Palermo

Today, we said goodbye to Catania and made our way towards Palermo to catch up with Zach and Ruby again. Most of the day wasn’t particularly exciting. Jack and I slept in, caught the train to Palermo, grabbed a big feed, and then jumped straight onto Lime bikes to meet Zach and Ruby at the beach. It was about a 30-minute ride, but parts of the route took us along the water, making it a pretty cruisy way to see more of the city.

Our trip towards the north of Palermo had already given us the impression that it was a standout city in terms of cleanliness and beauty. Compared with Catania, it was much neater and seemed to have far more character. When we eventually reached the beach - after a surprisingly long ride - it was also easily the nicest beach we had visited so far. Palermo is surrounded by huge cliffs that seem to encompass the entire city, making for an incredible backdrop wherever you are, but especially from the beach. We chilled there for a while, drinking beers and hanging out before eventually deciding it was time to ride home. This time, there were four of us, and we were all drunk. Naturally, this made the bike ride significantly more interesting - and considerably more comical. Somehow, we all made it back without incident, before splitting up and heading to our respective accommodation to shower and get ready for another big night of drinking.

Zach and Ruby had an early bus to the airport the next morning for their flight and were adamant that they wouldn’t drink much. They were very wrong. After racking up a €180 bill between the four of us, it was safe to say we were absolutely smashed. We worked our way through all sorts of spritzes, limoncello shots, Jäger shots and whatever else we could get our hands on. By the time the bill arrived, we were dancing in the middle of the restaurant and generally causing a scene.

The chaos continued when we got back to the hostel. For the first time on the trip, people were literally lying around the halls and rooms, and we were more than happy to join in. We were loud, very drunk and ended up having drunken conversations with pretty much everyone around us. The waiter from the restaurant had also, of all people, given us some weed as a thank you for being so friendly to him. We figured we might as well make the most of it. There wasn’t much, but given how drunk we already were, that was probably a blessing.

I don’t even remember what time it was when Zach and Ruby eventually left, but unsurprisingly, we all fell asleep almost instantly afterwards. We later found out that Zach and Ruby had somehow missed their bus to the airport and had to get a taxi for the 40-minute journey instead, costing them a pretty fucking penny.

Once again, though, it was great to see them before they headed off for the final leg of their trip in Greece. Looking back, the first part of my trip has involved far more Australian mates than I expected. At the same time, though, I’ve made fewer international friends than I originally thought I would. I’m sure that will change eventually.

Next, we’re heading to Croatia, thanks to another change of plans so that I can travel there with Tait before he runs out of money. Given the party atmosphere over there, I’m hoping it will be a good opportunity to meet some new people and potentially find others to travel through Europe with.

The trip is changing constantly, but that’s part of the fun.Read more