Destination Unknown

If you know me personally, you know that I'm crazy organized and love to plan and know every detail. But, there is something to be said for being more spur-of-the-moment and just going with the flow. So, I'm working on it and I enjoy spending time with people that can encourage me to love spontaneity as much as I love organization.

With that in mind, Caitlin and I headed to Centrale train station a few weeks ago.

With NO destination in mind.

I knew that I wanted to go relax by a lake, but there are several options for this in northern Italy, so where we would end up was a complete guessing game.

Based on the times of trains on the board, we selected Lugano, Switzerland as our destination for the day. We bought our tickets and ran for the train.

Where to go, where to go?

And then remembered that we should probably have our passports since Switzerland is not part of the EU.

(This is the reason I like to plan.)

But, we boarded the train anyways and figured we'd gamble a little.

When we stopped at Chiasso, the first Swiss stop, I panicked internally a bit when the Italian staff left the train and the Swiss employees boarded, but they never came by to check for anything more than our tickets.

Phew. Deep sigh of relief.

Lugano is only about an hour away from Milan by fast train. We walked down to the town center and stumbled upon a festival. There were food and wine booths set up around town.

We wandered around a bit and relaxed in a park overlooking Lake Lugano.

The park had some cool and interesting art installations.

The view from our blanket in the park.

Traditional dance and costumes.

So pretty!

This festival surprised us by including a parade!

We thought the kids were handing out beer, but it was only apple juice! Bummer!

I'm pretty sure every local was either in the parade or watching from the side!

It was a gorgeous day at Lake Lugano!

Do you enjoy traveling without a plan? Share your favorite spontaneous travel moment!

Traveler tip: Switzerland on a Sunday is pretty boring as all the shops are closed. Had this festival not been happening, I'm not sure what we would have done all day. So, make your city plans in Switzerland on Saturdays!