Rome 2017 Recap! — Life With Marianna

Hey Everyone, Happy Monday! Hope you guys are starting you're week off in a great and positive way. I am here to tell you guys all about my awesome trip to Italy from Decemeber. I know I'm a bit late but I have kind of dreading writing this because I feel that there is so much to tell you guys. I am going to easily recap this trip as simple as I can. This was one of my favorite trips of all time (I swear I say this about every trip I take haha). This is also the first trip I took where nothing was booked. Not even our flight!

I was blessed to travel this past Christmas with my boyfriend on standby thanks to his awesome job at the airlines. We had decided to travel but we had no clue where exactly to go. Traveling standby during the holidays is really risky because it is one of the most traveled times of the year. So we decided to show up at JFK airport in New York, and jump on whatever international flight was open. For those who don't know me, I am a big planner so this kind of trip had me so anxious because there was a possibility that we wouldn't get on anything.

We had options such as Switzerland, Spain, Italy, England, Germany, and few more other countries. We wanted to visit a country we haven't been to yet so we aimed for Switzerland and Italy. They were our first options. Sadly all flights were overbooked except for one flight to London, England. We decided to hop on that flight and fly out to another country (for those who aren't aware, flying within EU countries is so much cheaper). We spent two days in London because it is one of our favorite places! (we traveled there last April!) We got to see our favorite spots such Picadilly Circus, Trifalgar Sqaure, and Big Ben. We also got to eat at our favorite place in London called Nando's!

We were so excited when we booked a cheap flight to Turin, Italy (located in northern Italy). From Turin, we took a train all the way down to Rome. The train was amazing and we got to see the coast as well as numerous Italian cities. I still couldn't believe we were on our way to this ancient city! We spent our days seeing such beautiful sights such as the Colosseo, Fontana di Trevi, Pantheon, and so much more. Everything in Rome is pretty much walking distance. The Vatican City was really impressive and I finally got to see the Sistine Chapel. We decided to do two days of a bus tour and two days on foot. There was so much to see but we were able to accomplish so much in those 5 days! We decided to get tour guides for many of the location just because the wait to get in alone was over three hours. With the tour guides we were able to skip the lines and really get a history lesson of every place we went to.

Let's not get started on the amazing Italian food we had. I swear I ate pasta more than once a day there. I cant tell you how many glasses of wine I had on my whole trip (wine is cheaper than coca cola and sometimes even water).We also enjoyed so many Italian pastries and cappuccinos. I swear Italy has the best food ever. It is also completely different than the Italian food that we have here in the United States.

Now I will say this, Europe is truly expensive. The tourist spots entrance to all the major sites are really pricey. I recommend getting a site seeing passes for each major city you are at. I also recommend eating away from the main attractions. I cant tell you how many times we ate near the Colosseo and spent double even triple the money. We also saved a lot of money by walking every where. Sadly, Rome doesn't have Uber and their taxis are so expensive. So make sure you walk everywhere and bring comfortable shoes.

My favorite person to travel with is Dan. I loved being away with my boyfriend. I cant even count the amount of laughter or jokes we had throughout the entire trip. It's amazing being with someone who is so easy going about everything. We didnt care where we ended up, just as long as we were together and had fun that's all that mattered. From eating out late to just walking the streets of Rome at night to get gelato, I really couldn't have picked a better life partner.

I hoped you enjoyed this quick recap of our trip to Italy. I am so excited to tell you that this past week, I booked a flight to another country! In April I'll be traveling with my sister and friend to an amazIng country! I am patiently counting down the days and can't wait to tell you guys where I am going. I am going to be bringing some new content within the next few weeks non- travel and travel related. Dont forget to signup with your emails so you get notified of new post! Hope you guys enjoy your week.

XOXO MB