Getting Stranded in Venice, Italy

This is a story about how I got stranded in one of the most beautiful places in the world with my boyfriend…

He and I decided to take the train to Venice from Florence one morning for a day trip and come back home in the evening. As I’ve mentioned before, our journey didn’t exactly start smoothly as we both got seasick within our first hour in the gorgeous city of canals.

These are views you never get sick of

Thankfully, we managed to bring our spirits back up and have an absolutely wonderful time. Around 7 PM, we thought it was the perfect time to head back to the train station in order to arrive home in Florence around 9.

We leisurely walked (avoiding all boats on account of being seasick) through the city, from San Marco Square to the train station.

There was just one small problem… There were no trains running until the next morning.

Apparently, this is not unusual. I was just unaware that trains don’t run late to cities that are relatively far because I had only taken the train to Venice from Padua prior to this (Padua is only two stops away from Venice – about a 15 minute train ride).

Pretty obvious tip, but clearly one I could’ve used myself: check or ask about the train schedule ahead of time!! Don’t assume there will be a train – trains stopped running to Florence at 4 PM that day.

Now the problem wasn’t really the train itself… It was the fact we had no money with us – maybe €45 each – which is just enough for a train ticket back to Florence – NOT a hotel or food, if we ever wanted to make it back home. Plus, we had nothing on us except the clothes on our backs – my boyfriend literally had some cash in his pocket and keys, and I had a small bag filled with some make up, cash and my IDs.

I should also mention our phones were completely dead and we had no chargers – not like we’d know who to call in Italy anyways, but at least we could’ve looked for some sort of advice online.

After about an hour of trying to figure out what to do, I by some miracle, managed to find my credit card at the bottom of my bag – so we began searching for a hotel.

I’m seriously upset in this picture – I don’t know who, except me, could be upset with this view

We went to hotel after hotel after hotel – every single one was fully booked (Venice gets pretty busy in June – duh). Finally, one hotel said they had a room available, all they needed was our IDs and the money. My boyfriend said he didn’t have his ID – and the hotel manager said that unfortunately, he couldn’t give us the room.

Tip: 99% of the hotels you stay at in Italy will want your ID, in a lot of cases specifically your passport. This is a legal requirement, so for god’s sake take something with you at all times, just in case.

At that moment, I was almost at my breaking point – yes, Venice is gorgeous, but no, I did not want to spend a night sleeping on the street.

Thankfully, it turned out I had my boyfriend’s ID after all, I forgot I put it in my wallet “just in case” before leaving that morning. The day was saved!

The hotel room was probably the absolute worst room I’ve stayed in, it had no bathroom, no AC, two tiny twin beds we had to push together, made out of what I can only assume to have been cardboard – and this was NOT a cheap room (it was over $120 for the night) – but hey at least it was something.

Tip: never ever just walk into a hotel that’s how you’ll pay the highest price imaginable. They could tell we were desperate – this was our last resort, everything else was booked, no room for negotiation.

Save yourself the hassle and book a hotel in Venice ahead of time…

We snuck into this closed bar at night.

All this nonsense took hours, and more stress than I can even describe, but at least something good came out of it:

We discovered THE BEST time to be in Venice is at night!

The streets are unbelievably beautiful and quiet. It’s like the entire city is yours and yours alone to explore. This turned out to be one of my favorite memories of Italy. Sure, our dinner consisted of a bag of chips and wine, but hey, it’s all part of the experience.

We also discovered another gem in Italy; a wonderful bar close to the train station – it had the most amazing service, drinks, and atmosphere. They even charged our phones for us! The bartender, after hearing our story poured us two nice glasses of red wine, filled to the brim – and did the same on the refills. Unfortunately, I had no idea I would be writing a travel blog when I was there so I cannot remember the name of this fantastic bar, plus I was preoccupied with getting drunk off wine to celebrate not sleeping on the street. The next time I’m in Venice, (maybe in June!) I will be sure to write an amazing review about it.

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