My Backpacking Memoirs

Lugano - 05/06/2017 - 07/06/2017

I had planned to spend about a week in Switzerland, slowly making my way north back home. I was conflicted, I was bored of backpacking but felt I could not rush home. I have an incredible opportunity to experience all these great locations, even if I'm bored out of my mind. Either way this would be my last country that I would visit on my 3 month trip but I also knew it would be the most expensive.

Once I arrived in Lugano it was raining heavily, apparently the area around the Alps gets alot of rain this time of year. The bus was being battered by the rain and the temperature had got eerily cold. I also knew it would be a long walk into the centre of Lugano to my hostel, I would probably get very wet. The bus stopped near a large empty square with a football field nearby on the outskirts of the city. Nobody was walking around the streets in this rain. I got off the bus with only a handful of other people as most were continuing on further north. I got my backpack out of the hold and started to put the bright orange water proof cover that was in a hidden pocket. I had never needed to use the cover before and had only discovered it had one when I was in Prague. I also took out my big floppy hat as an attempt to stop the water getting into my eyes and on my glasses.

While I was doing this a couple that had also departed the bus with me came over and asked how far it was into the centre. They told me they had only came to Lugano for a day trip and were not prepared for the weather. The bus had dropped us off in a very isolated area with not much to do or see. I told them I was just going to be walking into the centre and that it would be about an hour walk. I was not very prepared for rain myself, my coat was after all not water proof. They did not seem thrilled at the idea of walking for an hour in the rain, they probably had expected to be dropped off in the centre but not many long distance buses do that.

I left the couple at the bus station, I doubt that they walked into the centre like me. I also can't imagine they had a very fun day going from and then back to Milan by bus, that alone would take up most of their day. By the time I arrived in the centre I was totally soaked, my hat had became water logged and so floppy it was blocking my vision. My shoes were also totally inappropriate, they were only made of like a webbed material to help airflow, the opposite of water proof. So with every step my socks squelched as the water was squeezed out. Even my coat was heavy with the water it had soaked up.

I walked into a large square and approached a woman to ask directions she was standing under cover from the rain. The sun was starting to come out again as the rain broke. She could not help me find my hostel so I went into a supermarket called "Manor" to buy some thing to drink. I carried on walking using my compass to direct me south west, I knew the train station was somewhere south west and train stations are very difficult to miss. I found it, crossed the tracks and headed up a hill to a hostel/ hotel called Montarina.

I checked in knowing Switzerland used a different currency, but I also found that Switzerland used a different electric plug socket. I had to borrow one from reception in order to charge everything, my laptop with an English plug was converted to a European plug and then to a Switzerland plug. I was worried it would break my laptop. I had a shower and relaxed in the hostel for a few hours before heading back out to the centre to find food. I ended up going back to the Manor supermarket, they had a cafeteria that served cheap hot food and had indoor seating. I bought more snacks and headed back to the hostel, it was still raining a little outside but not as much as earlier.

The dorm room in the hostel was clean but really big. I was sharing a room with maybe 20 other beds and I had no private floor space as my bed was next to a door. All my clothes were either soaked from the rain or dirty so I just washed everything and placed it to dry around my bed. I spent the night watching YouTube videos and reading in the common room until I was kicked out and went to sleep.

The next day I walked along the coast of lake Lugano, you could look across the lake and into Italy. The city was full of high end tourist shops selling expensive fashion items. It also had shops openly selling guns and knives. I knew that when I got back to the UK I would be buying camping equipment so I decided to buy a Swiss Army Knife while I was actually in Switzerland, not sure if I would be allowed to bring it back to the UK. I got lunch in McDonalds, it was as expensive as Paris or Belgium. I continued walking to the park Foce del Cassarate, it was not raining and it was busy with people and children. The views across the lake were really nice. I walked up and back into the centre and then back to the hostel.

Back at the hostel I decided I would go for a swim since the weather had improved. The hostel had an outdoor swimming pool and it was just warm enough so that it was comfortable to swim. The swimming pool was also empty, nobody even sitting down on the chairs. I then relaxed for a few hours in the common room. It had again started raining and I had got bored of sitting around on my own. I put my still wet coat and floppy hat on and headed out in the rain for a night walk. This time I walked south west, to a part of the city I had not yet been. I knew it was likely to have the best views of the mountain across the lake.

I walked for about an hour along the coast in the dark, the streets were empty because of the heavy rain. I liked having the time to think with nobody around me. After I had walked long enough I turned back and took a different route walking through some side streets. I got back to the hostel late but still not late enough that I wanted to go to bed, the common room was closed already so I sat in a shared room where they had lockers and the bathrooms. I spent a few hours on my laptop until a guy and two women came in, they had been in the swimming pool and were going to take showers. But they were aggressive and loud despite it being around 1am, they were seriously annoying. Then I noticed they all went into the same shower cubicle together. The laughing quickly turned into moaning but I had no where else to go in the hostel with the common room closed. So I got angry and had to sit outside on some steps for another hour.

It was sitting outside on those steps that I decided to put an end to the trip. Instead of staying in Zurich next I would go straight to either Paris or Belgium by train, and then hopefully back home the next day. The idea of flying back had not even entered my mind. I went to bed angry, annoyed and with all my clothes soaked wet.

I woke up the next morning, had hostel breakfast one last time, checked out and made my way down the hill to the train station. My clothes and coat had not dried over night so everything was wet, including my shoes. On the way down the hill I walked passed the two women that had sex together in the shower last night, they recognised me and laughed, they must have only been 18.