I visited Ischia last time I was in Europe. I remember loving the hot springs, the spa products, the bruschetta, and the town of Forio, and I knew I wanted to return.

It wasn’t as good as I remember, though. The hostel was especially disappointing; the rooms were a bit grimy and the wifi was horrible. Perhaps it was always that way and those things didn’t matter to me last time. Maybe I’m the only thing that changed. 23 year old me, just graduated from college, traveling with my best friend for a summer vs 29 year old me, traveling and working, and partying less.

To get to Ischia from the Almafi Coast, I took a bus to Sorrento, and then a ferry to Ischia via Capri. It was a long day of travel, but all in all logistically simple, for which I was extremely grateful.

My first night in Ischia, the waiters at my restaurant invited me to go to the hot springs with them that night. The more often, one of them would tell me “you have beautiful eyes,” the likelihood of me actually going to the hot springs with them went down. I kindly declined and opted for the hot springs during the daytime. This was a very good and safe choice.

Ischia has great spas and spa products with volcanic ash, special water, snail slime. Since I upgraded my bag to be a checked bag, I bought a couple: exfoliator, face mask, lotion, face cream. They are currently buried somewhere in my bag, so I will not be using them until I return home.

I ate some nice pizza, pasta, and granita. I bought some bruschetta spices for later. Ciao Ischia! I’m headed to Malta!