When thinking of an Italian getaway, most people think of amazing food and the ancient buildings that line the streets of Rome, but for me I didn't care if we saw no other part of the country as long as we had a stop in beautiful Venice. The waterways between the streets felt like a beautiful backdrop for a romantic comedy or action movie, and it was even more amazing than I could ever have hoped for. Being on quite a tight budget we were on a overnight coach that took us through the stunning mountain ranges of northern Italy. We stopped in Turin to admire the views of the sun rising over the mountains in a little town just outside of Turin, before making our way through Milan to our end destination of Venice. When we arrived it was mid-morning and the sun was already out, my biggest fear was that the smell of the water was going to overpower everything, but to my pleasant surprise they have updated the beautiful city and the stories I'd heard about an odd overpowering smell from the water was not true.
Upon our arrival, we quickly learned that many of the streets and houses look identical, which made navigating a bit of a challenge after a very long, sleepless night's journey. One of the most important things to adapt to is creating landmarks in your memory of where to turn to get back to your accommodation at the end of your nights. Being our first time visiting Venice, I made the mistake of remembering to cross at the red-bricked bridge and take a right at the gelato stand - we spent hours coming home that night because Venice is full of red-bricked bridges and the gelato stands do not stay out all night, which made us realize we needed to get a better solution to direct ourselves home at night.
My suggestion is to follow along the main 'road' along the centre of the city and find a marker of what street to turn down, that way even after several Venetian Spritz at one of the lively outdoor bars and restaurants at the Campo Santa Margherita, you will still be able to maneuver your way home to bed in no time. I am one of those people who does not like to walk around holding a map like a tourist that has never stepped foot outside their own town, but in Venice it can come in handy to keep one with you, they have free maps at the central stations which I would heavily advice keeping hold of, because the dead ends in Venice are often rivers with no bridge to pass over, and that can become extremely frustrating.