Chaos

Many of you know that we have been using (or attempting to use) Couchsurfing as a means to keep our costs low while traveling.  I have been mingling with internationals since 2007, and this year is Janet's first trip staying with friends before they are friends.  We have been planning to couchsurf as much as possible, but it isn't always possible because you are dealing directly with people, their schedules and lifestyles, compared to hostels and hotels with many rooms available.  Sometimes you can't find a person that fits your ideal, or perhaps there are not many hosts in the area where you are going, and perhaps there are no hosts available.  However, the great benefit of Couchsurfing is also its downfall: you don't have anything until you have something.  For us, this has been very positive; and very negative at the same time.

From Nice we wanted to go to Milan and from there to Verona to see Romeo & Juliet and then off to Venice and Florence.  After much research and many couch requests, we received zero positive responses from Milan; there were only a handful of quality couchsurfers in Verona and no one in Venice that matched our needs.  From there we began to look at hostels and hotels, and they were very expensive in all cities, especially in Venice on a weekend.  All three days in Nice I was worried sick about what to do in the future; I am the kind of traveler that enjoys having set plans as far as transportation and housing, so leaving things to the last minute made me very nervous.  Initially, we changed cities, canceling Verona, moving Venice back to midweek and instead of Milan we were hoping for Turin, and for three days instead of two.  What happened?  Absolutely nothing.  We received zero responses, negative or positive, and couldn't find a hostel with availability all three days in Turin.  Merd!   So how did we fix the problem?

We went to Florence!