Airbnb and found a bat in our apartment! While this was quite a surprise that was frightening at the moment, with 12 girls against one bat we were able to successfully get it out. It ended up being quite an unexpected but funny memory to look back on.
Lastly, we decided to spend our last day in Tuscany which was only a 40 min
drive away from Florence. There are many guided tours available for tourists to partake in when planning a day trip, we used a company which you can find on Instagram @funintuscany. This was my favorite day by far, for they took us on beautiful winery tours, city tours, and gave us amazing food! It was a day I will never forget and it truly made me appreciate how lucky I am to have this opportunity to be abroad with my 11 best friends.
Overall, I would highly recommend Florence Italy to anyone! If you have no former Florence connections, you now have me to help you out, so feel free to reach out to me beforehand for some good recommendations. While Florence was so amazing, I was excited to return to Paris, France, which is ultimately my new home. Until next time, Au Revoir or should I say Ciao!