Some of you have probably been wondering why you haven’t seen anything about my trip to Italy on the blog yet ... 

Well the answer is 1) It was so magical I wanted to hold on to that fantasy-like feeling in my mind as long as I could , 2) I took almost 8000 photos and editing + curating them all has taken much longer than expected, 3) I thought releasing photos of Summer in Italy in the Fall would be a nice throwback and reminder of warmer, magical times!

I was lucky enough to travel to one of the most romantic countries in the world with my other half, Travis. We went to 8 cities in 14 days: Rome, Siena, Florence, Genoa, Milan, Verona, Venice, Trieste, and then back to Rome.

Since I travelled so much in the span of just 2 weeks, I had to be extremely strategic in planning this trip so I wanted to share with you my top 5 travel tips, Italy edition. 

Backpack vs. Luggage

·      I understand that backpacking isn’t for everyone, but I would not have made it through all that travelling if I had brought luggage

·      All the cobblestone + all the walking really made having the freedom to walk around without being anchored down by those annoying luggage wheels made my life so much easier. Plus, in Genoa, it would have been impossible to get anywhere if we weren’t travelling with backpacks

Jacket with many pockets

·      Traveling anywhere can be risky, but Italy has been known to be a land of gypsies + pick-pockets

·      Although I carried my day-pack for long day trips, most of the time I just brought my leather jacket and camera strapped across my body

·      This was probably my best decision ever because my jacket was always on + all the pockets had zippers so it made it extremely hard to access for anyone other than me. So when I was walking through large crowds I only had to hold onto my camera and make sure my jacket was zipped up. 

Plan ahead with ItaliaRail

·       Little did we know, but apparently ItaliaRail has scheduled strikes … http://www.easytravelreport.com/ in the Italian Strikes section … so make sure to check this out when planning your travel days

·      We found out the hard way when we were trying to leave from Venice to Trieste and ended up losing a whole day with our luggage stuck in a bar (drinking Aperol Spritz of course)

Bring a refillable water bottle

·      I bought Travis and I Memobottles before our trip because I had been told so many times that water is crazy expensive in Italy + I wanted to save money wherever I could

·      We had our trusty Nalgene bottles, but with their extremely large shape it would have been hard to fit anything else into our day-packs

·      The Memobottle was the size and shape of a book so it fit comfortably in the bag along with my Canon 6D, sunscreen, phone, and other essentials

Birkenstocks /or adjustable sandals

·      I brought a pair of my comfiest running shoes, fancier sneakers, lace-up gladiator sandals, and my favourite EVA Arizona Birkenstocks . I thought I’d be wearing my running shoes most of the time, but I didn’t realize how much my feet would swell up from all the travelling, warm weather and hours of walking – I think my feet actually grew a whole size so none of my closed toe shoes fit anymore.

·      So my tip is to bring sandals with adjustable straps + comfy foot-bed with lots of support … for me Birkenstocks fit this description perfectly. Plus, the EVA pair are waterproof so I could wear them in the rain with no worries too!

I can't wait to share more traveling tips + adventures soon! Please let me know if there's anything you want to know in the comments + I'll post about it next!

xx