The Italians have a saying. “Mangia bene, ridi spesso, ama molto.” Eat well, laugh often and love deeply. My first solo trip, Contiki’s “Italian Escape”, the winter version, taught me to do just that.
I was filled with obvious trepidation and excitement. Everyone at work who knew me wondered why I was travelling solo abroad on a group trip since they all knew me as being more on the introverted side, one of the very reasons I wanted to push out of my comfort zone.
I had been dreaming about the Amalfi Coast for a while as a fan of Daniel Craig’s Bond films and since my grandmother had always wanted to travel along the Amalfi coast. But before any of the magical glitzy moments could transpire everything that could possibly go wrong before an international long-haul flight went wrong. I was flying out of my hometown, Winnipeg, Manitoba to Toronto’s Pearson Airport before catching my overseas flight from Heathrow Airport, London to Rome, Italy. A plane crash in Toronto closed the airport and my first flight got cancelled. (Not to worry though, everyone was okay). I panicked, British Airways had already re-routed all my flights.
While waiting for my overseas flight in Toronto, I ended up meeting some of the kindest stranded travellers and we became a small family, laughing and shaking our heads at our current situation.
Image source:Maurice Gingras
Image source:Maurice Gingras
Image source:Maurice Gingras
I finally made it to Rome, meanwhile my group was in Naples, I was incredibly jet lagged and didn’t speak a word of Italian, but I navigated the airport thanks to the help of my Trip Manager, who texted me detailed instructions on what train to catch from Rome to Naples. I made it to Naples late at night, after what felt like an episode off the reality show, The Amazing Race. At this point I only had about four days, I realized I had to make each of them count. I decided to embrace each moment. “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”.
So as soon as I got to Naples around 11:00PM after a full day and a half of travel, I dropped my bags off in my room, found the nearest restaurant, sat down and had a Pizza Margherita. The next day I quickly made a few friends on the coach on our way to the Amalfi coast and soaked up each moment of “la dolce vita”, the sweet life.
The first day on the Amalfi felt like something out of a dream, we took the winding cliffside roads from Napoli with Mount Vesuvius looming in the background, an ever-present reminder of the history of the region looming in the background. We stopped at a picture-perfect spot near Positano, explored the town of Amalfi and then made it to our hotel in Salerno.
Highlights of this trip were meeting two fellow Canadians who grew up in the same hometown as me, visiting an incredible lemon farm and La Sorgente in Sorrento as well as driving down the mountains after an evening in Ravello. I quickly bonded with our Trip Manager, Hana who took such amazing care of all of us. Despite the trip feeling chaotic to start, I learnt so much about myself as a solo traveller and made some lifelong friends along the way. Hana said she still talks about my story to other travellers and, inspired by this first trip I quickly realised I needed more time in the Mediterranean, so I decided to book a two-week trip to Greece this fall in September of 2025. My lightning-fast trip to Italy taught me to live in the moment and how important it is to cultivate resiliency as a traveller. After all no calm seas ever made a skilled sailor. This trip taught me how to live “la dolce vita”, the sweet life.
