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2017 Europe & Asia Adventure

September - November 2017
A 62-day adventure by Courtney Read more
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  • Traveler2017 Europe & Asia Adventure
    Day 29

    Day 29 - Rome Arrival

    October 8, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    We were very sad to leave Positano this morning! But excited for Rome (and even more excited for Vietnam in a few days!!).

    We had a long travel day to Rome - walked down the windy Positano rode to the ferry port, ferry to Salerno, train to Rome, and then a bus to our Airbnb right outside Vatican City. The plan was to immediately do all of our laundry, then go to a market and stock up on some of the toiletries that we are running low on. We got all of our clothes together and got to the laundromat and it was closed on Sundays! So, we ended up not doing too much. We relaxed for a couple of hours, then went out to dinner - split a pear and arugula salad and two pastas (carbonara and sausage). Then we walked through Vatican City before heading back for an early night.Read more

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    Day 30

    Day 30 - Rome!

    October 9, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    What an awesome, long day! After breakfast at the Airbnb and dropping our laundry off at a laundromat, we set off to explore the city. We crossed the bridge towards the city center and ended up in Piazza Navona where we bought a mini map. Then we walked a couple blocks out of the piazza to the Pantheon - one of the oldest monuments/buildings in Rome, built in 27 B.C. We wandered around a little longer and then split a salad and salami pizza for lunch. Next, we picked up our laundry and went back for a long rest.

    After a nap and showers, we headed off for more city exploring. We walked along the the Fiume Tevere river towards the southern part of the city and then crossed over to the Teatro Marcelo, the only ancient theater left in Rome, conceived by Julius Caesar. It is huge and surrounded by the ancient ruins of fallen columns. Next, we had one of our best dinners yet in the Jewish Ghetto - an appetizer of fried codfish, zucchini flowers, and Roman artichoke. Then, Tim had lamb chops with rosemary potatoes and I had another spaghetti carbonara (last night's wasn't very good and I needed to get it right, which I fortunately did tonight!). For dessert, we split the best tiramisu of the trip.

    After dinner, we went to meet our tour group for a night tour of the Colosseum and several other historical monuments around it. We saw the Trajan tower, the ancient Forum, the Venezia Square (where Mussolini lived), and several other ruins and monuments. Then, we went inside the Colosseum, after hours, where our tour of 20 was the last group of people inside. It was awesome. We walked along the upper corridors, walked down onto the arena, and even went down into the basement of the gladiator and animal chambers, which is closed to the public. Now, we are exhausted and ready for bed before our Vatican tour in the early morning!!

    Rome is probably my favorite of the big cities (Madrid, Barcelona, Florence) so far on this trip - everywhere you look, there are ruins and monuments and beautiful historical buildings. Can't wait for tomorrow!    Read more

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    Day 31

    Day 31 - Last Day in Rome/Italy/Europe

    October 10, 2017 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 16 °C

    Another long and great day in Rome! We started our day waking up early for our Vatican tour. The tour was a very small group (us and a family of 3) that started at 8:00, an hour before the Vatican is open to the public. We walked through all of the Vatican museums, including the royal apartments decorated by Raphael, and then went into the amazing Sistine Chapel. After the museum, we went to St. Peter's Square and then into St. Peter's Basilica - the largest Catholic Church in the world. Of all of the churches that we have seen, this one was definitely the most extravagant.

    After the tour ended, we had a quick lunch (Chinese food!) and then took a very long nap. We woke up, and ventured out for more wandering, including a visit to the huge Trevi Fountain (and tossed in some coins for good luck!). Then we walked around for miles and finally found a good Italian restaurant for our last dinner in Rome - we started with mussels and sausage/sun-dried tomato bruschetta and then we both got fresh pasta - clam and mushroom for Tim and spinach ricotta ravioli for me. We walked for a bit more and now we're ready to read (Tim got 3 new books at a bookstore today) and bed!

    Off to Vietnam tomorrow!!!    Read more

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    Day 32

    Day 32 - Pope Francis and Rome Departure

    October 11, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Since it will be Thursday by the time we land in Hanoi, I figured I would do a short day entry for today...

    Every Wednesday, Pope Francis does a free public mass in St. Peter's Square. Yesterday, we were able to get tickets from a guard in the Square (although it seems those were just souvenirs and we didn't really need them). After we showered and packed, we walked the couple of blocks into Vatican City, went through security, and entered the Square. We thought we were early - the mass was supposed to start at 10:00 and we got in around 9:15 - but when we saw thousands of cheering people, we were happy we got there when we did! We walked up to the crowd and noticed that the Pope was doing his rounds through the crowd, riding on the back of a truck, standing and smiling and waving and kissing babies. Within 5 minutes, he started coming down the empty lane right next to where we were standing. We got within a foot or two of Pope Francis. It was really cool!! We stuck around for the mass and then left to get to the airport.

    Now, we are sitting at the airport, eating ramen, and ready for the long flight to Vietnam!!    Read more

  • Traveler2017 Europe & Asia Adventure
    Day 33

    Final Thoughts on Italy

    October 12, 2017 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    - Italy is way more expensive than Spain, especially Capri and Positano. You can probably get by relatively cheap if you just wander around and grab a sandwich or a slice for lunch and dinner, but sit down restaurants, tours/museums, and some of our accommodations were quite pricey. It's a good thing we left for Vietnam when we did!!
    - Just because there are four separate courses on the menu, you don't have to order something from every course. It took us a few days to realize this...
    - There are cats everywhere!!
    - Nearly everyone we came across spoke English. They say "a little bit" if you ask them and then they are fluent.
    - Basically everyone we came across was very nice and helpful and hospitable.
    - Capri and Positano were by far our favorite places on the trip so far. There are indescribable. We will absolutely be back.
    - Venice was awesome. I could see how some people might not love it, if they are staying near St. Mark's Square, since it is heavily packed with tourists at all time. But if you stay in a less busy area (like we did), it is amazing.
    - I liked Rome a lot more than I thought I would. It was probably my favorite of the really large cities. We had a wonderful three days there.
    - I wish we had given ourselves more time to explore Florence. We were there for 4 nights, but the first night was just getting settled in, the second was jam packed with hitting the top attractions, the third was a day trip to Siena, and the fourth was the Chianti wine tour. We never really had a chance to just wander and explore the city. Since we only saw the really touristy areas that second day, it was overwhelmingly crowded and I didn't quite fall in love with it. By this point, I was so sick of cities and crowds that I was ready to leave. I would like to go again and see the other side of the city. I would also love to spend more than 8-10 hours in Siena. The city was beautiful and I could see us loving spending a few nights there.
    - Naples was..."rough". Tim loved it for some reason, he enjoyed seeing a more "authentic" side of Italy. I am really glad we did the kayak tour, so we were able to see the beautiful coast. But I'm not sure I need to go back there.
    - We are really happy with how much we were able to see and do in two and a half weeks. Next time, we would love to go to Sicily. And Tim really wants to go to the Italian Alps. And we would like to explore more of Tuscany, and Cinque Terre.
    - The Blue Grotto is magical. If you get a chance to swim in it after hours, do it. That boat trip was by far the highlight so far.    Read more

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    Day 33

    Day 33 - Hanoi Arrival

    October 12, 2017 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    What a long day...or was it 2 days?! We didn't sleep at all on the 10 hour flight from Rome to Bangkok...arriving at midnight Rome time, 5:00 am Bangkok time. Then, after a 2 and a half hour layover and a 2 and a half hour flight (with a little sleep), we arrived in Hanoi at 10 am local time. We got our Visas, got a taxi, and went straight to our hotel in the Old Quarter of Hanoi, right next to Hoan Kiem Lake. Fortunately, we were able to check right in. This hotel, Golden Moon Hotel, had the nicest room we have stayed in the whole trip. It is one of the nicer hotels I have ever been in. And it's $25/night, which is actually our most expensive accommodations in Vietnam. We set down our luggage and took a much needed 3 hour nap. We could have slept the whole day away but we knew we needed to adjust to the time, so we forced ourselves up around 2:00, took showers, and went out to check out Hanoi.

    Hanoi is insane!!! The roads are wild, filled with motor scooters, pedestrians, construction, street food, children, and even a few tourists. We had fortunately seen some random Facebook/YouTube videos on how to cross the street in Hanoi before we got here (basically you just walk across slowly and the vehicles avoid you). If we hadn't just spent a few weeks in Italy with those crazy roads and drivers, I'm not sure we would have had the courage and confidence to do it. But we seem to have figured it out.

    Our first stop, of course, was a pho lunch at a busy street vendor. YUM! It was so good (and $3.75 total for both of our meals). Hanoi is known for having some of the best street food in Asia and that is one of the main reasons we are here. After pho, we wandered the streets a bit until we found our way back to our hotel. We relaxed for a bit and I was about ready to call it a night, but Tim was somehow hungry again. We found a restaurant a couple of blocks away. I wasn't too hungry, but we got a couple of passion fruit mojitos, a couple of beers, and split veggie spring rolls and a chicken curry dish (all for under $15...which is actually very expensive here). The meal was pretty good, but I think we will stick to street vendors for the rest of our time in Hanoi.

    Now, some reading, and then probably 12 hours of sleep!    Read more

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    Day 34

    Day 34 - Hanoi

    October 13, 2017 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    What a great day...Hanoi is awesome!

    We got to bed pretty early last night but knew we needed at least 12 hours to catch up on sleep. We got about 10 hours, then woke up to eat the free hotel breakfast (pho and fresh fruit!) and then got another couple of hours of sleep and relaxing before we set off for the day.

    As soon as as we left the hotel, we saw a crowded little food stand selling chicken on a stick and decided to order two. We accidentally ordered two full meals to go - chicken, vegetables, rice noodles, and broth, all for $1. We found a bench at Hoan Kiem lake and ate our lunch there. The chicken was amazing!! Then we went into a temple over the bridge in the middle of the lake (I had to borrow a "costume" to cover my bare shoulders). After the temple, we walked around the whole lake and then started wandering through the busy streets for hours and going in several little shops. Since we recently decided we love Chess, we bought a cool little stone Chess set, and found an outdoor beer bar to sit down and drink and play. We hung out at this bar on the corner of two wild streets and played Chess and drank beers for awhile. Then we went out for a pho dinner, came back and played a little more Chess, and now we're about ready for bed. We have an early bus in the morning to Sapa!    Read more

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    Day 35

    Day 35 - Sapa Arrival

    October 14, 2017 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    What a wild day! We woke up early (5:40), got ready, packed, ate breakfast (the hotel set up breakfast an hour early for us), and hopped on the sleeper bus to Sapa. I had no idea the sleeper bus meant basically individual beds! It was awesome and super comfortable. The ride to Sapa was beautiful, through the mountains with views of the rice terraces and waterfalls.

    Once we arrived and got off the bus in Sapa, our host (well, the homestay taxi driver) was waiting with a sign that said "Courtney". This is when things got interesting and our (my) first minor mess up happened! We were supposed to be staying at a nice hotel, with a private balcony and beautiful mountain views, right in Sapa Town. I had been looking forward to this place for months. As the taxi driver drove out of the town and down through the mountain, I started to get a little confused, but wasn't too worried about it (and he didn't seem to speak much English so there wasn't much we could do). Then the ride continued for about 45 minutes through rocky roads, lined with all sorts of animals - cows, ducks, chickens, pigs, dogs. We ended up in the middle of nowhere at a place called Heavenly Homestay. I recognized the name from some emails but the place didn't seem right at all. We checked into our room and I tried to figure out what happened. I pulled out our little notebook with all of our bookings and travel documents and, sure enough, our Sapa hotel was called "Botanic Sapa", and I had jotted some notes about the terrace and the views and being right in the middle of town. That's when I realized what had happened. Back in April, when I was first looking at hotels, I had emailed this homestay about availability, since it was so highly rated. He didn't get back to me for several weeks, at which point I had already booked the other hotel. I deleted the email and forgot about it. Well...2 weeks ago, he emailed me and said he wanted to confirm our Sapa booking for the same dates that we were planning to be in Sapa. I just assumed it was our hotel and told him yes. Then about a week ago, due to the weather forecast, we switched around our Vietnam plans. I emailed him back and asked if we could switch dates and he said it was no problem. He had his driver pick us up and we ended up at the completely wrong place. We considered just staying there, but the weather isn't great so there would be nothing to do, and we were hungry and there was nowhere to go, and there was a chance of flooding and we really didn't want to get stuck there for a week, and there was absolutely no wifi/service and my mom would freak out if she didn't hear from me for a week. So, it was basically all my fault for not paying attention, but we were in the middle of nowhere, not where we wanted to be, and the host was really nice about it and had the driver take us back to the town (not for free this time). Our really nice hotel that I was excited about was full since we were here on the wrong dates, but they were also really nice and gave us a full refund even though it was passed the refundable date. We found another (cheaper) awesome hotel right in the middle of town. We don't have our beautiful terrace with mountain views, but it is foggy and cloudy anyways so it's not a huge deal. It all worked out in the end, just had a couple of hours of stress. We knew something would go wrong at some point, so it could have been much worse!!...sorry...that was a long story!

    Anyways, after we checked in, we checked out the town. It's really cool. Full of restaurants and shops and bars, with both locals and tourists everywhere. We wandered around for awhile, got pho for dinner, then settled down at some outdoor seats on a busy corner right on the lake for some beers. Now, we need to rest up - Sapa trekking tomorrow!!    Read more

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    Day 36

    Day 36 - Sapa Trekking

    October 15, 2017 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Today we went on a 6 hour (about 13 mile) guided trekking tour through Sapa and the surrounding villages. The beginning and end were through some rugged/steep/rocky/muddy trails - going up to the ridge in the beginning and down into the valley at the end. At a couple of spots, we were pretty much rock climbing and at one point we had to climb over a tree through a muddy landslide. After I had a minor slip towards the beginning of the hike (and accidentally grabbed onto a fence covered in barbed wire to catch myself), Tim and the trekking guide and one of the other village ladies that was following us, were very helpful guiding me any other time we reached a rough area (even though I insisted I could handle it). But most of the walking in the middle was on decently maintained paths through mountain villages where they farm on the terraced mountainside. We passed by a ton of animals roaming free along the paths and in the villages - pigs, buffalo, cows, chickens, ducks, dogs. There were great views of tall, steep, lush green mountains, recently harvested rice terraces, waterfalls, villages, and the valley below. It was an awesome day.

    After the trek, we took much needed showers, I took a nap, and then we went out for one of our best Vietnam dinners yet - veggie spring rolls, beef fried noodles, and curry chicken in a coconut with fresh mango juice and a couple of beers! Tomorrow is our last day in Sapa and it will likely be our first (and maybe only) day of bad weather of the trip (this should be the last rain storm before the region's dry season officially begins). So we plan to get massages, do some shopping, eat a pho lunch, and a fish hot pot dinner!!    Read more

  • Traveler2017 Europe & Asia Adventure
    Day 37

    Day 37 - Last Day in Sapa

    October 16, 2017 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Today was fairly uneventful. It rained (mostly just a drizzle) on and off all day. We hung out at the hotel a bit, walked around the town a bit, ate quite a bit, and got massages! Still a fun and relaxing day.

    We didn't take a single picture today, but here are some more from yesterday's adventures!    Read more

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