Problem Solving in Italy

Angela Shipp
May 2, 2014
2 min read

This past summer I went to Italy with my boyfriend, Matthew, and his family. Our trip was full of unforgettable memories from the moment it started. The trip consisted of visiting twelve different cities in Italy in two weeks. How we did it? I'm not even sure. Our most unforgettable day was in the middle of our trip while visiting the Vatican in Vatican City.

Our day started off with everyone waking up at four am to make it to a tour at six am. Everyone got up in time and got ready. After getting ready, we all went to get breakfast at the local cafe down the street next to the pantheon. We had an amazing breakfast that consisted of croissants, espressos, coffee, and other pastries with an amazing view of the Pantheon. Everything was going smoothly.

After hustling, we finally got to the spot outside Vatican City where the tour was meeting. The entire tour was beautiful. It included going inside the Vatican, seeing the Papal Suite, walking through St. Peter's Basilica, and experiencing the amazing Sistine Chapel. It was an incredible day until a problem arose.

We were scheduled to climb to the top of St. Peter's Basilica but we had no time left to do it. We had to meet our driver in twenty minutes to leave for the Amalfi Coast, our next stop. This didn't settle well for Matthew's brother. He was so set and ready to climb the church that we've all been waiting to see the entire trip. Due to the time constraint, we were not able to climb the church. This lead to his little brother wanting to walk down the street, alone, to cool off his anger. While watching him to make sure he was okay, a giant tour group walked by and he was no longer in sight.

Each and every one of us freaked out immediately. We were in a spot where no less than a million people were and we couldn't find his little brother anywhere. Instantly I suggested we all keep our phones on us and go down each and every street separately. We all promptly grabbed our phones out of our bags and set off in different directions.

Luckily, Matthew and I found his brother walking across the bridge to leave Vatican City. We immediately ran after him and called everyone saying we found him. Being able to problem solve so quickly helped us find Matthew's little brother.