Why Italy?

So why did we choose Italia for what is hopefully only the first of many international adventures? A few different reasons....

Spain was always at the top of my list for places to see. Fortunately for me, I got to see a little of Spain on a choir trip when I was fifteen. While I would really love to go back on a trip dedicated more to sightseeing and less to face painting, we decided it was better to go somewhere neither of us had ever been before.

Ireland has been at the top of Nate's list....however, not so much mine. While I think it's very beautiful and would love to go there one day, it just didn't have as many sights or as much romance as I was looking for.

So, what was the one place that we both really wanted to go? Italia! Amazing art, history, architecture, beaches, and romance! What else could you want?

Now that we had picked a country, we had to pick the actual places in the country to see. We were fortunate enough to be able to take 15 days including two for traveling. This still was very little time when trying to cover the best Italy has to offer. Rome was a no-brainer. Venice was a must for me and Amalfi Coast for Nate. A friend had highly recommended Assisi which is in the Umbria region. After that, we turned to our good friend Rick Steve for advice. He rated Cinque Terre as a must and despite being pretty unsure about how worthwhile it was, we opted to spend a day or two there in Monterosso. Sienna and Florence also seemed like must-see places which Florence hosting some of the most infamous art in Italy. Nathan absolutely had to see the Ferarri and Lambroghini museums of course. I thought the Sorrento area sounded pretty romantic. So, our list was complete and our itinerary was already crammed!

What were our musts? A gondola ride in Venice (unfortunately the rain ruined that). A scooter ride somewhere (wait til you hear how that turned out!).  A trip to the Colosseum. Pictures holding up the tower of Pisa. A boat ride on the coast. Bernini's David and Michelangelo's (at least we got to see one). Romantic strolls in the moonlight. The Spanish Steps (classic Audrey Hepburn location). Lots of good wine, good pasta, and local cheeses and bread. Yum!

The essential tools for planning: Rick Steve's Italy, lots of travel websites, hotels.com. We had to plan our hotel reservations, how we were going to get from place to place, ways to save money, where to eat, what to eat, how to pack, how to pay, and how to have fun with minimal stress. It was a lot of work! We packed all of our stuff in Rick Steve's back packs---yes, everything we needed for two weeks in back packs!