What This Is All About

Originally we used this to post updates here periodically about our trip. Now it serves as both a repository of what we had written about the trip, as well as a place for us to write new content about our current and future travels.

If you’re unfamiliar with us or what we did (and are doing, I suppose), please check out our About Us.

What’s on this page

Our blog posts live on this page. However, if you’d like to see our photos, videos, or our coffee section, click one of the corresponding menu options at the top.

We created a map of our original journey below:

Sicilia

Land of Granita and Mandarinetto

 Posted on December 16, 2019  |  5 minutes  |  1029 words  |  Mollie Glovinsky

We left Arezzo by train at 8:30 AM to Rome, dropped off our bags, explored Rome all day (by walking over 18 miles), then hopped on the night train bound for Sicily at 11:00 PM. Yes, you read that right: you can take a train to the ISLAND of Sicily. There are no bridges from the mainland. The train gets taken apart, car by car, and loaded onto a ferry for a short 50 minute boat ride, to then be reassembled onto the other side. [Read More]
Take Us Back (DWNTGB)  Italy  Travel  Europe 

Toscana for Twenty Sunrises

Taking in the beauty, history, and gelato

 Posted on November 12, 2019  |  18 minutes  |  3727 words  |  Ryan and Mollie

(This article was cowritten, so paragraphs beginning with “M” were written by Mollie and ones beginning with “R” were written by Ryan) M - After our sprint through Scotland, France, and Switzerland, we knew we needed to land somewhere for a good long while. This fit into our plan of setting up a home base in Tuscany, as we had fallen in love with Italy when we visited two years prior. [Read More]
Take Us Back (DWNTGB)  Europe  Italy  Travel 

A Quick Dash Through Switzerland

See what you can before you empty your bank account

 Posted on October 11, 2019  |  10 minutes  |  1988 words  |  Ryan Glovinsky

Initially we wanted to spend a week or more in Switzerland, we’d heard amazing things. However, our plans quickly changed as we began looking into accommodations and the corresponding nightly rates. We started stripping down our trip, trying to maximize what we thought would be highlights, and trying to stay in places that wouldn’t damage our wallet too badly. Ultimately, after a few days in Paris, we headed into Switzerland via Basel (the northwest corner of the country) and went directly to… [Read More]
Take Us Back (DWNTGB)  Travel  Switzerland  Europe 

Paris, je t'aime

Wandering the City of Light

 Posted on October 11, 2019  |  9 minutes  |  1911 words  |  Mollie Glovinsky

So I have to admit, I was terrified of going to France. I had been there before- one week in high school, on an organized tour, and I LOVED it. However, all you hear is how the French, especially Parisians, despise Americans and will pretend not to understand English. Since Ryan’s language skills only helps us in Spanish-speaking countries, I knew it was all on my high school French getting us by in France. [Read More]
Take Us Back (DWNTGB)  France  Travel  Europe 

Passing Through York

Should we refer to it as Old York?

 Posted on October 10, 2019  |  3 minutes  |  509 words  |  Mollie Glovinsky

For whatever reason, it was challenging to find a semi-affordable Airbnb in Paris. We had found a nice one and attempted to book it for four nights but the owner rejected our booking because he was "looking for someone to rent it for longer." _Have you ever heard of that before!?_ It was a bummer since we were no longer certain we'd have a place to go in Paris. Thankfully we eventually found another decent place, but it was only available starting the night after we left Stirling, meaning we had to find a place for the night in between. [Read More]
Once Was Enough (DWNTGB)  Europe  United Kingdom  Travel 

Ryan's Gear Selection

What I chose, how I chose it, and why

 Posted on October 4, 2019  |  2 minutes  |  313 words  |  Ryan Glovinsky

My intent was initially to have this blog post done and published before I ever left on the trip, however, I vastly underestimated three things: How busy I would be before the trip. How busy I would be during the trip. How extraordinarily long it would take to add labels to the following image: As you can see, eventually I ran into difficulties (and was tired of) individually labeling the items. [Read More]
Insight  Gear 

Terror in the UK

Driving against your brain

 Posted on October 4, 2019  |  4 minutes  |  831 words  |  Ryan and Mollie

Mollie’s Take Bravely (or foolishly) Ryan opted to rent a car for our Scottish adventure, and took full responsibility for driving it the entire time. It might have been easier, but to save money, he opted for a manual transmission… in the UK- where you both drive on the left hand side and change gears with your left hand. Oh, and the turn signal is also still on the left. [Read More]
United Kingdom  Europe  Short  Travel 

The Scottish Highlands

Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North...

 Posted on October 4, 2019  |  11 minutes  |  2262 words  |  Mollie Glovinsky

Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North, The birth-place of Valour, the country of Worth; Wherever I wander, wherever I rove, The hills of the Highlands for ever I love. Robert Burns (Map from [Lonely Planet](https://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/europe/scotland/)) The Highlands are the part of Scotland generally referring to the area North of Glasgow and Edinburgh. Our trip took us from Edinburg, to Glasgow, to Lull, to Oban, to Skye, to Inverness, and then to Stirling to finish it up. [Read More]
Take Us Back (DWNTGB)  Travel  Europe  Scotland  United Kingdom 

Glasgow

A modern Scotland

 Posted on September 16, 2019  |  3 minutes  |  456 words  |  Mollie Glovinsky

I seem to have a problem- everywhere we go, I decide I could live there. This rule held up in Glasgow! It is such a vibrant city, full of activity; and has such nice people. It was seriously quite amazing how open and friendly people were. We were taking a selfie outside of a restaurant and a security guard offered to take the picture for us. He then took multiple pictures, asked where we were visiting from, then gave us a bunch of information about the area and recommended going around the corner to Ashton Lane, where the picture above was taken. [Read More]
Take Us Back (DWNTGB)  Travel  Scotland  Europe  United Kingdom 

Edinburgh

Pronounced as -burah, not -burg

 Posted on September 15, 2019  |  3 minutes  |  609 words  |  Mollie Glovinsky

I really wasn't expecting Edinburgh to be so beautiful! What a difference compared to Buenos Aires, where the style was all over the place in terms of architecture (younger city + no building codes + people wanting to copy Paris, London, and Madrid styles = no uniform look). Edinburgh's main flavor is sandstone. For us, the amount of tourists was kind of shocking (and rather off-putting). I think this mostly has to do with the fact that we didn't really come across any in Buenos Aires. [Read More]
Take Us Back (DWNTGB)  Scotland  United Kingdom  Travel  Europe