All roads lead to rome.
After briefly visiting Corfu (again) and Budapest, I hopped on a plane to Rome to visit another friend I had made in Corfu, let’s call him Nico. I stayed here for about a week, before I had to return home to pick up a new debit card because mine got stolen in Budapest. This week consisted mostly of sightseeing and going out. During this week Nico and I had gotten close and I told him that I would be back soon to spend some more time together.
When I returned to Rome, Nico had recently got a new room and had very generously invited me to stay with him during my time there. Not having to pay for accommodation and spending more time together sounded like music to my ears and I was excited to get a real local experience, which was great. . . For a while.
Not being surrounded by other travellers, in a dormroom where you get judged just a little bit if you don’t go outside, made me fall back into old (bad) habits. Nico worked every other day, and on most of his days off we just hungout at home watching series or occasionally went out with his friend and the friend’s girlfriend. When Nico worked, I usually stayed home, watched RuPauls Dragrace, sometimes went for a walk around the neighbourhood, and just wasted my days there waiting for him to finish work.
Through my mom, I came in contact with a family friend in the US, not too far from New York. It was winter, christmas was getting close, and New York during the holidays seemed magical and I was excited to travel outside of Europe. So, I booked a flight to New York, made sure to research what documentation I would need, took a taxi to the airport, and when I got to the check-in desk. . . you guessed it. . . I was missing the ESTA form, which I had filled out but had forgotten to press one button which said ‘Apply’. I rushed to apply, waited for the document to be approved (which could take up to 72 hours), and missed my flight. Lovely.
I was able to stay a couple weeks longer with Nico, I visited Florence, we celebrated christmas and New Year, and my best friend and I had made plans for Mexico! This time, actually double, triple checking what forms I needed, and made sure to have them ready on time. And after two months, I finally got further than the check-in desk, and was on my way to Ciudad de Mexico!
