Europe (Take 4) by the Numbers...

I am finally back and almost almost recovered from a little over two weeks in Europe. This was my fifth time across the Atlantic and my 4th time for a big multi-country European trip. It was once again absolutely incredible and each and every day was amazing and I didn't want it to end. I woke up every morning excited for the day ahead and went to sleep each night with an exhausted smile on my face. How can anyone be unhappy exploring and wandering with beauty surrounding them?!? Traveling truly gives me life and I just love doing it.

When in Rome (part II)

DAY 15 

We got a late start this morning for two reasons: 1) we were out late last night and 2) we weren’t getting picked up until ten for our tour of Pompeii.  As soon as we left the hotel, it started pouring. Like absolutely raining hard. We got drizzled on for like two minutes yesterday and looked at the forecast for today and knew rain was supposed to come, but man, it was really coming down. We hoped it would get it all out of its system by the time we reached Pompeii, and it did. For the time being. 

Today was AMAZING

DAY 14

If possible, today was even better than yesterday. On Thursday we had decided that we wanted to do both Positano and Amalfi today, but weren’t sure if we should use the public bus or the ferries, but ultimately decided to book a day boat trip that went to both Positano and Amalfi, but also made a stop at an island. We looked online, read the reviews, which were all positive, and booked it. We got picked up in our lobby a little before nine this morning and headed to a different dock than yesterday. In our van over there, there was a couple from NJ we started talking to. They ended up being on our boat as well which was great. 

Grateful AF

DAY 13

Today was a day we had really been looking forward to, our day trip to Capri.  We got picked up in the lobby at 9:30 and boarded a van to head to the dock. Once there and checked in, we waited a significant amount of time to board our boat. Things seemed quite unorganized down there, but eventually after waiting over a half hour in the heat, we boarded the boat to what seemed a not-so-happy boat captain. It was a really nice boat and there were only 10 other people on it which made it great, as if we were on a boat with friends: not packed at all and didn’t feel like a tour. We sat up in the front of the boat just living the dream. 

Stressful beginning, amazing end

DAY 12

Today was another train travel day for us, a long one, but this one didn’t go as smoothly as the first one. After eating breakfast (and taking some leftovers with us to use with our leftovers from last night for our lunch today), and getting our last views of the Cinque Terre, it was time to head to the train station to catch our first train, which was taking us to Pisa. At Pisa, we were supposed to have a 15 minutes layover until our next train that was at 10:32; however, things got tricky. We got on our first train on time, but there were some points along the way where we stopped for an extended period of time, which ended up causing delays. Initially they said it would be an overall 10 minute delay, then it turned into 15 minutes, and by the time we got to Pisa to catch our second train, it had been 17 minutes and we missed our second train. At this point I was half freaking out, half calm, as I know this was out of our control, but it could still mess up the whole day of travel. We kind of assumed the next train was another commuter train and there would probably be another one soon enough, but the timing had to be right to catch our third connection, which was definitely not a commuter train and we couldn’t afford to miss.