Venice has been a dream destination for me and I was so excited to finally make this a reality. My brother Ken has been living in South Korea for the last 4 years and saved up some cash to come back for the summer holidays for 2 and a bit weeks. During this time, not only is he to see his family but to travel around Europe too! I wanted to holiday in Europe as I have been spending my money on long haul flights to Hong Kong and Perth this year. Venice was top of Ken’s list so we decided to make this happen and I also paid his ‘ticket’ until he gets to the UK to pay me back (fingers crossed). Flights booked, leaving Wednesday evening and back on Sunday afternoon. We packed light and only carried a backpack each since lugging around a luggage is not ideal for a canal and water-taxi oriented city.
My brother managed to hook us up with an apartment through Roomorama; a similar concept to Airbnb where we stayed at Dorsoduro down south of Venice yet very easy to get around by foot and via water taxis. When you land; first things first is to buy your equivalent of a travel card which is the water taxi travel day/2/3/5/week card. It works out so much cheaper than buying single trips and you can purchase at the airport or at local stalls (way cheaper and easiest way to get around).
Everywhere we went was picture worthy and on this particular trip was all about Instagramming and learning the Iger tricks from the pro himself…my brother brother @Seoul_StateofMind. We visited everywhere from San Marco, Accademia, San Giorgio with more water landscapes and bridges than I could ever see in Europe! At this point; my Instagram was starting to fill up with beautiful landscapes of Venezia (Venice, but since I was in Italy I might as well go local and authentic with Venezia). I soon realised I loved taking photos of doors and laundry (learnt the word Panni for laundry), it was like a photographers dream for me. Another thing I noticed was the hoard of Asian tourists and it did ruin the vibe of Venezia for me. They cluster in groups and Venezia just turned into a museum with Selfie sticks flying in the air in their multi-coloured outfits. When Ken and I were up before dawn there were plenty of brides getting their wedding photos done and that’s no surprise to be honest…I even took a selfie pic with the bride and groom in the background as my Facebook profile picture with the tag “too many brides at dawn”. We didn’t manage to get a ride on the Gondala as we thought we took all the pics we needed via walking and via water taxis. We were on a rather strict budget and we didn’t think it was worth spending €70-ish for an hour ride around the canal.
Ken and I decided to take an early nap on Friday to wake up for 4am to catch the sunrise which was really hard! Not only was it a boozy Friday for the locals which meant drunkard noise throughout the whole night but that meant I got cranky real quick by 10am. It was a productive morning but with a lack of sleep meant it was only a matter of time before we had a sibling petty fight. I managed to have my power nap and managed to wake up with some sanity and apologised to my brother for my crankiness and then laughed it off. Then he tells me we were to meet a local instagrammer that reached out to my brother that morning. Off we went to meet this instagrammer called Riccardo Zanutto (@riccardozanutto) and what better way to see and experience Venezia through the eyes of a local. He’s the youngest instagrammer in Venezia and I am so proud of him; at just 18; a lot of teens his age goes out drinking and have fun which he does; but his passion for photography is evident in his photos and I was totally inspired by the magic created by these two instagrammers on the go (while I observe and learn…as I was slightly embarrassed and coy with the lack of consistency on my instagram account). I was determined to take this inspiration and channel that through my photography in instagram which was why I have changed my handle from @redvelvetldn to @mayyin.lee
Riccardo took us to his sweet spots at Isola di S. Giorgo and Ponte dell’ Accademia whilst enjoying a spot of ice cream on the go! We were trying to get a selfie in and a kind tourist wanted to take a picture for us which he did…but we didn’t like the picture as we the new generation prefer selfies 
We then enjoyed our Aperol Spritz by the canal to watch the sun set and bantered on conversations about life, photography and instagram. Despite the age gap we had so much laughter between us and he was very mature for his age. He invited us back to his home for a home cooked meal which we were very grateful for him to bring back two strangers he just met to his family home! We spent all night at his courtyard eating, drinking, watching funny youtube videos and off course talk about the other instagrammers!
So what have I learnt on this trip? Meeting Riccardo is similar to meeting bloggers where we open our arms wide to the connections we make on social media. It’s funny how we can be so trusting and welcoming in a network we love and create everlasting friendship! Thank you Ken for the eye opening experience; thank you Riccardo for creating a memorable experience and thank you Venezia for giving me a beautiful tan as well as photographic memories for life. Well I hope you have enjoyed my travel post to Venezia and if you do plan to visit; always a good idea to check out the local instagrammers on sweet spots around town from @riccardozanutto
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