How I traveled to Italy alone at 18

You could say I was eager to travel the world at the measly age of 18 years old. A high school graduate, who planned to move from New Jersey to Seattle in the fall for university, I still thought to myself that I wasn’t “living my best life.”

Youtube has always been the first place I go to when in need of inspiration or help in some project I’m trying to manifest. I remember the words I typed in the search engine, “how to travel cheap.” What can I say? I only had 2,000 dollars in my bank account and a bad habit of spending it on clothes, makeup, and Chipotle. But I knew I would work hard this summer and make some extra income, so why not spend it on a trip across the world? Alone. At 18. It all sounded good to me.

I was bombarded with travel videos about WOOF, Workaway, and living in hostiles. I would say I was more than impressed by the information I was attaining, and even more surprised about how easily I could pull this off.

Workaway became my bible. I worshiped that website and all of the opportunities it showed me. I spent $40 on the membership and probably 400 hours of my time looking for the right family to stay with. This website was made for people like me, looking to stay somewhere for free in another country, in return for work. I had decided that Italy was where I wanted to go early in the process. I am 50% Italian…