I was wide awake and anxious. 7 hours from now, I’d be in ITALY. We prayed as we walked to the bus station, hoping that our shuttle to the airport would be there with us on the list, as we had yet to receive a confirmation about our shuttle. We were hoping to catch the tram from the hostel two stops to the train/bus station…but ended up walking the 5 blocks – about a 15min. walk – with our packs! We all made it and had a squeal of delight when we saw the “Wizz Air” bus loading.
It was a restful trip to the airport. When we arrived, we shuffled bags around to make sure everyone had their packs underweight, and had time to spare, waiting for our flight to Venice. It was an uneventful flight, as we all rested. 
When we arrived at the airport the blessings came. After getting our packs, we walked into the terminal to figure out where we needed to go. We were on a mission – find transportation from the airport to Venice, find food, a place to stay and figure out transportation to Split, Croatia from Venice! Simple, right…
We no sooner walked into the terminal when I saw a sign for the Eurobus. I decided to go see what I could find out. A young man approached me and handed me a ticket, saying he didn’t need it. It was for the bus that was leaving in 10 minutes to Venice. Praise the Lord. We quickly purchased the remainder 6 tickets, boarded the bus and couldn’t believe that we were actually here – in Italy!
When we arrived at the bus station in Venice, we were beaming, yet hungry and exhausted. It is as it is! A “floating” city…surrounded by water canals. 
Mode of transportation – boat. Amazing. It was raining, but we didn’t care. We carried our packs place to place trying to see what we could figure out. Eventually, after asking at many ticket counters, we decided to find a spot and sit. As we were waiting for Tonya and Steph to price things out at the train station, we sat and waited – again! A lady asked us if we had just arrived, and when we said yes, she handed us 4 72 hour passes to the water ferries…expiring the next day! We were able to check our packs, eat and explore the city – praying we’d find a hostel “within budget.”
When in Rome, do as the Romans do…well, we may not be in Rome, but we are in Italy…so that meant PIZZA and Gelato. So exciting. What a fun day as a team. We prayed for God’s favour, and split up in different directions, looking for a bed and finishing last minute details on getting to Croatia and notifying our contact there!
A few hours later, we were to all meet back in front of the pizza place…only Renee, Tonya and I were there, and we had a split second decision to make…upon walking around Venice, Renee and I stumbled upon a hostel that was fully booked, yet got directed back to it, saying it was for women! We checked it out and found that it was a “Catholic” based hostel with a church in behind. As we shared with them our situation, we negotiated with them to be able to stay there – and after already being a discounted student rate of 26 euros, we managed to get it for 18 euros/person! What a blessing! The problem was, we didn’t know whether anyone else had found accommodation, but knew that this place was peaceful and that we felt right with it. The staff were great and we both felt like God led us here…so all we did was pray and let God do the rest!
I loved being able to explore Venice for 36 hours…having a place to sleep and food to eat just topped it off! It was like a mini-holiday in the midst of our month – praying each step of the way. It was exhausting, yet refreshing. We still had no idea when we were leaving for Croatia, yet knew that it was where we needed to end up. Steph and Tonya continued to research travel arrangements, and a few hours later, we had our tickets booked! A night train to Zagreb, and early morning bus ride from Zagreb to Split!
