Sick of Hostels

We knew that we wouldn't fall in love with Milan. It was on the way to the rest of Italy, so we thought we would check it out for a few days. Unfortunately the hostel kinda ruined it for us. 

It's no good when you say to each other, "I can't wait to leave this city." Especially if its just because of a crappy hostel and you might have enjoyed it otherwise. The first night was ok- maybe because it wasn't the weekend yet- but Friday and Saturday night in the hostel were pretty awful. Easily my worst hostel experience. Jeremy hated the 40-bed room in Munich more, of course, but he hated this one too. It was a 16-bed room, which was my largest but was also comparable to several 12- and 14-bed rooms I've stayed in. The problem was the lack of respect everyone was showing for others. I'm talking about people playing music in the room- WHAT?!- while others are napping, talking at a normal volume early in the morning or late at night, loudly packing/unpacking, making out in beds loudly, etc. I honestly haven't seen anyone act so rudely in any of the 8 other hostels we've been in. There were also other things, like a girl who talked very loudly in her sleep, horribly uncomfortable beds, and a guy who erratically scratched himself in his sleep. I don't know how to explain him.... He would be snoring, clearly asleep, and then suddenly start scratching himself so loudly and violently that it would easily wake me up. He would get going and shake his whole bed so bad it would hit the wall (poor guy in the top bunk), and then he would suddenly stop scratching and start snoring again. This happened about every 15 minutes all night both nights, and woke me up many times. It's actually really disgusting- he probably had lice or something. That scratching sound was like nothing I've ever heard or would want to hear again. Ever. 

This was also easily the dirtiest hostel I've seen. The 3 toilets that were serving about 30 girls were cleaned once a day, so by the next morning you could hardly walk in the room. Sinks were clogged, floors all over were muddy, and the place was so gross that it was attracting mosquitos. I am leaving Milan with about 12 bites... From inside a building. 

Three in a row on my thigh. 

I also heard that they overbooked the hostel and had people sleeping on the floors. I would SO demand a refund. And finally, the wifi only worked in certain spots some of the time, and that just really grinds my gears. 

Now of course I wouldn't knowingly book a place so awful. I would, of course, pay more to stay somewhere nice. But it got good reviews! "How??" I ask myself. Either these things don't matter to people, or the hostel has gone downhill recently. Or the owner is writing his own reviews. Either way I will be giving it the crappy review it deserves in an attempt to warn others. 

Rant over. 

So Saturday we had all day in Milan but we were dead tired after not sleeping well. We ate at the hostel and relaxed for a bit with a new friend we made, Kat, before setting out to see the city. I wore leggings so we could go inside the duomo (no knees, shoulders, or cleavage allowed to show in Italian cathedrals). 

So we did that first. 

As the fourth- largest church in Europe, it is definitely worth a visit but I wasn't blown away. You had to pay €2 to be allowed to take pictures, but I snuck one of the floor because that was the prettiest part. 

Jeremy snuck one of a window. 

We also walked down to the crypt, which was kinda cool. The remains of Saint Carlo were displayed there. Not sure which saint he is but there sure was a long line to see him. 

After the duomo we headed up to the Public Gardens to look around. On the way, we walked down one of Milan's main shopping streets. Milan is certainly a fashion and design capital, so it's pretty cool to see the shopping streets. However, the only one we stopped in was...

The Disney store. 

I felt so at home! I can't wait to watch soooo many Disney movies in a couple weeks. 

We spent a couple hours in the public gardens. We got paninis at the little cafe in the middle, wandered around for a bit, and then found a shady spot to relax. 

Turtles :)

The tiredness hit us there and we felt so exhausted. So after a while we headed back to the hostel, where Jeremy took a nap ony to be woken up by roommates and I took a horrible shower. Gosh that hostel was awful. 

I sat for a while and used the patchy wifi to figure out directions to the Florence hostel and to check my email.  By this time it was late afternoon, so we went to the grocery store to grab dinner stuff. By the time we prepared our microwave meals and sat down to eat it was 7 pm. So we ate and then Kat came and hung out with us while we played cards for 2-3 hours. 

After that I got on the phone and Jeremy decided to go out with some new friends he met in the hostel. We were both up until SO late- after 5 am- mostly avoiding the room. I fell asleep before he got in, which was a miracle considering the scratching that was occurring in the next bed. 

We got up this morning and were so ready to leave. Milan is nice- nice gardens, not too expensive- and Jeremy had fun going out, but we were so ready to get out of that hostel. It's a shame that we were that affected by it, but when you can't sleep or feel clean it really messes with your day. And we are already getting tired of hostels and traveling to begin with. 

Don't get me wrong, I am still loving Italy. 

So now we are on the train to Florence. I checked- we are in a 4-bed room at the next hostel, which is awesome. 

This will be our longest stay in any hostel- 9 nights- so I hope it's an alright place. We will have 5 days to explore Florence and 3 to do day trips to Venice, Pisa, and some surrounding hills in Tuscany. It should be great. 

Sorry for all the venting. But I'm sure you understand. 

More from Florence, where I hope the hostel situation will be improved. 

Ciao!

<3