Ghemme, Italy

As I wrote on my previous posts, time to go back was come. Not because of the robbery suffered (I don’t give a shit to that ‘cause hopefully the insurance will refund me and the economic damage will be little therefore) but because ending the journey in Buenos Aires, in such way, was the only way to end it with a thrill, with meaning. And it’s better to listen to what destiny says when is trying to talk you: few weeks ago I bought an open ticket from Buenos Aires to Milan via San Paolo, then my plan changed and I thought was cool to get it directly in San Paolo, just to visit Iguazu falls and Rio de Janeiro, but anyway the flight I booked was from Buenos Aires. Moreover, I walked all La Boca also the day before the robbery with no troubles at all, I decided to get back there again at the end of my stay in Buenos Aires because of the sun and some nice shots to take. That’s it, this meant time to get back to me.
So I jumped on the first available flight off the “old world” (which still remains my favourite continent indeed) and I landed at Malpensa international airport, 40 km far from the city centre of Milan. That was the second flight took for the whole journey, just to cross the Atlantic ocean. Instead of reaching Milan, I decided to take the way of Ghemme – a small countryside town not far from the Alpes – because I wished to close the line drawn around the world here and, even if I grew up in Milan, because the time spent in Ghemme has been much more valuable (above, a picture I took of the local river; on the contrary, to see me dancing naked on mountains you gotta wait for summer, too cold at this time! ). Few days here will also help me to realize that the dream is over and it’s time to get back to reality… After 8 months of travel I need some money to earn now. I gotta get a job for a while but I will be back, hopefully soon. I realize that all of my life has been beaten out by the rhythm of travels: when I was 18 the first glorious journey ever travelling by car from Milan to North Cape and back; when I finished university hitchhiking from Alaska all the way down to Mexico; now this big loop around the world… What I’m saying is that the issue ain’t if Lonelytraveller will hit the road again or not, but just when and where.

Venice, Italy

Venice is unique, in its contrasts too. Even if the incredible number of visitors from all over the world make Venice more similar to a tourist playground than a real city, walking through the Venetian remains is always a symphony for the eyes and spirit. I am convinced now that Venice is the emblem of city for dreamers built by dreamers, the land of the sophisticated undecided, the place for those than between land and sea, between reality and illusion, have chosen the limbo of the lagoon. A lagoon nowadays theater of dreams for all the visitors who reaches Venice with the hope of being actors in its tale, even just for a few hours.
By the way, I've just find out that the brand new 55-200mm lens I've bought for this journey - which was perfectly working either at the shop as for the following tests - now has lost its inner calibration, in other words, it's completely unusable...
First day of travel and one lens already gone: good start.

Bags packed and ready to go

Some months ago, when moved back from Rome, I had an unexpected source of profit by reviewing, for a traveller's guide, the service areas of the whole Italian motorway network. The most logical destination for those money earned travelling is financing a brand new travel, I thought. No sooner said than done, here I am! Everything's ready to go now: I've got the visas, the tickets, and a huge backpack filled with the essential stuff. Tomorrow morning I catch a train from Milano to Venice, then, in the afternoon, I'll get a bus which slowly lead me, in 20 hours, to Sofia, Bulgaria.

"All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost."
...and that is precisely what I plan to do: wander.