Trip Region: Europe
Country(ies): Italy
Partners Trek? No
Cost: $3049
Airfare Estimate: $1300
Structure: 1   •   Lodging: 1   •   Nightlife: 7   •   Activity: 6

You’ve made some important decisions recently. Where do I go to business school? What should I recruit for? Do I liquidate my savings to buy a Canada Goose jacket for the Michigan winters? We’re excited to present you with the easiest one of them all: Where should I go on MTrek? The answer is unequivocally Italy. Your seven fearless trek leaders all met a year ago on their trip to the French Riviera, where they became BFFs after day-long wine adventures, cliff jumping, and baguettes. Since, they have been working tirelessly to prepare an itinerary to Italy this year filled with wine, beaches, culture, wine, and some fantastic Italian food. So if clubbing in Milan, booze cruising on Lake Como, working on your tan-line on the beaches of Portofino, and drinking all of the wine in Chianti sounds like the greatest pregame to business school ever, we can’t wait to see you in August.

Day 1 — Sunday, Aug 19

Finally. Today's the day! Pack your bags, it's time to go on a trip of a lifetime. Important items to include will be Italian designer sunglasses, pizza spatulas, and prescription sunscreen for Ben and Sam. If you're banking on finding your rich Italian soulmate and staying in Italy forever, we recommend bringing most belongings.

Day 2 — Monday, Aug 20

Benvenuto a Italia! Don’t bother looking that up in the Duolingo app you downloaded at the airport, we got you. No, we don’t speak Italian, but we’ve prepared the trip of a lifetime with people that do. Once we’re settled in Milan, we’ll have an instagrammable family dinner to show your parents followed by a snapchat-worthy evening to make all your frenemies at home jealous. First b-school assignment: start thinking of hashtags now.

Day 3 — Tuesday, Aug 21

Today, we’ll get in a whole lot of *~cUlTuRaL pRoGrAmMiNg~* as we explore the canals, the art, and Sam’s hangover. We’ll also make some solid progress towards our carb bods with the local cuisine and wine. So much wine. In the afternoon, we’ll be free to explore the city. Mitch will likely be schmoozing with Italian ladies, Stef and Julie will probably bop around Milan’s fashion scene, while Ben will be taking a nap. You do you. Later in the evening, we’ll be putting on our fancy pants and hitting the town.

Day 4 — Wednesday, Aug 22

What do George Clooney, Madonna, Donatella Versace, Sting, and Sir Richard Branson have in common? They’re all joining us today!!! ...No, just kidding, but they’ve graciously agreed to lend us their homes on Lake Como. Well... that piece is still in the works, but we will be heading to gorgeous Lake Como for a private boat cruise. Then, for dinner, we’ll head to a lakeside town called Bellagio. No, it’s not like the casino, but Liam will probably still double his signing bonus playing blackjack.

Day 5 — Thursday, Aug 23

According to our trip coordinators, today will be another day to explore Italy’s culture, specifically by heading to the beaches of Lido Orsa Maggiore, umbrella, sun-bed, shower service, and wake-boarding lesson included. Cue Lil’ Jon’s YEAAA-YUH. We’ll conclude the evening with some very mature, adult drinking games mostly involving cards and all of your deepest, darkest secrets.

Day 6 — Friday, Aug 24

Today, things stop being polite and start getting real. We’re going off on an adventure with some surprise extreme sport action. Will we free climb mountains? Scale glaciers? Dive into canyons? Swim into deep-sea caves with sharks circling? (spoiler alert: we did that last year.) You will have to wait to find out! Sound terrifying? No worries, it can’t be TOO crazy -- our travel insurance only goes so far. And if there’s one thing you can be sure of, Alex will be there to literally save your life. Later in the evening, we’ll share a well-earned dinner and reflect on the day’s harrowing experiences with wine. So much wine. Did we mention there’s wine in Italy?

Day 7 — Saturday, Aug 25

After our brush with danger, we will now resume our regularly scheduled lavish programming with a private car ride to the Italian Riviera! The land of pesto, truffles, and focaccia. The coasts are so scenic, it’ll make you reconsider your life’s plan to go to school, get a job in consulting, get promoted to manager, get a house with a yard in the suburbs, etc. etc. We’ll have the afternoon free, so if you can hit the beach if you didn’t get enough in Lake Como. Mitch will probably be there and you can be sure his painfully short swim shorts were bought from a targeted ad. If napping is more your thing, that’s cool too. That night, we’ll hit up the wild nightlife scene in Santa Margherita.

Day 8 — Sunday, Aug 26

Second b-school assignment: Search “Cinque Terre” on Google Images. Today we’ll travel to this glorious place and get some much needed exercise walking up the steps to the cliffs. Much to Alex’s disappointment, cars were banned here over a decade ago. On the plus side, that means we don’t have to deal with Uber surges. At night we’ll head back to Santa Margherita for dinner and (more) dranks.

Day 9 — Monday, Aug 27

Ok, so here’s where things start to get cray. If the friends you’ve left behind at home still aren’t jealous of the insta stories you’ve posted the last few days, prepare to lose your social media dignity. Golden chariots (aka coach buses) shall be awaiting to whisk us away to the glorious land of Tuscany. Before we check-in to our PRIVATE VILLA, we’ll tour the sh*t out of Siena, a beautiful medieval city. Here, we’ll probably see some ~*cUlTuRe*~ before returning to our PRIVATE VILLA to indulge in a private cooking class. Also, we have a PRIVATE VILLA. Can’t remember if we mentioned that already.

Day 10 — Tuesday, Aug 28

Last summer, your fearless leaders fell in love on a day-long wine tasting in the South of France. We’re keeping that spark alive and heading out from our PRIVATE VILLA on a PRIVATE BUS to visit wineries. We’ll taste sips of Chianti and Montepulciano, we’ll admire the tannens, we’ll smell notes of florals and cherries, and it will be effing lovely. You think that sounds good? It gets better! We’ll also enjoy lunch and taste olive oil! We’ll cap off an incredible last day with a family dinner cooked by a chef. Is this an episode of the Bachelor? Maybe.

Day 11 — Wednesday, Aug 29

*Cue “Graduation (Friends Forever)" by Vitamin C* This is it, you’re leaving Italy today with 10 new BFFs, a zillion new memories, and a few dollars poorer (it’s an “investment” - welcome to business school!).