Sicilia

Land of Granita and Mandarinetto

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 … [Read More]

Toscana for Twenty Sunrises

Taking in the beauty, history, and gelato

(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 … [Read More]

A Quick Dash Through Switzerland

See what you can before you empty your bank account

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 … [Read More]

Paris, je t'aime

Wandering the City of Light

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 … [Read More]

Passing Through York

Should we refer to it as Old York?

Passing Through York
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 … [Read More]

Ryan's Gear Selection

What I chose, how I chose it, and why

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 … [Read More]

Terror in the UK

Driving against your brain

Terror in the UK
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 … [Read More]

The Scottish Highlands

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

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 … [Read More]

Glasgow

A modern Scotland

Glasgow
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 … [Read More]

Edinburgh

Pronounced as -burah, not -burg

Edinburgh
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 … [Read More]