Coffee, gelato and a OnePlus Summer Launch
When the email first landed in my inbox, I had to pinch myself. Excitement and nerves consumed me simultaneously, but without a second thought, I accepted the invitation — who would say no to jetting off to Milan for 3 days!?
With flight times confirmed and the agenda sent, everything started to feel real, and I became a very stressed cookie. This was going to be my 2nd time flying and my 1st solo trip abroad. Add that to meeting nearly 50 new people…
When my alarm went off at 1am on Monday 15th July, my excitement heightened and by 7am I was on a plane flying to sunny Milan. With all the rain the UK has had this summer, a beaming smile spread across my face as I stepped out of the airport and was hit with 34 degree heat! Now just a 50 minute coach transfer to endure.
Before I knew it, I was walking into the hotel to meet the rest of the community invited on the trip. Not going to lie, it was daunting walking into a room of strangers, and it took a lot of self-courage to join in with the conversations; especially with the mixture of cultures and languages. Just as I was biting into my chocolate croissant, we were called into a meeting room where the afternoon kicked off with a welcome talk from OnePlus staff, Danielle and Larissa, who introduced us to the latest addition to the Nord line-up, the OnePlus Nord 4. This was followed by a content masterclass where members of the community took center stage.
Now for the exciting part — the city tour, but with a twist. Prior to leaving, we were given the OnePlus Nord 4 and a set of creative content challenges to win prizes. I loved exploring a new city and creating content with other community members. It was eye-opening to see how others think and capture content. Step goals were reached that afternoon!
The city tour ended at Fresco Sarpi, where we all sat outside to enjoy pizza and wine together. As the night drew in and we were chatting amongst ourselves, the mosquitoes came out to play and left many of us with a healthy number of bites as a little memento.
As the saying goes, the early bird catches the worm. With a free morning ahead before the OnePlus Summer Launch event, I made the most of it by exploring the Duomo di Milano. Whilst there, I took the opportunity to gather content of the physical invitation as it was a pretty sleek piece of metal. I had hoped to receive this before flying out, but unfortunately the UK postal service let me down. Certainly worked in my favour as the content I was able to capture was quite impressive thanks to the beautiful scenery, if I do say so myself.
As I wondered through the streets of Milan, Duomo di Milano came into sight. The architecture was nothing short of breathtaking. The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II was captivating with its glass ceilings.
After enjoying a delicious gelato and accidentally ordering two (don’t worry, I didn’t devour both, as much as I wanted to), I quickly changed outfits, rocking the OnePlus Nord tee, and was event-ready.
As we arrived at Superstudio Più, greeted by the beautiful Never Settle / OnePlus metal sign, we had the unexpected surprise of receiving event goodies. At first, I thought it was just the OnePlus Adventure Backpack, but once I looked inside there was a Never Settle cap, OnePlus pen, Never Settle pin, and the cherry on top — the all-new OnePlus Nord Buds 3 Pro. The OnePlus gods were clearly listening as I’d be eyeing up the new headphones to replace my current OnePlus Nord Buds.
The event itself ran smoothly; the energy in the room was metal (see what I did there 😉), and it was great to experience a launch in person. It was also nice to catch up with James Paterson, OnePlus Global PR Manager, whom I first met back at the OnePlus 2021 Summer Launch.
Following the launch, we were able to get hands-on with all the products and a couple of community members even won suitcases! After being dropped back at the hotel, we split into three smaller groups and headed out for dinner before meeting back up at the rooftop bar for a cheeky cocktail — it would have been rude to not to admire that view!
We learnt from yesterday's mistakes and covered ourselves head to toe in bug spray. With everyone more relaxed, the evening conversation flowed, and it was so nice getting to know everyone more and having a laugh.
The final day of the trip — a completely free day to explore before flying back home. Annoyingly, I didn’t sleep well; I’ve never felt itchier in my life — thanks, mosquitoes.
After packing my suitcase and leaving it in the hotel luggage room, I set off on an hour-long walk across the city to Naviglio Grande fuelled by another hotel breakfast. The walk took me past high-fashion shops as well as some bougie cafes. Naviglio Grande was definitely more peaceful than other parts of Milan I’d visited on this trip. It was nice to sit by the canal and soak up the rays to get that much needed vitamin D. As I strolled back to the hotel, I indulged in plenty of food, coffee, and of course, one final gelato for the road.
And just like that, it was time to make my way to the airport. This was the only part of the trip that didn’t go smoothly. After getting through security, I went to get my bearings and find my gate, and in doing so, went through passport control which meant I was trapped with only two little shops. I attempted to ask the passport control staff for help, but neither of them spoke English and they pushed me through despite my confused facial expressions. I then began to doubt myself — had I read the gate correctly? To top it all off, my flight was then delayed. The only saving grace was that I was in the right place after all and landed back in Manchester.
This trip was incredible from start to finish, and I’m proud of myself for stepping out of my comfort zone on so many occasions. The whole experience massively boosted my confidence, being my first solo trip abroad and meeting so many new faces. At first, I felt like a fish out of water, but I was soon laughing and creating content with like-minded people from the OnePlus community. Getting hands-on with my very own Nord 4 and creating content in a beautiful city was an amazing experience.
And of course, when in Italy, a gelato a day is the only way — just look at how delicious they were!
I’m incredibly grateful to OnePlus for the invitation and to the community for being so welcoming. This was truly an unforgettable experience.
A special thanks goes out to Larissa from OnePlus for all her support leading up to and during the trip.
Here’s a first-look at the latest addition in the Nord line-up and keep your eye’s peeled for my full review.
(AD ~ OnePlus Nord 4 Ambassador)
