After our way-too-early drop off at the Leonardo DiVinci Airport in Rome, we flew from Rome to Brussels on Brussels Airways. Despite the plane being a quarter-full, our row ended up with me, my husband, and some rando dude all squished into one row, and somehow I ended up in the middle seat. I politely asked the flight attendant if… Read more »
After we dropped off our rental car at the Leonardo DiVinci Airport, we hopped on a train to reach our lodging in Rome. Because my hubby was the one booking the accommodation, I wasn’t the one responsible for getting us from the train station to the front door. So naturally, we ended up walking in a massive circle dragging our… Read more »
After spending an afternoon checking out Siena, we hopped into the rental car and headed south on SR2. The road cuts through the increasingly rugged terrain. Whereas northern Tuscany is gently rolling hills, southern Tuscany gets more wild. After about 45 minutes on SR2, we took a few roundabout exits underneath the hilltop town of Montalcino, eventually ending up on… Read more »
After our stay in Florence, it was time to check out some more bucolic Italian environs. We slogged our way through driving rain back to the tram and rode to the Florence airport to pick up our rental car. As usual, we finally got into our car only to discover that although we paid for “in-car WiFi”, the car rental… Read more »
We landed in Florence around 1:30pm local time. The Florence airport is really small which makes life easier for people who’ve just flown for 15 hours. We grabbed our suitcases and wheeled them over to the tram stop outside of the terminal. The tram system is new and although most blogs and guidebooks to Florence still say to take the… Read more »
If you’ve read through the archives, you would know that I’ve started a tradition where my husband and I blow off familial obligations and traipse somewhere other than Ohio for the Thanksgiving time-frame. I call it Thanksgiving Abroad. Last year, we went to Asia – Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia. The year before that was London. I don’t really have any… Read more »
After the amazing day in Denali National Park, we figured it would be a let-down trying to do anything else in the park. So I let Mom sleep in a bit while I worked. When she got up, I asked her what she wanted to do. After hemming and hawing a while, she said, “Let’s just go for a drive… Read more »
Despite my well-known loathing of being awake before noon, I had my alarm clock set for 5am – yes, while on vacation. The only positive about getting up that early in the morning in June in Alaska is the fact that the sun is already pretty high in the sky, tricking you into thinking that it’s a bit later than… Read more »
Anchorage was more relaxing that I anticipated, despite all the walking Mom and I did. After two days of checking out Alaska’s biggest city (population roughly 300,000, the next largest is Juneau with 32,750 just to give you a bit of perspective), it was time for us to head north – towards Denali National Park. As I mentioned in a… Read more »
After cruising along the Inside Passage, I was really looking forward to exploring more of the incredible state of Alaska. We were fortunate to make the drive from Seward to Anchorage in clear weather and had amazing scenery the entire way. You’d think I would have gotten jaded by snowcapped mountains at this point; but you’d be wrong! My Instagram… Read more »