This spring break I didn’t escape the winter weather, but in my eyes, nothing compares to a ski trip getaway to the mountains.
The running joke that Livi and I had all trip was that, “Cabo looks different.” Most college students spend their spring break by the beach, but I didn’t even think of it when I was in Vermont. It actually felt a little like Cabo when I was skiing because I was wearing four too many layers, I was SWEATING. Vertmont was 50 degrees, that’s unheard of for Vermont in March!
Livi’s family has a house in Warren, VT at Sugarbush ski resort. It’s a little under 4 hours from Quinnipiac and made for a perfect weekend ski trip getaway.
I haven’t done a ski trip in years with my own family, so being able to go with Livi and part of her family was so nice. I always tell people my favorite memories growing up are the ones spent skiing for the week with my family.
The weekend gateaway ski trip
We got to the house around dinner time and snacked liked it was the LAST snack we would ever have. We bought all these chips and candy bags for Livi’s cousins and friends. By the time they got there, they were gone. It’s spring break after all…I had no need for a beach bod.
That night we caught up with Livi’s cousins and his friends and played some games.
The next day I had to decide whether or not I was going to ski or snowboard. I had skiied my whole life and a few years ago I switched over to snowboarding (which I just never really got down pat). I didn’t want to hold anyone up so I went back to my roots of skiing and somewhat picked it right back up (kinda sorta).
After skiing, we went to a bar with live music on the resort which was so fun. Anyone who knows me, knows my love for live music.
That night we played more games, and I swear I’ve never laughed harder in my life at “What do you Meme?”
Sunday we decided to just go into town, walk around and shop. Then we were headed home for Sunday dinner with Livi’s family.
It was my perfect spring break ski getaway, and a nice time to unwind and relax before COVID-19 mayhem began. Please stay home with your loved ones and enjoy the time together. Pray for all of those who are counting on it and try to think positively. We will be OK, one day at a time..
I think this is going to be the last travel post from Italy. You can find my post from Florence, here and my day in rome post, here.
The Chianti wine tasting tour was by far one of my favorite experiences from my trip to Florence. There are so many wine tours in Tuscany, but I’m convinced the chianti wine tasting tour I did was the best. When Livi’s parents visited her, they went on the same wine tour and they loved it.
The tour took us from Florence to Tuscany. You could do the wine tour in the morning or the afternoon. We booked the wine tour the day before, so we could only do the afternoon wine tour.
If you’re reading this, you may not know what Chianti means. A Chianti wine tasting tour means that the wine is produced in the Chianti region of central Tuscany. Now that I’m back home, my Mom will only buy Chianti Classico wine. FYI, if there’s a rooster on your wine, it was produced in the Chianti region. You have the good stuff then.
It was disasterous trying to find the bus terminal in Florence. The way the GPS took us was not the main way people probably go. My Mom actually was hyperventaliting because she thought the area wasn’t safe (it was fine). We finally got there, in one piece. The bus is what took us to the Chianti wine tasting tour. It was a nice small tour bus and the ride there had amazing views.
Onto the wine tours
The Chianti wine tasting tour took us to two wineries. The first of the two wine tours took us down to the barrells. They showed us how the wine is fermated and aged. It was so cool, the pictures will be below.
After that, we headed to a tasting room. The best part…the olive oil. The olive oil is to DIE for, we loved it. My Mom and I brought olive oil home and we finished it in a few weeks. At the first wine tasting tour we tried three wines and two olive oils, so good!
The second chianti wine tasting tour took had the most INCREDIBLE views. We also met so many great people on the wine tour from all over the world.
We went into a tasting room and sat at a table. They brought out a cheese plate, it was again, incredible.
We were so tired after! Of course we still pulled through for another amazing Florence dinner.
More of these pictures with outfit details to come
Another travel blog post! This post will cover Florence.
Florence was my home base while in Italy. My best friend Livi traveled A LOT, but she lived and took classes in Florence. After being to Rome, I’m so happy she chose to study in Florence. Florence is INCREDIBLE. I have not a single bad thing to say about the city.
We did so many things in Florence. I was just content wondering the quaint city.
We stayed in an Airbnb for the first four nights and a hotel the last two nights. Since originally I was going with my roommate Cara, I had searched places with high ratings and with a low cost. We LOVED both places that we stayed.
The Airbnb didn’t have wifi, but it was suppose to. The host was apologetic so that was apperciated. Other then that, we enjoyed our stay. It was a very authentic space which my Mom and I apperciated. It was also a two minute walk from Livi’s apartment which was perfect.
Our Hotel, Hotel Rapallo, was an incredible boutique hotel. The hotel was a 10 minute walk from the train station, but a bit more of a hike to Livi’s apartment. We didn’t mind the distance to Livi’s apartment since we only stayed there for the last two nights of our trip. The hotel had complimentary breakfast, and our favorite, tea time. Tea time was from 5p.m to 11 p.m. and had little pastries, meats, cheese, tea and coffee. YUM.
Day one we got into Florence around 8:30 PM. This is after our long travel day with a 15 hour layover in Lisbon, Portugal. We were exhausted! Luckily, Livi pushed us to enjoy a true Italian dinner in Florence. The restaurant was the best introduction and welcome to the city.
Day two we just spent time walking around and getting to know the city. My Mom bought a plan with Verizon while we were abroad and it wasn’t working at first (ended up being the silliest mishap). Finally, we got the phone to work. At first, it was disasterous because her navigation wouldn’t work. Florence, and really everywhere we went, was really impossible to navigate without a working GPS.
Once the GPS started working we were good to go. On Day two, Livi took my Mom and I to this amazing panini place. All’Antico Vinaio was a 10/10. They’re GIANT and I had so much prosciutto in my panini. After that, my Mom and I went to the Gucci Gardens.
At night, Livi and I went to the Christmas market and walked around. It was similar to the Christmas market Bryant Park has around Christmas time.
Day three was more exploring of Florence. We shopped, ate and walked around. With ongoing rain, we stopped exploring for a little to get dry inside a local pub. This pub was great, but what was not so great was the “turkish” style toilet. Livi and I went to use the bathroom and thought we were in the mens bathroom. The “toilet” was a squared whole. We were confused and asked the waitress where the womens bathroom was. She said, “Oh that’s the womens bathroom. You have to squat, it’s turkish style.” We were hysterically laughing over this. It was unreal (I should’ve taken a picture).
These posts aren’t going to be in any particular order, but since my fall semester has ended, I’m FINALLY getting around to Italy blog posts! I’ll do one large post going over all of my outfits from Italy after the travel posts.
It was such a great trip and I can’t wait to share all of my experiences and pictures with you..
So on this particular day we decided to take a day trip to Rome. Taking the train from Florence to Rome is super easy and quick.
Around 10a.m. we took a one hour train ride from Florence to Rome. We had about six hours in the city. Our first stop was a cathedral directly straight from the train station. Below are some pictures.
From there we stopped at a cute cafe, still very close to the train station. We all got mimosas and sandwiches and were able to sit outside, without rain. I say without rain because majority of our trip was spent outside in the rain. Italy’s winter is like a New Jersey’s fall, sometimes cloudy and rainy.
I was pretty committed to seeing ALL of Rome’s touristy spots in a few hours. If you’ve been to Rome I’m sure that sounds pretty insane…considering Vatican City is extremely far from the Colosseum. But, we did it all. I’m not much of a museum person, at all. I didn’t mind just seeing these tourist spots. I know if my Mom goes back she’d want to go inside some of these places, but with just a few hours, it was impossible to do a bunch of tours.
This post is long overdue but this past semester my studies and extra-curriculars consumed most of my time. With winter break finally here, I am back with posting. My life has been pretty routine since getting back to school in August. My trip to Louisville, Kentucky, was the one thing that shook up my weekly routine.
So why did I go to one of the most random cities in America (in my opinion)? Well, I’ve talked about my participation in student media before on here and luckily, this year, I went to the College Media Conference with other Q30 members.
The College Media Conference happens yearly and this year the conference was in Louisville. We stayed at the Galt House Hotel where the conference took place. This hotel hosts those who go to the Kentucky Derby, so that was pretty cool.
The conference was extremely educational. I learned so much more about journalism and I loved every second attending each session.
I learned a lot, and I lived a lot that week. I’ll walk you through each day.
