I will be traveling to Rome in May!
Joanna, my sister-in-law, and I have been excitedly planning our trip. When we visited Wayne's family over spring break Joanna convinced me to purchase the air tickets.
We will have have four full days in Rome, plus a few days for traveling. It will actually be most of two days to fly there, and one day to fly back. I am starting to get really excited about the trip. This will be my first trip without Wayne, so I am a bit nervous.
Here are the things that make me nervous:
1) Jet Lag - I have never felt like I adapted well to the time change in Europe. This trip I hope will be better because I arrive at 4 pm, instead of a normal early-morning arrival. I also am considering trying a travel pill.
2) Meeting Joanna - Joanna and I will not be flying together, so we will have to find each other in Rome. We have set a designated meeting place and back-up plans. This actually doesn't make me that nervous, but it will be so nice when we have both gotten to our hotel and can relax the first evening!
Things that will make our trip easy:
1) I have already been to Rome and will be familiar with most of the sights.
2) We have booked a nice 4 star hotel. This will make a huge difference - we will have a nice, safe, relaxing place to come to after a busy day of sightseeing.
3) Joanna will be a great travel buddy! I think she will be pretty easy-going, but yet make me go and see stuff when I think I want to take a nap in the hotel!
I'm really looking forward to this trip. As always, I'm using my trusted Rick Steves' guidebook and a handy Italian phrasebook. I am also going carry-on only: I recently acquired a 20 inch Eagle Creek suitcase. I will be taking that and my small backpack.
Buon Giorno!
Welcome Readers!
Thank you for visiting my travel blog. I hope you enjoy reading about my travels as well as gain inspiration for your own. My first post summarizes Wayne (my husband) and my first trip together. More posts will follow shortly, including more trips, adventures, and other topics of interest relating to travel.
Ciao!
Sheena
Ciao!
Sheena
US Virgin Islands January 2009
During a meal with some of my family during Thanksgiving weekend, my cousin mentioned they were planning a trip to the US Virgin Islands. As a fellow traveler I inquired about their plans. Within minutes, she said "You should come with us!" When we got back home, we researched the Islands and the accomodations.
The Virgin Islands are made up of three major islands: St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John. St. John is the smallest island, about 20 square miles. The Virgin Islands National Park makes up three-fourths of the island.
We would fly into the major airport on St. Thomas, take a taxi to the ferry and ferry to St. John where my cousin, Laura, and her husband, Roy, would pick us up in their rented Jeep. Laura and Roy, along with their kids Ian (2) and Caleb(1) were staying in a cottage at the Cinnamon Bay Campground. We reserved a campsite and brought our own tent and camping supplies.
When we got to St. John, we were in paradise. The weather and water were at perfect temperatures. The campground was quiet with lots of shade and beach. The bathrooms were all right, but the showers had only cold water, so that took time to get used to.
We spent 10 days in St. John. We expored most of the beaches and drove around the island in the rented Jeep. St. Johm has a bit of history, so we enjoyed going to the visitor center and visiting ruins of old sugar plantations. There are quite a bit of hiking trails on the island. We ate out for a few meals, but mostly bought groceries and kept them in a cooler at the campsite. Wayne, Caleb and I celebrated birthdays on the island so Laura bought us some treats.
The snorkeling in St. John was fabulous. We had thought that our snorkeling in Jamaica was good, but this couldn't compare. We saw hundreds of parrotfish and angelfish. Lots of stingrays, starfish, and conch. We even saw a baracuda, which some people are afraid of, but they arn't very dangerous. The highlight was seeing sea turtles. They were amazing.
We had a blast seeing the island with Roy and Laura. Ian and Caleb were very good natured, and we loved playing with them. Ian loved to go out in the water with Wayne.
We saw a bit of wildlife - mongooses skittered across the road, brown pelicans dived for minnows, and occationally an iguana would show its face. There were also hermit crabs, wild chickens, wild donkeys and deer.
On our last night, we decided to get a hotel near the airport since our flight left early. It was good to get a warm shower and relax in a bed!
I absolutely loved this trip. The warm weather in January really felt good. And the snorkeling really was excellent. Wayne wants to get an underwater camera for the next trip.
See More pics here
Reflections
Likes: Warm ocean, beautiful beaches, very safe, not crowded
Dislikes: Food and groceries are expensive.
Ease of travel on 1-10 scale (1=easy, 10=hard): 4 Transfering from airport to taxi to ferry....is a bit tiring.
Would we go back? y/n Yes - any chance we get!
Would be a good trip for: Families with children, groups, romance!
Websites
Cinnamon Bay Campground www.cinnamonbay.com
Virgin Islands National park www.nps.gov/viis
Europe Road Trip August 2008
Cochem, Germany
Europe 2008 - The Short Version
We flew to Frankfurt, Germany on August 25. We rented a car and drove around Europe for 3 weeks. We met my mom in Paris, and she traveled with us for the third week. We loved the freedom of having our own car! I was a lot more comfortable traveling since this was my second trip to Europe. This is a brief summary of what we did.
Germany - Drove from Frankfurt south to tour the town of Rothenburg. Very cute town, surrounded by walls. Then we drove to Fussen, and visited the Neuschwanstein Castle.
Austria - Drove the Grossglockner Hockalpenstrasse, a scenic mountain pass in the alps.
Slovenia - Visited beautiful Lake Bled and Triglav National Park.
Croatia - Drove south along the Dalmation Coast to Dubrovnik. Toured Dubrovnik and swam in the Adriatic Sea. Visited Plitvice Lakes, a national park sporting a series of lakes and waterfalls. Beautiful blue water and lots of friendly fish.
Kotor, Montenegro - Southernmost fjord in Europe. Rugged cliffs surround beautiful Kotor Bay.
Bosnia Herzegovina - Nice, homey country. We drove north to Mostar, an eastern-feeling city with a beautiful bridge. You could still see lots of damage from the conflict here in the 90's.
Venice - Nice, but crowded. Felt more like a tourist trap. Beautiful buildings and atmosphere.
Switzerland - Visited Lauterbrunnen area. Took a gondola to Gimmelwald and walked to Murren and back to Lauterbrunnen. Our knees hurt BAD by the time we got back! Ate the most delicious Alpkäse Fondue. Drove to Paris
Paris - Picked up Mom at the airport. Found a parking garage to leave the car in. Toured Paris with mom. Since we'd been to Paris before, we did a few new things: Went up inside the Eiffel Tower, saw Sainte Chapelle, took a boat cruise on the Seine, and found a nice restaurant to eat at. We visited some friends that served us a nice meal, complete with a cheese course.
Brugge - We drove to Belgium. Stopped for a bit at a beach. Brugge was one of our favorite stops. Lots of shopping and quaint buildings. Delicious Belgian Chocolates.
Netherlands - Stopped one night and visited an American WW2 cemetery.
Germany - Drove through Luxemburg to the Mosel Valley. Lots of vineyards and castles. Visited Berg Eltz Castle. Drove to Frankfurt where we flew home.
Brugge, Belgium (My mom had to take pictures of EVERYTHING!!!
Brugge, Belgium
Visiting US WW2 cemetery in the Netherlands. We visited this grave because this is one of our friends grandfather.
Brugge, Belgium
Near Murren, Switzerland
Plitice Lakes, Croatia
Mostar, Bosnia Herzegovina
Dubrovnik, Croatia
Slovenia
Lake Bled, SloveniaJamaica January 2008
Ahhh...Our first tropical vacation. Wayne booked a villa at the Silver Sands in October to surprise me. He did a good job of keeping the big secret until November. This link will show you pictures and a description of our villa http://www.mysilversands.com/viewvilla.aspx?bklk=MTc= . This trip was pretty much all-inclusive: We were picked up at the airport in a large van and drove to the Silver Sands Resort. Our villa came with a cook/housekeeper who cooked, cleaned, and even did our laundry! We had to pay for any excursions and groceries.
We spent out lazy days swimming, snorkeling, and basking. We had never done much snorkeling, but caught on quickly. Good snorkel equipment is well worth investing in. We loved snorkeling and saw a few sting ray and lots of little fish. We also saw a very large starfish. Our cook made us the traditional dishes of Jamaica: jerk chicken, ackee and saltfish, fish escovich, peas and rice, and johny cakes.
We spent only five days in Jamaica, but it was enough to enjoy ourselves. We didn't explore any of the island, so we didn't get a 'real' Jamaican experience, but we had a great time.
Reflections
Likes: Warm ocean, white sand...Need I say more?
Dislikes:Other than our secluded resort, it wouldn't feel that easy or safe to explore. It would be doable, just not relaxing.
Ease of travel on 1-10 scale (1=easy, 10=hard): 2
Would we go back? y/n Yes - but not unless we were going with a group our had our own family
Would be a good trip for: Families with children, groups, romance!
We spent out lazy days swimming, snorkeling, and basking. We had never done much snorkeling, but caught on quickly. Good snorkel equipment is well worth investing in. We loved snorkeling and saw a few sting ray and lots of little fish. We also saw a very large starfish. Our cook made us the traditional dishes of Jamaica: jerk chicken, ackee and saltfish, fish escovich, peas and rice, and johny cakes.
We spent only five days in Jamaica, but it was enough to enjoy ourselves. We didn't explore any of the island, so we didn't get a 'real' Jamaican experience, but we had a great time.
Reflections
Likes: Warm ocean, white sand...Need I say more?
Dislikes:Other than our secluded resort, it wouldn't feel that easy or safe to explore. It would be doable, just not relaxing.
Ease of travel on 1-10 scale (1=easy, 10=hard): 2
Would we go back? y/n Yes - but not unless we were going with a group our had our own family
Would be a good trip for: Families with children, groups, romance!
My first trip to Europe July 2006
Wayne had always wanted to take me to Europe, a continent he had already traveled to 4 times. In early 2006 we purchased our tickets for travel from Denver to London. We decided to use Eurail to see Paris, Barcelona, and Rome in addition to London. We made all of our hotel reservations using Hotels.com.We left in the middle of July. We first explored London. We saw the Tower Bridge, the British Museum, Harrod's department store, the Clock Tower, and Buckingham Palace. We spent a lot of time in Hyde Park, which was only a few blocks from our hotel. Our hotel could have been better; it was very small and somehow we got a room with bunk beds and no a/c. It was very hot and I had a hard time adjusting to the time. We had a good meal at a pub, but otherwise ate at Pizza Hut and grocery stores. We used the London Underground a lot, and also walked. We spent about three days in London, then too a train to Paris where we connected to another train to Barcelona. We slept on the overnight train and arrived in Barcelona early the next day.
Barcelona
We had done a little bit of research on Barcelona, but we really had no idea of what to expect. We were extremely impressed with the city. We got off the train and walked around Barcelona: The city was clean, palm trees and cute green parrots were everywhere. We found a pastry shop for breakfast, and then walked to the Sagrada Familia, a church that has been in construction for the last 99 years, and is still not finished. Then we walked down la Rambla, a pedestrian street filled with mimes, street performers, a market, and lots of people. Then we found our hotel and checked in. The hotel was very nice. In the evening we wandered from our hotel and happened to go to the beautiful lighted fountains in front of the national palace. The next day, we walked up Mont Juic, a high hill overlooking the city. we went through the castle on top, and then made our way to the beach. The beach was crowded, but we found enough room to sit down and enjoy the sea. Our train to Italy left that evening, so we walked to the train station and boarded our overnight train.Italy
We arrived in Milan in the morning, and took a train to Pisa. We stopped for a few hours to see the pretty town of Pisa, and see the leaning tower. Then we took the train to Florence, and on to Rome. In the evening, we found our very nice hotel, and relaxed for the night.In Rome we walked around the city, saw the sights, and eat plenty of gelato. We saw the Coloseum, the Palentine Hill, the Roman Forum, Trajans Tower, Circus Maximus, the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, Campo Fiori, the Baths of Diocletian, and St. Peters Square. We loved Rome. The weather was hot, but we really enjoyed the city. By the time we left, it was beginning to feel like home. We really liked the Rick Steves travel book we used for Rome. After about three days in Rome, we got on our last overnight train: to Paris.
Paris
In Paris we walked around the city, saw the sights, and eat plenty of baguettes and croissants. One highlight in Paris was meeting Christina Roudy for crepes in the Latin Quarter. Christina had met Wayne years ago when he was in Paris. Another highlight was when I found 40 euros in the chair of the hotel room!
When we left Paris, we traveled back to London for one night before our flight back home. On our last evening in London. We found a Chinese restaurant to celebrate our last night in Europe. The food was fantastic. We did pay 15 pounds for water, but it was the best Chinese food we had ever had.
Reflections
Likes: Nice cities full of history.
Dislikes: We didn't like the trains...We thought they were expensive - not only did we have to pay for the tickets, but also had to pay for a 'reservation.' On the other hand it was nice to travel while we slept saving us time and money.
Ease of travel on 1-10 scale (1=easy, 10=hard): 7
Would we go back? y/n Yes - All of the cities we visited are worth a second trip. Especially Barcelona, since we were there only one night.
We learned: Nice hotels are great when you can afford them.
Alaska July 2005
Our adventure-some travel companions, Rorke & Leatha (R&L), had been constructing a road trip in Alaska. The plan was for R&L to fly to Anchorage and Wayne and I would drive the trusted Camry along the Alaskan Highway and meet them in Anchorage. However, Mileage Plus (my employer) frowned upon my taking 3 weeks off to expand my travel knowledge and being confined to 2 weeks of vacation a year did not sit well with me. I chose to give my two-weeks notice and not look back. I told my sweet supervisor that I "really wanted to go back to school and finish my degree" which I did, but I'll always wonder if she questioned why I needed to quit in July to start school in September. I might add that I was not the only one who quit their job for this trip...R&L had also both quit their jobs before this trip!
This was going to be our cheapest trip ever. We figured our total expenditures would not exceed $800. (World Gallivanter 101: The cost of one's journey does not correlate with the quality of memories made .)
Wayne and I made the long drive to Alaska. One day we drove over 1100 miles. The scenery was nice throughout Canada. We made a quick stop at Watson Lake, where there is the Sign Post Forest - a park littered with sign bearing posts. People add roadsigns, license plates, and other signs that they have been in Watson Lake.
After picking up R&L in anchorage, we made our way north to Denali National Park. We never saw Mt. McKinley, it was always covered in clouds. We took a bus into the park and saw lots of caribou, moose, ptarmigan, and mountain goats. The highlight was seeing a large grizzly bear up close.
It was then off to the North - Fairbanks, the Arctic Circle, and Prudhoe Bay. Wayne and R&L actually donned swimwear and swam in the arctic ocean. The water was a brisk 39 degrees Fahrenheit. We did check out some warmer water in Chena Hot Springs, east of Fairbanks. We then drove south. We went to McCarthy, where Wayne and Rorke did a short overnight backpacking trip to a glacier. We then went to Valdez and did some exploring. We looked for wild berries and saw some salmon spawning.
Next on the trip was the Kenai Peninsula, south of Anchorage.We decided to take a dinner cruise from Seward. The trip was very enjoyable, a nice dinner, and some wildlife spotting: Stellar Sea Lions, Jellyfish (everywhere!), otters, puffins, and Mountain Goats. We got t0 see some of Wayne's relatives on this trip: Tyler, Lisa, Breanna, Owen and Lindsey Vaughan. We stayed with Tyler and Lisa and were had lunch with Lindsey in Anchorage (I believe it was at the Moose Tooth)
Wayne and I dropped R&L off in Seward to catch their cruise ship to Vancouver. The scenery in Alaska had been wonderful. Glaciers and waterfalls could be seen from every vista. We thoroughly enjoyed sharing this wonderful trip with R&L and took hundreds of great pictures.
On our drive back to the lower 48, Wayne and I drove through Banff & Jasper National Park. This was again a beautiful drive, but we were glad to get home and I started school the day after we returned.
Reflections
Likes: Freedom of having our own car, being able to take 3 weeks for the trip. Also, having great travel partners!
Ease of travel on 1-10 scale (1=easy, 10=hard): 2
Would we go back? y/n Yes - driving to Alaska was great, but next time we will fly!
Would be a good trip for: Those who love nature, animals, and the great outdoors.
More Pictures Webshots
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