Italy Archives - Page 3 of 3 - The Sarcastic Blonde

Italy, Lifestyle

:: I’m back!! ::

October 5, 2015

I know you’ve all been thinking
‘where the hell did she go?’
‘did she stay in Italy and never return?’

I WISH.

just hitting workers whilst throwing coins in the Trevi Fountain.

just because it was under construction didnt stop us from making wishes.

But my husband wouldn’t let me stay.

he said we had these things called “jobs” and “lives” and I was thinking,

ugh whatever.

I particularly wish we could have stayed in our room in Positano for the rest of our lives.

Anyways, my apologies for the 2 week lack of blogging after the initial italy 2 week lack of blogging.

~~but in reality sorry I’m not sorry it was the best lazy 2 weeks after a lazy 2 week vacation ever.~~

we got back from Italy two weeks ago and it has been a whirlwind. every day I came home from work and I crashed while adjusting back to the time change, then my family was in town for a wedding our first weekend back, and then blah-de-blah-de-blah.

plus, not going to lie, obviously I’m extremely depressed the trip is over and it was hard coming back to reality,

even with a DVR filled to the brim with Bravo shows awaiting me.

I spent two weeks in Italy without TV and didn’t even care to watch TV when I got back.

I meannnnnn Italy changed me. I don’t even know who I am anymore.

I have so much to share about our trip : packing lists, restaurants, tips, photos, etc.

We still have so many photos to go through,

so I’ll share city by city guides in the coming weeks!

And truly thank you all so much for all of your help in the planning of our trip – it wouldn’t have been half as great without all of your advice and recommendations !

there are really exciting things to look forward to.

like, the best photographs you’ve ever seen.

I know insane photography is what you have come to expect from this blog.

for example, pictures of me jumping in the Boboli Gardens in Florence

see how we beautifully captured the gardens and our experience?

or me sweating my ass off in Rome in 96 degree heat in hour 3 of our guided tour when I have to say to Paparazzi Kip “Seriously why is this when you get photo happy? these pictures are going NO WHERE I look like I just jumped in a swimming pool of my own sweat”

I KNOW. the suspense of my trip recap and what is to come is KILLING YOU with excitement.

I have lots of beautiful architectural photos (like 300 of all the quatrefoils I couldn’t get enough of) that are super dark and you can’t even tell I’m standing in.

ANYWAYS, I digress…….

good lord did you miss my rambling?

I almost thought I was sane for the last month until I started typing on this damn computer.

I’m excited to be back to blogging and have some fall fashion posts, home updates (WE GOT A NEW BED. HALLELUJAH) and more coming up!

and of course LOTS of TV gossip!!! I’m getting back into the swing of things at home, and by swing of things I mean doing nothing but eating and watching TV.

are you still reading? sorry about that.

peace out for now.

I’ll leave you with the final photo on our camera:

me devouring my last croissant before our 10 hour flight home.

Italy, Lifestyle

:: ITALY BOUND ::

September 4, 2015

we are off to Italy!!!

I can’t believe the day is finally here!

We fly to Newark, and then have a 6:30 PM flight from there that gets us into Venice at about 9 AM (or 2 AM our time in Chicago).

I know I need to sleep on the 8 hour flight there, but they sent an email with all of the free movies and TV shows and OH MY GOD I want to just be on a plane my whole life. It’s like a DREAM to have access to that much TV all at your fingertips.

Good thing on our 10.5 hour flight home I’m not supposed to sleep AT ALL on so that it doesn’t mess up my clock-thing-or-whatever….. so I’ll be a kid in a candy store watching 11 straight hours of TV On the way back.

I digress……

fancy fashion bloggers have recently been in Italy and it’s so funny because they basically packed all of my outfits!! How strange right!? SO if you happen to be over there the next two weeks, just look for me, I’ll basically look just like this :

thats exactly what my suticase has in it.

especially the giant hat that needs its own suitcase or seat on the plane.

I had every intention of having my packing post fully complete for today….

I even made a super sweet graphic!

loooooook. for me, this is like, WOW are you a photo shop pro?

it’s completely off center, but whatever. have a little wine and who notices.

and I even took pictures whilst packing like such a good blogger!!!

but I do not have time to upload and enter them because I’m a spaz and want to go to CVS for last minute essentials : the little mini wine bottles so that I can bring mine on the plane, chug one, and pass out until we land in Venice. I hate that airplane chardonnay (WOOF) and its like 10 dollars. No ma’am. I prefer my cheap pinot grigio mini bottles thank you very much.

side note : ramona should seriously tap into the mini-bottle-alcoholic-market.

I think she’d really have a presence there.

and GET PACKING CUBES. they are insane.

I got everything all in one carry on suitcase + this AMAZING weekend bag that I seriously have half of my trip packed in!

sole society weekender bag

ANYWAYS.

I’ll do my amazing packing post when I return,

and that way I can say stuff I didn’t need to pack and things I wish I had (like sanity, dignity, gisele’s body….. the list goes on and on)

so follow along on THE INSTAGRAM for my adventures in Italia.

ARRIVEDERCI !

Italy, Lifestyle

:: italy updates ::

July 14, 2015

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It’s less than 2 months until our Italian Adventure begins, and I have been so, so excited.

It’s been kind of like wedding planning in the sense that a bunch had to get done at one point (booking the flights, all the hotels) and then there has been a lengthy period with nothing to do but read my Rick Steves book, peruse Pinterest, lay awake at night trying to figure out what I am going to pack/how I am going to fit it into a carry on, and update my *nerd-alert* lengthy word document with everything I find or any advice or tips I am told.

I don’t know why my husband says I’m such a planner 🙂

Also, a blog I read, History in High Heels (she also has that etsy shop that has adorable prints!) is living in Florence and she always has cute posts that are fun to read.

44 tips for traveling in Italy

SOOO here are a few things about our trip we have planned!
and a few questions at the end if you have tips!

We arrive in Venice, and spend 2 nights there. We don’t have much planned for Venice except to just wander and get lost. The biggest decision we’ll make the whole time is to gondola or not to gondola 🙂 people have very strong opinions about it being overpriced and a waste, or definitely to do it because you’ll likely only get to once!

Next we have Siena for 2 nights and Florence for 2 nights.

We’ll likely do a vineyard tour one of the days in Siena, and no specific plans for Florence other than the usual sightseeing.

I am so excited for all of it, but I am probably most excited for the Amalfi Coast.

We have 4 nights in Positano, and 1 night in Sorrento.

I can’t wait to see our hotel in Positano and just sit out on our balcony overlooking the water.

We will definitely be doing a boat day to Capri – from what you all have told me, it sounds like it will be one of the highlights of the trip!

When we were looking on TripAdvisor for our hotel in Sorrento, one of the hotels had an insane (insanely misquoted in our favor) price, and we booked it for our one night there.

Grand Hotel La Favorita

When I opened a new web browser and went back to look, it was back to its normal insane pricing. So that was a fun steal for our one night there 🙂

And then we have 3 nights in Rome to finish off the trip.
We’re staying at a super cute apartment with its own little terrace, so an apartment will be a nice change from all of the hotels (hopefully).

We already have a small group tour through Walks of Italy booked to see the Colosseum and such, and we also have the Scavi tour underneath St. Peter’s Basilica planned.

It’s going to be such an amazing 15 days – I wish it was here already!

Honestly I’m like so knowledgeable at this point thanks to everyones advice that I am basically fluent in Italian.

one of the things my nerd-alert planner self is still trying to figure out is the train.

we are going to be traveling from city to city on the trains, and while I know it is simple enough, I can’t figure out the buying of the tickets/when to buy.

friends have to said to book the trains the night before at the hotel for whatever city we are going to next, and print the tickets when you get to the station. Mr. Rick Steves and some online sources have said that if you are traveling by train more than 3 times (we will be 4) to get a Eurail Pass, because it saves some money.

That being said, it seems like it may be more confusing to use it and arrange our tickets, and may be worth the small amount of extra money to just by our regular daily tickets each time.

I also haven’t had any friend or friend-of-a-friend suggest doing the pass, so I am thinking no?

Thoughts? Ideas?

also, is this whole booking of trains super easy and I just think I’ll be confused when I walk into the train station, but in reality even a moron could do it?

OH and other questions : do you buy a data plan so that you can have wifi while you are there, or do you just use the wifi when you are at the hotel for free? I feel like having the wifi while we wander around would be helpful, but I’m not sure. Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome!

Also, I know cash will be needed much more over there than here (it’s a miracle if I ever have cash), but I don’t want to take out tons of cash here prior to going over. is it expensive to use the ATM often over there?

so help a sister out:

1. train suggestions or tips?

2. wifi – buy data to use while over there?

3. what did you do about cash?

what I haven’t learned through my intense reading and from Family Guy,

I have learned from Gilly’s Italian friend Gilly.

ARRIVADERCI ! (gilly voice)

Italy, Lifestyle

:: Italian Dreams ::

April 28, 2015

if you follow me on instagram you saw the news on Sunday…..

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we booked our flights for Italy!!

Kip and I have had what we call an “Italy Box” since the very beginning of our relationship. Neither of us has ever been to Italy and we dreamed of going. We started putting cash aside when we would get home from the bars or anything like that. Over time, a good bit of money did build up

(I know what yore thinking….. you had money left when you got home from the bars? It doesn’t make sense to me either….) but we ended up having to “dip into it” for this or that while we were engaged, getting married, or buying our place, but we always tried to get back into saving when we could. blah blah blah. Long story short, we always wanted September for the trip, and after realizing it was now or never (September 2016 is an eternity away, lets be honest) we finally were able to book our tickets!

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There is SO much we want to see and do, and not nearly enough time. We will be gone for two weeks (15 nights to be exact) and I realized early on that not everything can be seen or sone. (I originally was like OOO WE’LL DO ITALY AND THEN GREECE but then I discovered I am a moron or would need to take way more time off of work than possible).

All we know for now:

We will fly into Venice, quick stop there for a day and night (the consensus from friends is to see it if you can, but then no need to stay.)

Then on to Florence, Amalfi, and Rome (for a few nights each with day trips from there where needed! We are planning to stay in Positano and do day trips from there in Amalfi)

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So, seeing as we are Italy clueless – I would LOVE any words of wisdom, must see places, food recommendations, and places to stay! (for now, especially places to stay because we need to book that next!) any comments on the blog or emails to taylor.oshay@gmail.com are greatly appreciated!

I have spent so much time on TripAdvisor, but recommendations from you are always the best 🙂

seriously I don’t know what I would have done without one of you amazing readers telling me about the “secret” all inclusive option at Sugar Beach in St. Lucia – it made all the difference in the world for our honeymoon and was worth every penny!! Thank you again!!