travel Archives - Page 3 of 3 - The Sarcastic Blonde

:: italy travel diary : venice ::

November 3, 2015

:: VENICE ::

we flew into Venice to kick off our 2 week Italian adventure.

we weren’t sure what to expect, because Venice probably was the least “oo’d and aah’d” about place by far from everyone. we didnt have too many restaurant recommendations or anything like that… people had said it wasn’t the best food and that it was super, super expensive, blah de blah.

and yet, other than the amalfi coast, Venice was our favorite.

we loved, loved, LOVED Venice.

we landed at 9 AM after a lengthy 9-ish hour flight where the sleeping pill I took DID NOT WORK.

(don’t even get me started….. after finally getting the balls to take said sleeping pill for the first time, Kip and I were awake constantly, and he informed me that is definitely not how the ambien should work. so I had some wine and did the best I could. sleeping mask, neck pillow, ear plugs all we wonderful).

anyyyyyyways, we landed at 9 AM and after about a 45 minute ride on the blue line water bus, we hopped off at San Marco stop and found the hotel super easily. even the public transportation is enjoyable here – you’re on a boat with views galore!

exploring Venice and just wandering was so incredible. there is so little to see (compared to places like Florence and Rome) that it was wonderful to just wander around, look at the beautiful buildings and squares, and admire the insane water views everywhere you looked.

we were both stunned with how beautiful it was.

was it expensive? yes. was it our favorite food of the whole trip? no, but we did have some very delicious meals at the random places we stopped at, and especially with nothing to compare it to we loved it. was it crowded? yes and no, not at all compared to florence or rome, and the majority of the time it didn’t feel crowded at all – only at st. marks during the height of the afternoon for example. was the gondola a rip off? YES, but who cares we loved it!!

everyone says you don’t need more than a day or two there, and while I would agree, we were very sad to leave. we could have sat along the canal and drank and ate and people watched, or sat outside any of the little restaurants in any of the dozens of little squares and been so happy.

it poured rain later in the afternoon our first day there, and we sat and waited it out with cocktails and lunch. later on it did another heavy, but quick shower and the place we ducked into, right next to The Accademia, was filled with several gondoliers drinking right next to us. we knew we had accidentally stumbled into the right place! when the rain stopped and we stepped out to a gorgeous rainbow and an even more beautiful view from the bridge.

…. more of me chatting about where we stayed/what we did

following some/ a lot of pictures !

I’ve never enjoyed a rainstorm so much in my life!

hiding out from the second rainstorm with the gondoliers!

the little bar we tucked into was right here next to the Accademia.

we took this photo on our gondola ride. this is a great example of where things can get a little packed. the tiny bridges that are close to the busier parts of Venice can get very backed up at times, but other than moments like this we didn’t feel like it was crowded.

in Harry’s Bar after our gondola for a Bellini

this is me on the water bus towards the train station to leave, and even this was as great as a gondola ride to soak in all the views of the city.

:: where we stayed ::

Hotel Flora

WE LOVED THIS HOTEL. so much. the location was incredible.

we got off at the san marco stop and it was less than 5 minute stroll to our hotel, but still far enough from st. marks square to be quiet and quaint and tucked away. and just next to our hotel entrance were some gorgeous shops like Burberry, Bvlgari, etc, so the window shopping on our way in and out of the hotel was an added bonus.

Sergio who ran the front desk could not have been kinder or more helpful. he was truly one of the nicest people we encountered on the whole trip in terms of hotel staff. their rooms were beautiful, with views overlooking their courtyard. their courtyard alone was so stunning. I could not recommend this hotel more. the price, the location, the staff, the breakfast, ALL OF IT.

(a few of our pics, and a few from trip advisor that show the beauty of the hotel much better below!)

the entrance is tucked down this little walkway and is so adorable.

our room was a great size with beautiful Italian touches, like the murano glass.

how beautiful is this courtyard ?

eating breakfast out here was so, so nice!

:: where we ate ::

I didn’t write down a single name of a place we ate 🙂 well, I did, but I threw the map out that I wrote them on. Whoops. We wandered for most of our meals, and our second day ate lunch and dinner at the same place because we liked it. We did, however, really love our food – we didnt go too crazy and stuck with the basics. Oh, except one shrimp cocktail we had at a place along the grand canal that had us never order shrimp the rest of the trip. We washed it down with wine and all was fine 🙂

:: what we saw ::

St. Mark’s Basillica

beautifully covered in Gold, it was incredible to see. we booked tickets ahead online to go in at a separate entrance. I was able to light a candle and say a prayer and it was a favorite moment for Venice.

Doge’s Palace

so large we couldn’t believe it. quatrefoils galore everywhere. especially as one of the first sights for us to see, it was beautiful.

The Accademia

we went here in the morning our second day here. it was not crowded at all since we went early and was easy to go through quickly.
Rialto Bridge + Grand Canal
we had afternoon cocktails on the canal near the bridge twice while we were there, it was perfect views of the Regatta and people watching

Annual Regatta

the weekend we were there happened to be the weekend of their annual regatta down the grand canal which was very fun. boats with bands playing music was a fun addition to the regular sights on the canal.

Gondola Ride

despite our best efforts, because of the Annual Regatta, being selective with the Gondola was more difficult than we thought. We had wanted to do a sunset ride, but ended up hopping in one when it was free and our Gondola driver was less than wonderful. still, it was great. it was 80 euros and he definitely didnt take us for longer than 20 minutes and he definitely didnt take us down any of the beautiful canals 🙂 oh well. OH and he didnt even wear his striped shirt, he had it stripped off from him sweating and just a wifebeater on. oh yeah. it was PURE ROMANCE people.

Harry’s Bar

18 euro Bellini’s? after the 80 euro gondola? What the hell, it was fun!

Walked, and walked, and walked

best part of it all was just wandering around. We took 30,000 steps one of the days we were there according to my old school pedometer that I tried to keep on me most days of the trip.

:: a few things I learned to share ::

when you land at the Venice airport, there will be kiosks for purchases tickets for the water bus. the kiosk is confusing and doesn’t work. just walk out to the water and there will be a ticket station with a person that speaks english and will make sure you are going the right way. this was much easier!!

for train tickets, the only time the whole trip a train was sold out for us was the early morning Venice train. Our friends who had traveled before us experienced the same thing. We were still able to leave about an hour and a half after what we had originally planned, but perhaps book the Venice train more than one day in advance if you can. the rest, we were fine.

** I did some updates to my packing post after some questions/comments.

any questions or comments about Venice I will answer and update the post as well 🙂 **

for legit gorgeous Venice photography, check out Classy Girls Wear Pearls.

She just got back from a trip and her professional photos are far superior to mine in capturing the beauty of Venice.

Venice, we love and miss you. Terribly.

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

image

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)

friday randoms, Lifestyle

:: vegas….. round two ::

April 17, 2015

ummmmm we have SO much to discuss with Kim Richards. the timing was just uncanny.

I’m off to Vegas (for Round 2 in a one month span. just trying to work my liver to the max…. she’s getting really strong…. those crossfit people have no idea who they’re up against. I could crush them.)

One of my friends is getting married and my girlfriend are I are flying out for a girls weekend celebrating her.

there’s a group of us that go as dates to each others weddings (this will be our third wedding, no men.) and I can’t wait for a fun filled, booze filled, food filled, hopefully cash in the pocket from my killer craps skills at the tables filled weekend. we’re staying at the wynn where the wedding will be, and I have heard amazing things.

it was a loooooong week. it’ll take everything in my power not to order a cocktail on our bright and early flight. the only thing keeping me in check will be knowing by the time I land I’d be in rare form, and that I’d have to use the airplane bathroom 27 times with my non existent bladder.

side note : I’m such a hypocrite and am always thinking such judgmental thoughts on the early morning flights when someone orders a drink. Like, straight up liquor at the crack of dawn.

I meannnnnnnnn…. for Vegas I guess I’ll forgive…. but have some self respect and sneak it with your own little mini bottles or something so that everyone around you isn’t thinking “DAMN BUDDY!”

But thanks for making me feel like I really have my act together when my response to the flight attendant is “oh my word no thank you mam I will save my screwdriver for after I land instead of at 8 am on a four hour flight where the current time at our destination is 6 am.”

now, when we arrive at the hotel,

GAME ON.