After 9 hours of flying, and sitting next to someone who only spoke Italian, I already knew it’ll be an experience for me like no other. I was more excited than scared or nervous. I always talked about traveling the world someday, but I never got the chance (or at least, I never took the chance). On day one I quickly realized how important it is to take chances. We went to the Piazza del Duomo and were in line to climb the Bell Tower. Immediately thoughts of claustrophobia and heights kicked in to some of the people with us, however, with a slight push we got everybody to agree to go up. How often do you get the chance to climb up? How often are you in Italy? How often will you experience the gorgeous views of Florence from the Bell Tower?!

Sure, the walk was a little tight at times. Sure, it was a workout and immediate reminder that you should use that gym membership that’s been collecting dust somewhere. Sure, you should plan on bringing a bottle of water with you. But, not many times will chances like these come across. You must take chances, go outside of your comfort zone, see new people, hear new languages, breathe heavily and do leg day going up a historical building. Sure, taking chances will be scary, but I’ll be lying if I said every step of the 414+ we took wasn’t worth seeing the beauty that is Florence.

The reward of taking chances.