Words and photos by Vanessa Pollari, who studied abroad with ASA in Florence duirng the spring semester of 2025.
Hi everyone! My name is Vanessa, an ASA alum of Spring ‘25! I want to talk about some of my travel weekends and trips I went on while I was studying abroad.
HOME BASE: FLORENCE, ITALY
My home base was Florence, which was the best host city I could ask for. The central location leads to easy traveling, with a large train station located right in the city, as well as an airport that is so easily accessible by train. Although Florence is a small airport, you can easily take a train to Bologna, Pisa, or some even bigger cities like Rome and Milan to fly out of.
MY STUDY ABROAD TRIPS
The day trips/overnight trips I did were: Venice, Rome, Pisa, Cinque Terre, Bologna, Modena, Siena, Viareggio, Vatican City, and a few Tuscany wine tours. It was beautiful to explore different parts of Italy!
The weekend trips I did were: Paris, France; Barcelona, Spain; Prague, Czech Republic; Split, Croatia; Vienna, Austria; Budapest, Hungary; Italy's Amalfi Coast; and Munich, Germany.
THE COST: PLANNING AHEAD
I brought $10,000 to spend while I was abroad, which was more than enough to take all these trips, not skimp out on experiences and food, and have around $2,000 left over for when I returned home. Being able to travel to many different locations while I was abroad, but making sure I had plenty of time to explore and really get to know Florence, was my main goal. I still wanted a few weekends in Florence.
TRAVEL COMPANIES VS. PLANNING YOUR OWN TRIPS
There is a company based in Florence and Rome called Smart Trips. I did a few trips with them. The nice thing about Smart Trips and another very similar company called Bus2Alps, is that you pay one fee (and some extra if you’d like to do pre-planned activities) and they bus you to the location, have a hostel for you to stay in, and there are a few guides to help give recommendations. This is an easy way to plan trips, as there is no real planning involved at all. I would recomend these kid of trips for places like Switzerland and the Amalfi Coast. Switzerland can be very expensive to get to otherwise, and the Amalfi Coast can be hard to get around and to plan, but Smart Trips gets you to Positano, Capri, and Sorrento.
Otherwise, plan your own because the buses are SO LONG, SO UNCOMFORTABLE, and most of the time the chargers do not work. The hostels are somewhat okay, and you can room with your friends and some other study abroad students, so they are a good way to make new friends too. Sleeping on a bus and the travel day back is quite the humbling experience, and I won’t even get into how long the bus ride was to and from Paris; just look it up. I do wish I planned more trips individually, rather than falling for the convenience of Smart Trips. The best part was when we arrived in the morning after an overnight bus, couldn’t shower or change, had to store all of our luggage until check-in time later in the afternoon, go on with the day and come back mid-day to get our luggage and our room, all while your phone is probably dead because you couldn’t charge it on the bus.
MY BEST TRAVEL MEMORIES
Moving past that, all of my day trips and my trips to Barcelona, Vienna, and Budapest were super fun. We planned all of these on our own. In Barcelona, I met up with my roommates who were already there and a friend from home who I was visiting, and I got all the way to Barcelona and into the city by myself, which was a cool experience. Vienna and Budapest are a short few-hour bus ride away from each other, so we were able to hit both at the same time. The cities have two totally different vibes, so it was cool to see both back to back.
My highlights from all my trips were the going out scene in Barcelona, the beautiful cliffs and beaches of Croatia, the Eiffel Tower which was so surreal to see, the Colosseum of Rome, the prosecco cruise of Budapest as well as the ruin bars, hiking along the coast of Cinque Terre, the beautiful architecture and churches of all cities, and the Springfest experience in Munich.
THOUGHTS ON BUDGETING
I remember being told how cheap flights are in Europe, and I will say they are much cheaper than domestic flights in the US; however, that being said, they aren’t $25 like people may say. Expect to pay around $100 for a flight from Florence, unless you take a train to Milan or Rome (which can add up by themselves), or your flight is too late or early in the morning for any other transportation to get you to or from the airports. Plenty of people sleep on the airport floors by choosing the cheapest option.
THOUGHTS ON ACCOMMODATION
Airbnbs are also worth the money over a hostel in a lot of situations, in my opinion. But, if you would like to have the hostel experience, do your research, read reviews, make sure to check if they have lockers for your belongings, and bring personal locks!
Overall, traveling around Europe was such a fun experience, and I loved being able to see different countries and cultures along with them.
Thanks, Vanessa!