• Vincent Lattuca

World Trip 2024

Una aventura de 370 días de Vincent Leer más
  • Inicio del viaje
    6 de abril de 2024
  • Lisbon

    7–10 abr. 2024, Portugal ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Lisboa! Back after 9 years as the first place on my trip. When I arrived, I went to use the metro from the airport to get to my hostel. My credit cards weren’t working and I didn’t get cash out, but luckily I had €20 in my passport holder from Longwood Travels that I used to get me into town. This was my first ever time in a hostel so I didn’t know what to expect. I was able to make some friends and it was a good introduction to hostels for me.

    The most memorable thing that happened to me in Lisbon was that I messed up my feet. For some reason I thought bringing Steve Madden sample shoes that I’ve never worn before would be good for walking the streets of Lisbon for 20k+ steps a day. Keep in mind the streets are all cobblestone and very hilly. Not my best idea. I wanted to buy new shoes that looked good and also were supportive, so I spent €100 on another trash pair of shoes. Again they just looked good but they messed up my feet even more. I planned to wait until I could find a good store with hiking shoes. Until then I walked in my Tevas (which were life savers).

    In Lisbon I also went to Sintra which had a pretty palace and Cascáis which is where we went on Longwood Travels. In Cascáis I went to the same beach that we took pictures at 9 years before and went on the carousel. It was a weird nostalgic feeling being in the same place without the same people.
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  • Nazaré

    10–11 abr. 2024, Portugal ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Nazare is a beach town that is known around the world for big wave surfing. When I went it wasn’t the season so the waves weren’t big, but I still had a great time.

    I arrived during the sunset and went on the beach will all my stuff to watch because it was so beautiful. That night I met a friend named Niels from the Netherlands. We got dinner together and I tried spaghetti carbonara for the first time, and it was absolutely delicious. There was also a pool bar that we went to where we played next to this woman that must’ve been a professional. She made the most insane shots and never celebrated. She cleaned the table up game after game.

    I also took my first ever surf lesson in Nazare which was fun. We were just surfing baby waves but it’s cool to say you had your first lesson there. I also checked out the lighthouse and then I had to leave for Porto.
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  • Porto

    11–16 abr. 2024, Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Porto was my favorite city in Portugal. It was very lively and beautiful. When I home and planning my trip, I had planned up to Porto in order to have my first week figured out. I ended up extending a few days because I liked it so much.

    A few memories I have from Porto are meeting the French lady named Laura, going to the beach, European folk dancing, and looking around for shoes.

    I believe this was the first place where I realized grocery shopping was the move in Europe and eating out every night would get expensive. I remember getting a frozen pizza for $2.50 and heating it up in the hostel oven for dinner.
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  • Santiago

    16–19 abr. 2024, España ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Spent my time in Santiago recovering from food poisoning and then I hurt my ankle. I haven’t gotten sick in years and can’t remember the last time I had a physical injury, so this was my first test of the trip.

    When I got food poisoning I locked myself in the handicapped bathroom in the hostel for 4 hours, from 8pm to midnight. I didn’t drink water after in fear of throwing it up in a room full of 10 people. The next morning was rough. I wasn’t throwing up anymore but I had nothing in my body. I booked a private room in a hostel and went there. It was colder in Santiago and the walk was quite windy. It felt terrible having nothing in my body, and it felt worse when I realized I walked to the wrong location for 15 mins and had to walk another 15 minutes to get there. I arrived at the hostel at 10:30am and check in was at 2pm so I had to wait 4 hours on a couch. It was rough.

    After a couple days of resting and rehydrating I walked around the city, and that’s when I felt my ankle tweak. I was walking only in my Tevas for a while, so I knew I had to get shoes in the next place I was going, Madrid.
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  • Madrid

    19–20 abr. 2024, España ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Spent a day in Madrid. My main memory is spending my only day to buy new shoes, as my ankle was hurting from walking only in sandals for two weeks. I went to the Solomon store in the mall and asked about hiking shoes. The worker suggested trail running shoes, as they offered more ankle support and traction than running shoes but offered more breathability than waterproof hiking shoes (being that I was traveling in the summer they would get sweaty and stinky). After I got Five Guys and headed to Sevilla.Leer más

  • Sevilla

    20–25 abr. 2024, España ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    For my first night in Sevilla I stayed at a hostel that costed ~$60. I asked why it was so expensive and they told me it was the last day of La Feria, which is a huge flamenco festival. I decided to go and went in my new shoes. It was a huge festival with tents all over. People were drinking and dancing while playing music, and dressed up in flamenco attire. There was also a fair with rides, games, and food. On the way back to the hostel, I felt my ankle tweak, and I knew I messed up because I was in my new shoes with more ankle support. Also even though it was $60, it was not a good hostel. I had instant pasta and just needed to boil water, but they didn't have any pots in their kitchen. All they had was a dirty kettle which I didn't use, so I had 3 Oreos for dinner. Also my bed didn't have blankets on it so I slept in my dirty clothes and used my shirt as a blanket. I moved hostels the next day.

    Rested my ankle in the hostel for the next couple of days. Made some friends at the hostel and read the Alchemist while I was resting. Went to the bull fighting ring, the Alcazar, and La Plaza de España. At the Plaza de España I met an older couple who traveled the world, and they showed me Find Penguins.

    Post trip notes: made 2 friends in Sevilla that I ended up seeing again. Ben and Pookie.
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  • Málaga

    25–29 abr. 2024, España ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    Malaga was another place of rest for me. I actually went to the hospital to get my ankle checked out. I wanted to make sure I didn't really hurt it and wanted to get instructions on how to fix it.

    One weird thing that happened was someone opened my curtains and touched me and the person next to me in the middle of the night. I was so out of it getting woken up but I went back to sleep. It ended up being a drunk person who was looking for their bed. The next day I made friends with the person next to me. His name was Lucas and he was from Argentina. He showed me maté which is a famous drink in Argentina used for digestion (similar to tea). My ankle was starting to feel a little better so I walked a bit and did a tour, but I didn't push it too much.
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  • Barcelona

    29 abr.–2 may. 2024, España ⋅ 🌧 14 °C

    My ankle finally started feeling better in Barcelona. I played volleyball on the beach (first time playing volleyball on the trip. Luckily I was with the hostel at the beach because there were some sketchy people throwing blankets down and picking them back up. It looked like they were trying to cover people's stuff in the blanket and steal it.

    One of the things I didn't realize about Barcelona was that La Sagrada Famailia and Park Guell (two of the biggest things to do there) get sold out a week in advance. I could've bought second hand tickets but they were too expensive so I didn't go.

    Funny thing, I went out to a club and they had a little person in a suit dancing and making it rain with fake money with his face on it. After me and some people at the hostel got some 3am Five Guys.

    I was worried about my stuff getting stolen in Barcelona because I heard a lot of things, but honestly I had no issues.

    When I left Barcelona to go to France, I helped this French lady carry her bags. She was a typical French person and didn't want to speak English. At first she was asking me in French to help her, then in Spanish, and finally she started speaking to me in English. She ended up being fluent in English because her ex-husband was Scottish, she just didn't like speaking English.
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  • Marseille

    2–5 may. 2024, Francia ⋅ 🌬 12 °C

    Ran into an issue on the train to Marseille. I didn't activate my train ticket on the Eurail app so the conductor told me to get the ticket. Luckily it was just a matter of clicking a few buttons on the app because I had the 3 month continuous pass, but I learned my lesson. I was nervous I'd get in trouble, but I was fine.

    I heard Marseille was known to be one of the most dangerous cities in Europe, but I didn't have any problems. I didn't test my luck and stayed in during my nights there though.

    Did a walking tour, went to the Calinque de Sugiton with a friend I made named Anna. It was a hike to a bay of crystal clear blue water, it was very pretty.

    Post trip note: Met a girl (can't remember her name rn) in my hostel who I later met in Fethiye.
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  • Nice

    5–9 may. 2024, Francia ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    I went to Nice but I also technically went to another country in this footprint. I took a day trip to Monaco and spent a few hours there. I saw the Monte-Carlo casino, the F1 track, and the prince's private collection of cars. On this day trip I also went to the city of Menton in France which was very pretty.

    Played proper beach volleyball in Nice and had such beautiful views. The people playing were so good, they had to be training to play professionally. I played a few games but I was out of my league. I still had a good time. Also I got stung by a bee while playing, didn't think there would be bees at the beach.
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  • Genoa

    9–12 may. 2024, Italia ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

    I had such a great time in Genoa, I met some people that I really clicked with. Their names were Vito, Emma, Izzy, and Paikea. We had a great day going to Cinque Terra together (which was about a 2 hour train ride away). We started in Vernazza which was pretty but it was so packed that we only spent 5 minutes there. We were walking like penguins because there were so many people. From Vernazza we hiked to Monterosso which took 2 hours (and was tough because I hit legs for the first time on my trip that morning with Izzy). We got food, ice cream, took pictures, and watched the sunset. It was a beautiful day. Vito is actually a photographer and got some amazing shots of me.

    A memory I have of Genoa was trying one of my favorite dishes of the trip, a pesto lasagna from a restaurant called Cavour 21. I didn't even really like pesto before trying this one, it was amazing. I ended up going twice to this place to get the pesto lasagna during my 3 days in Genoa. One thing I learned was that pesto actually originated in Genoa. In a lot of the supermarkets in Europe they sell "Genovese" pesto.

    I had such a great time here and it gave me hope that I will continue to meet people that I click with on this trip.
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  • Florence

    12–16 may. 2024, Italia ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    This footprint is labeled as Florence but it also includes Venice as I took a day trip there.

    I stayed at a big hostel in Florence, there were a lot of people and they also had a rooftop pool. I did a walking tour there, I met an American couple who I ended up getting lunch after with. I think this was also the first time on my trip that I did yoga, as there was a class run by my hostel. My friend Paikea from Genoa arrived in Florence that night and came to my hostel for dinner and Pictionary. I did a funny drawing of Michael Jackson and Pi guessed it. Also during Pictionary I met these girls Kendall and Ally who were planning on taking a day trip to Venice the next day so I decided to join them.

    I went to Venice with Kendall and Ally. It was beautiful, I've never seen anything like it with the canals and boats driving through the city. We walked around and explored a lot (the girls went shopping for sooo long). We went to take a water taxi back to the train station and just got on the boat in time, we didn't even have time to buy tickets. We asked the guy on the boat if we could get tickets but he waved us on, so we figured we could buy the tickets at the end of the ride. At the end of the ride a lady was going around and checking tickets. We didn't have any and explained the situation, and she hit us each with a €60 fine.
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  • Rome

    16–20 may. 2024, Italia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Similar to Nice and Monaco, I added another country to the list by going to Rome and Vatican City. I heard it gets really crowded so I woke up at 5am to go. It was very beautiful and I didn't have to wait too long (since I got there early, when I left the lines were huge).

    The day I went to the Vatican had some pretty memorable moments. After the Vatican I went to the Pantheon and met this couple named Lewis and Barbara while waiting on line to enter. We talked and I told them my story, they were lovely people. They actually ended up paying for my entrance into the Pantheon, which is something I won't forget. After the Pantheon, I got some candy from this place that smelled like heaven. The candy was a bit expensive, but I think it was the best candy I've ever had. And then at night, to top things off, I went to watch the sunset with the hostel and this guy and I saw Adam Sandler. He was walking towards us and we said cheers as he entered a store. He said cheers back, but we didn't make a big deal of it because we didn't want to draw attention to him. I was surprised but also not to see him because a friend of mine that I met in Italy actually saw him in Tuscany earlier and told me about it. To top things off on this memorable day was a beautiful sunset viewpoint. There was a live singer and a bunch of Italians singing songs, it was a special moment.

    I also went to the Trevi Fountain and the Colosseum. I liked the Colosseum but I thought it was even more beautiful lit up at night. Rome was an interesting place. It's a place I've always dreamed of going to and while it was great, it was different than I imagined in my head.
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  • Naples

    20–23 may. 2024, Italia ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    I did a lot in Napoli. I met some awesome people, and went to not only Naples but also Pompei, Sorrento, and Capri. I also tried some Neapolitan pizza and fried pizza.

    I checked into my hostel in Naples and met a great group of friends. One of them, Ian, I met a month earlier in Malaga, and he happened to be at the same hostel at the same time as me. It was especially crazy because he ended up going back home to England and then coming back out. But as for the group, it was my second time meeting people that I clicked with. And it worked out well because everyone was in Naples for around the same time.

    I went to Pompei with two friends named McKayla and Alma from Canada. We had a great time and sang the song Pompei the whole time. Also McKayla and I had a thing where we'd say "prego" all the time.

    I decided I wanted to splurge a bit and booked a $120 boat tour from Sorrento to Capri. I met some really cool people from the states and we had a great time together. We ended up exploring Capri together, going back and exploring Sorrento together and getting dinner.

    I realized I forgot my camera tripod on the boat so I messaged them and spent the whole next day going to Sorrento to get my tripod back. Honestly it was a great day, I embraced the challenge. That same day I took a night train to Sicily.
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  • Sicily

    24–26 may. 2024, Italia ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Sicily was one of the places I dreamed of going my whole life, where my ancestors came from. When I arrived in Sicily I was warned about the mafia but it wasn't an issue at all. I made some friends at the hostel who I got dinner with and chatted. One of them who was memorable had a journal where he asked people he made a connection with to write their best piece of advice.

    Taormina was very nice. I explored the town with some people from the hostel and then went to meet Michael Vincent's friend Dimitri. He worked at this restaurant by the beach, it was gorgeous. I had dinner there and watched the sunset.

    Also one of the things I didn't realize about Sicily was that they use pistachio is a lot of their dishes. They have pasta with pistachio and they put it in their cannolis. Another random thing is I finally got rid of my shoes that I bought on my second day of my trip (over a month later). I donated them to a homeless shelter.
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  • Athens

    26–28 may. 2024, Grecia ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    I had a great time in Athens. Some of the most memorable moments were trying my first, second, third, fourth, and fifth gyro. I also met some cool people, took some nice pictures, went to the acropolis and temple of Poseidon.

    When I arrived in Athens, I met a couple from Canada on the train (they ended up getting engaged later on their trip). I arrived in the morning so I still had time to kill before check in, so we got gyros together. This was my first time and the place we went to was so delicious, I didn't even bother trying another gyro in Athens.

    Walking through the city I found a food festival and went in, but everything was too expensive so I ended up getting another gyro from my place. On my way there I walked through a huge party/festival going on in the streets. I could barely walk there were so many people. I got my gyro and went to Aeropagus Hill to watch the sunset. It was a beautiful view of Athens with the acropolis behind. I got a good picture of a photographer and sent it to him.
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  • Paros

    28–31 may. 2024, Grecia ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Even though I spent most of my time alone, I really enjoyed my time in Paros. I think a big part in that was the owner of the hotel gave a wonderful breakdown of the island and the things to do.

    My first full day was quite the adventure and day of walking. I had to have walked half the island along with hiking up and down a mountain. On top of the mountain was a monastery that had beautiful 360 views of the island. I wanted to go to a beach afterwards which was on the other side of the mountain. There wasn't a route so I took a short cut aka scaled down the mountain. I didn't realize there were sharp plants so I got cut up a bit, but made it down in one piece. I went to the beach which was known for having clay deposits where you could put it on your body. You would take a rock, dip it in water, and scrape the clay and it would become muddy. Then you'd put it all over you like a mud bath. It was interesting because the clay looks just like rocks but when you scrape it, it becomes mud.

    The next day I went to another beach which was somewhat nudist. I did a workout using a tree for pull-ups and push ups on the ground. This was a rock beach so it wasn't the most comfortable but I was so tired I took a nap. I used my backpack as a pillow, towel as a blanket and slept under the tree for shade cover. After I walked to a nearby fishing town and tried the grilled octopus which was recommended to me by the hotel owner. I was a bit reluctant but it was actually delicious. I'm a texture person and usually don't like chewy food but it was amazing. I compared it to eating a piece of gum where even though it was chewy, you got more and more flavor from each bite. Definitely one of the food highlights of my trip.
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