"A little known fact: In Italy, the wine is cheaper than the water." - http://clapway.com/2015/06/09/florence-travel-on-a-budget/

Travel to another country can be the adventure of a lifetime. It is exciting, full of new experiences and often, exhilarating. Unfortunately, adventure, travel and experiences cost money; if you are traveling overseas, it’ll often cost a lot of it.

Italy, specifically Florence, is no exception. Airfare alone can cost up to more than €1.000. But, once you’re there, rest assured as you can survive on less than €20 a day. You can have your travel adventure on a budget without worrying about the implications it will have on your credit score.

Follow these guidelines for breakfast, lunch, and dinner so you can have a book full of memories, a photo album full of travel adventures and a bank statement that doesn’t make you want to throw up:

Eat Breakfast in a café

Italy is famous for its dark roasted café and scrumptious pastries. Visit any tabacchi, an Italia bodega, and you can get a café Americano for €1 . To any travel enthusiast this is a steal, especially when Americans pay roughly $4 at coffee chains *cough *cough Starbucks…. The croissants are a delicious and delectable way to start the day, too! They can come as simple as plain, or as complex as chocolate hazelnut and range from €1 – €3.

At lunch order a café panini or do it yourself!

In Florence, paninis reign supreme, especially if you visit Gusta Panini in Santo Spirito. You can get a delectable panini for less than €5. Eat it on the steps of Santo Spirito, and you have an experience unlike any other!

If you don’t want to dine on a sandwich every day, then head to one of the many fresh markets. The markets alone provide an incredible experience. Visit the market, grab fresh, homegrown tomatoes and mozzarella di buffalo, throw in some basalmic vinegar and make yourself a caprese salad! In total this will cost you anywhere from €5 – €10. The best part about buying from the market is the price is unbeatable, plus you usually have enough for two or three days worth of lunches! If you travel in summer, you can also pick up some fresh watermelon and asparagus!

Have an apertivo or share a pizza for dinner!

Pizza is a must when traveling to Florence. You usually can only buy it by the slice in a café, not in a pizzeria. If you decide to opt for the pizzeria, you can definitely split it with a friend, or two. If you are feeling famished you can definitely buy a whole pizza pie for yourself. Pizzas range from €1 for a café slice or €2 – €5 depending on what pizzeria you go to. If you split them, the cost is considerably less!

Apertivo is a Florentine staple. It’s like happy hour, only better. You buy a drink, and an entire buffet of food is available to you for the next two hours! Usually apertivo happens around 7:00 p.m. and lasts until 9:00 p.m., and practically every bar in Florence participates. So, grab your friends, order a drink for €6 and load your plate!

Skip the water; order the wine!

A little known fact: In Italy, the wine is cheaper than the water. It is possible to get an entire bottle of wine for €2. If you go to a local wine shop, you can get a bottle for €1. Talk about a steal! As an added bonus, Italy has no open container laws. So, grab a bottle, grab a pizza, grab your friends (or not), and perch yourself on Arno River for an evening of people watching and bliss. If you are dining in a restaurant, split a carafe of wine. The cost will range from €3 – €5 a person, and it is a much better deal!

Eating good food in Florence is not impossible to do on a budget. If you seek out the local shops and restaurants anything is possible! Save your money on every day food, so you can splurge on museums, a nice restaurant or extra gelato in the future. You will have the adventure of a lifetime and plenty of experiences to fill any photo album.

Florence: Travel on a Budget

Are We Better As Strangers? - http://clapway.com/2015/05/26/are-we-better-as-strangers/

One Tuesday afternoon in March, I was seated in the al fresco area of this tea shop in Baguio overlooking a sea of trees. I glanced at my itinerary for that day, and realized I still had a lot of things to do – visit this museum, do a bit of shopping, try a dish at a local restaurant, etc.

It was still early in the afternoon, so I figured I’d have enough time to do all the things I set out to do for that day. In the meantime, I was determined to just revel in my one big cup of afternoon tea while taking in the glory of the scenery before me. Then, instantaneously, I started giggling to myself. I shook my head feeling like an absolute fangirl – there I was enjoying my favourite drink in my favourite Philippine tea shop scribbling on my planner that was made by that very same tea shop.

“Oh, you’re using that planner,” a man two tables down gestured towards my doodle-infested planner-slash-journal. I was puzzled why this man would take the time to concern himself with something as trivial as, well, me owning a planner. It turns out he worked for the company that produced the planners. Since this guy and I were not friends, and the only common thing between us was our loyalty to the tea shop brand, I figured our conversation wouldn’t last long. But I was wrong.

That afternoon, while keeping our distance two tables apart, we covered a whole lot of topics from our preferences in music to our commitment to the work that we do to what it would take to show the people in our lives that we love and appreciate them. He quipped in a few jokes that got us both laughing. Then, we talked some more. What I thought would be an afternoon of inner musings with myself turned into a delightful time with an absolute stranger. It genuinely felt like being with a long-time friend.

It has been two months since I spent that afternoon with the guy and when I remember that time, my heart swells like a balloon. I feel good knowing that I have room growth in my life. I am saying this in the context of relationships. I admit to having a tendency of being uptight, and it scares me to engage in small talk with people I don’t know or I’m not close to yet. I easily get rattled when strangers in queues suddenly ask me what time it is, or if someone by the sidewalk stops me to ask for directions, or if public transport drivers start interviewing me to pass the time during long commutes.

I admit to have had a season in the past when I told myself that I’ve reached my quota when it comes to establishing relationships. I remember telling myself then, “You already have enough people in your life. They’re not so many but they’re more than enough.” After telling myself that, when I felt like people made efforts to get close to me and build a friendship, I would be crippled with fear and I wouldn’t reciprocate. Yes, it was quite a strange season, I have to confess. There I was, in the position of being the recipient of people’s love and affection, but instead of stretching my arms wide open and embracing the love, I clammed shut. Back then, certain relationships have fizzled out and some even ended depressingly, so stubbornly, I resolved to not enjoying certain sparks of connection I felt with new faces around me. I didn’t see the point of randomly connecting with someone once but never being able to keep that connection. I was tainted with bitterness then.

A lot has changed since then, of course. Sure, I still haven’t won the award for Miss Congeniality, but at least, I’ve learned to loosen up. I have started building my faith in humanity again. I no longer adhered to my paranoia that every stranger who dares engage me is but a thief, murderer or somebody generally harmful. I figured it wouldn’t hurt at all to give a bit of myself for people I may come across only once in my life.

In the few years I’ve spent traveling alone, I am blessed to have been able to create friendships along the way and keeping them up to this day. A friendship did not bloom from that afternoon tea time with the stranger in Baguio, but it’s okay. It’s perfect that way. Through that guy, I learned a lot about myself. I realized that I am capable of sincerely giving and taking without having to be scared of losing. I realized that certain moments I create with strangers can touch me as much as the ones I have with friends and family. And sometimes, we’re just better as strangers.

Are We Better As Strangers?