Reunited and it feels so GOOOD! 🇮🇹 🇬🇷

I’ve been putting off writing this blog post and I’m trying to figure out why. Maybe it’s my denial that our backpacker/ traveler lifestyle is over. Or perhaps it's because I am exhausted… The past month has been a family & friend- filled re-introduction to the “real world”. The backpacks may be gone (and swapped for personal item-sized bags) but the traveler mindset lives on! A few highlights from our Italy and Greece travels below… 😃 

Milan, Italy 🇮🇹 🍷 

We both agreed Milan was the perfect place to reintroduce us to Europe and “real” life. The Italians in Milan are truly living (and working!). You could see work culture spill onto the streets in the early evenings while enjoying aperitivos or suited-up men stopping in a cafe for a quick espresso break.

Sam and I stumbled into a young and hip aperitivo / DJ pop-up after being lured by a €15 panini/ spritz combo and immersed ourselves in the yuppie Lombardy lifestyle. We started chatting up a few girls, Chiara and Maria, who happened to be co-workers, roommates, and best friends. Chiara was celebrating her birthday with her colleagues and Sam had to embarrass me by telling the whole group it was my birthday the next day. We cheers'd tequila shots and from that point on, we shared many bottles of wine while learning more about life in Milan. Chiara is from Calabria while Maria is from Procida, an island off the coast of Naples and next door to Ischia (later on that!). The night ended in a blur and the next day Sam and I were struggling. We managed to walk around Navagli, a touristy area surrounded by canals, before heading to a local rowdy old-school restaurant for my actual birthday dinner. 

While in line we met a group of Aussies (one couple is living in Milan digital nomad-ing + their friends were visiting them) and by chance got seated next to each other at dinner. The restaurant was full of locals and tourists with a rowdy buzz filling the room. Waiters quickly dished out carafes of house wine, pasta, Milanese, duck breasts, and tiramisu for dessert. A group of Italian guys started singing Happy Birthday to their friend when Sam decided AGAIN to embarrass me and ask our new Aussie friends to start singing to me after. They managed to get the whole restaurant involved and it ended with a cheers and hug with my Italian birthday twin. At the end of the night, we enjoyed a nightcap at our new Aussie friends' adorable loft before getting drenched in the rain on our walk home. 

Milan was short-lived, but way rowdier and more fun than expected. The next morning we woke up, packed our small bags, and headed out to a trendy area, Isola, before heading to the airport.

Rhodes, Greece 🐟️ ⛪️ 🇬🇷 

After a short flight to Rhodes, we were picked up by Connor & Paige and arrived at the villa we booked with 9 of Sam’s childhood friends to attend their best friends’ wedding (high school sweethearts)!

After being away from friends and familiar faces, it was amazing to spend a full week chilling in a villa, lounging by the pool, playing games all day long, and not needing to plan or make many decisions! One day, we rented a gorgeous sailboat and explored various beaches and coves around Rhodos. We ate fresh Greek food, lots of fried cheese, drank loads of house wine, and dabbled in Ouzo (not our fave!).

Shauny and Sam (Sam’s friends!) wedding was gorgeous. They had the most stunning venue overlooking the ocean and the weather could not have been more perfect. The two have been dating since childhood it was amazing to meet so many people that Sam grew up with beyond his closest friends (including a handful of ex-flings/girlfriends! - who were all lovely ofc 🙂)

After the wedding, the rest of the week whizzed by as our friends headed home back to England, and Sam and I weighed various last-minute destinations to spend our next 10 days. We considered other Greek Islands like Paros/ Naxos, Sardinia in Italy, or the Italian countryside, but everything sounded exhausting. Instead, we listened to our bodies and decided to relax at a nearby island, Symi, before returning to Italy to meet with family. 

Symi, Greece 🦐 🛥️ 

Why we didn’t consider Symi as an option in the first place, I don’t know! Symi is only a short ferry ride from Rhodes and is 10 km from mainland Turkey.  After spending 5 days on the small island, we were so pleasantly surprised by Symi and enjoyed our adorable Airbnb loft. Symi is a picturesque fishing village with colorful Venetian-styled buildings built into the hills that feel like a movie set. It also has perfect turquoise coves to dip and swim in! 

During the day, Symi’s port gets filled with day tourists, but Sam and I leaned into the local lifestyle- exploring before and after the tourists arrived/ left.  Every evening as the tourist ferries left the port, mega yachts swooped in for the night. Sam and I loved people-watching the yacht guests each night. 

On our first night in Symi, a MEGAYACHT overtook a whole corner of the port, complete with a helicopter, full-size speedboat, 3-storied staircase, AND 40 full-time staff on board (after a quick Google search, it’s the 30th largest yacht in the world haha). The boat was only transporting 2 guests— the 86-year-old UAE billionaire owner and his sugar baby (who Sam so naively claimed was his “granddaughter” HAHA). While admiring the size of the yacht, Sam noticed the biggest contradiction- just steps away, the police station was occupied with dozens of refugees who had crossed over from Turkey waiting to be processed. After speaking with locals, we learned Symi is a target point for many refugees who have come from North Africa and the Middle East as this is such a close entry point to the EU from a non-EU country (Turkey). After speaking to locals they said it is an incredibly regular occurrence and many even attempt to swim the 10km crossing. Even when leaving on our ferry back to Rhodes a few mornings later, there were both the Turkish and Greek coastguards out on the water trying to handle more attempted crossings.

The refugees were living on top of each other with dirty belongings and screaming babies 30ft away from a docked $200M yacht. It was a sad sad contradiction that made us stop and think.

Rome, Italy 🍝 🇮🇹 

From Rhodes, we found 13 euro flights to Rome so we decided to fly there for our next stop. It perfectly aligned with my sister and her husband’s Italian vacation itinerary, so why not surprise them?! We initially planned to meet them in Naples a few days later, but with the flight deal and flexibility, crashing their vacation to spend a few more days together felt like the thing to do 😜 . Our friend, Nico (who we traveled through Guatemala/ Belize with) also lives in Rome and offered to host Sam and me so we were excited to spend time with the three of them!! 

Nico has the cutest bungalow on the outskirts of Rome, a lush green oasis and the perfect place for us to relax in the mornings. He baked us daily fresh bread for breakfast (which we smothered in Nutella), crepes (which we ALSO smothered in Nutella), and various late-night pastas (don’t worry, didn’t smother these with Nutella). An Italian dream!! (And yes ladies.. he’s single!!!)

We decided to track Ilene’s iPhone location to “bump” into her and Ronnie as a surprise. After chasing them around the city and missing them multiple times, we finally ‘bumped’ into them at a pub! The next few days were spent together, with Ilene, Ronnie, and Nico, walking around the city, eating our hearts out, and discovering hidden gems that Nico introduced us to. Nico also managed to sort free tickets to the European Athletics (track and field) championships, where we had incredible seats and were seated with the athletes' families. 

Most of these athletes will be competing at the Olympics later this summer so it was amazing seeing the level of athleticism so close up! The 100-meter sprint was one of the most INTENSE events I’ve ever seen. You could hear a pin drop in the stadium before the buzzer went off. It gave me chills!

Naples and Ischia 🍕 🏖️ 

After five days we said farewell to Nico and the 4 of us traveled down to Naples before taking a ferry to a nearby island, Ischia. After stuffing our faces with Neapolitan pizza and street food, let’s just say Ronnie and Ilene were excited for something a bit more… luxurious. After traveling for a year and seeing some gritty places, I wasn’t phased by Naples’ grittiness. But seeing the wide eyes and shock of Ilene and Ronnie while walking past trash-filled streets, street fights, and underwear hanging on clotheslines was hilarious. I told them it was good to see the ‘real’ Italy instead of only the touristy sites!

The next morning, we were up and out of Naples FAST- Get us to the islands (and out of the hood!!) lol.  Ischia has been gaining popularity among Americans as a hidden gem alternative to the Amalfi coast, it's in the same cluster of islands as Capri/ close to Sorrento but is WAY less crowded, more authentic, and where Italians vacation (not considered a hidden gem to them! lol).

Although we only had 3 days on the island, Ischia was a quaint escape and the perfect retreat. We self-chartered a dingy boat for one day, which was my favorite activity there. Seeing the joy on Ronnie and Sam’s faces while whipping the boat from cove to cove was so fun. We stopped by various beaches for a quick dip and even found a cove that is a natural hot spring (there are hot springs all over the island!).

Sadly our time with Ilene and Ronnie was over before we knew it, but those days were SUCH a treat having spent so much quality time with them both. Thx for letting us crash your holiday! 

Puglia 🫒 🍷 

We headed back to Naples together before Sam and I ventured further down south to Puglia, where we met his mom, nan, and brother/brother's girlfriend for a week-long holiday! The train to Puglia was long and extremely delayed which caused us to miss our hotel check-in window for the night. By the time the train arrived at midnight, the only available option was a 5-star hotel for an absurd amount of credit card points ( could be worse!). 

In the morning, we picked up our rental car and quickly realized that we had picked the absolute worst time to be in Puglia, due to the G7 summit also being in Puglia LOL. Road closures, police everywhere, and traffic made for a very fun drive down to Lecce to meet with his mom and nan.

Sam and I visited Puglia last May for a wedding and felt it was the perfect place to take his mom and nan on holiday. It was so fun revisiting cities like Bari and Lecce, and spending more time by the sea since the weather was hot this time around! We stayed in Pogliano a Mare (the Instagramable cove! LOL) and day-tripped around various villages. 

To round out the week, we revisited our favorite hotel (and friend/ hotel owner, Giana), at her countryside retreat, Mastropa.  Since the wedding we attended last year, Sam and I have dreamt of the morning breakfast feats from Giana and her chef, Patrizia, so we knew we needed to return. The hotel is a refurbished villa with 6 guesthouses and is a peaceful oasis with the most stunning grounds. We spent the last 2 days of our holiday relaxing by the pool and enjoying peace and quiet. 

Before we knew it, and nearly a month gone, we boarded our flight back to the UK. We said goodbye to the sunshine and hello to the British summer- gray skies and lush green rolling hills! And to throw another curve ball into it, Sam was convinced to replace his friend (who got injured at the last minute) in a sprint triathlon in Sheffield with 48-hour notice! (That’s one way to shock the system!) From swimming in some of the most beautiful oceans in the world for 12 months to racing around a dirty lake in Sheffield - he’s mad for doing it but he and his friend Wardy loved the race! New hobby for Sam incoming I feel…

Somerset, UK 🍻 👨‍👩‍👦 

This past week in the UK was spent with Sam’s dad (Bob), his wife (Steph), and Sam’s brothers + significant others, and meeting our newest niece, baby Margot! Bob rented a house by the British seaside (Western Super Mare for anyone that understands the delicacies of the British seaside HAHA) for all 11 of us to relax together for the first time in over a year and enjoy the beach, fish and chips, and Somerset ciders! It was so nice being reunited with the family and we are now officially DONE with holidays, settling into our next chapter of eating healthy, working out, and applying for jobs!

What’s the next chapter, you may ask? We’re still figuring it out! We will be relaxing in the UK, bopping between Sheffield, Worcester, London, and other European cities seeing friends and family, and monitoring cheap flights until we head back to the US in September! We just spent the weekend reunited with friends in London which made me SO happy 🙂 Currently we’re en route to Amsterdam to meet our friends from the US who are on vacation! If you’re around the UK or Europe this summer, let us know!!!!!