Europe: Vacation begins!!!

Yesterday at 5pm my Out Of Office came on and I was DONE with work and ready to get my EUROPE on!

We packed with superb intelligence tonight. Multiple packing lists helped us figure out exactly what we need, vs wanting a bunch of options to choose from. We are doing our best to not "look like" tourists. This is by far the lightest we've packed in a long time. One checked bag, and 1 carry on each. I successfully avoided bringing my work laptop with me which would have been more difficult if I didn't have amazing coworkers to cover for me while being away. 

As far as the animals go... Sammy and Lexi are staying with some friends who have a dog too. Oscar and Sammy are best buddies and they love to play in their fenced in backyard. We are SO (!!!) grateful for our favorite pet sitters because otherwise we'd be spending at least $800 to board them (ugh that would hurt). They were super excited to go to The Smiths, and this picture shows it! 

This was while I was packing the car a couple hours before departure.

Zoe will be visited on the regular by Ms Timeri. We left sticky notes around the house to provide Timeri with instructions for how to take care of things.

We could not ask for people friend in our life.

Planning: 3 ways to be safe while acting tourist

In all the travel books, including Rick Steve's, the biggest caution is about pick pockets. Furthermore, not being familiar with the area means we might unintentionally get lost while roaming the cities. So, we have a game plan.

1. Contain all valuables securely under clothing using a money belt. This is not to be confused by the fanny-pack which is a total fashion negative and way too obvious for thieves.

The money belt we chose is called a flip belt. The slits are where you insert the valuables: money, ID's, phones, keys, etc. Then you flip the belt so the slits are facing your body. It fits under clothes.  It's normally used by athletes. Received it in the mail today and it seems like it'll work perfectly.

2. Carry a decoy - a small, less sentimental wallet or clutch with a small amount of money. This way, if we do get caught in a bind we can quickly hand off our decoy. Got this tip from a European coworker (Thank you Florian!). Very clever. Have to be careful about this one because we don't want to draw attention to ourselves.

3. Carry the lease number of items as possible! We have never been good at condensing our belongs. Carrying the bare necessities is critical for this trip.

Getting closer! Less than 72 hours and we'll be waking up to the smell of French croissants and a view of the Eiffel Tower.

Planning: The many sights in Italy

While listening to the music of Italy Spotify playlist, we spent time talking about and planning all the spots in Italy to see.

 Overall, Italy will be lots of walking and getting lost, sight seeing, and eating pasta and Gelato. We have three stops: Venice, Florence, and Rome. 

We found the perfect journal for this trip! Don't you love the mustache!! It screams PAris and artsy and fun. We will use it to journal our daily thoughts, track the places we go, and have special signatures from the people we meet on the trip. This is by far the most memorable item we have from our honeymoon in Hawaii. We came in contact with all kinds of people special to us including hotel receptionists, cab drivers, waiters and waitresses. I'm hoping someone will write in the native language for us! 

Getting closer to departure!! 

And the planning begins!

One month away from our first trip together outside the Americas! We've been talking about doing this since before we were married 2years ago, and the trip has been booked for almost 1year already! 

We were so lucky to find a great deal through a great company. The initial booking sets the skeleton. Confirmed are the hotel reservations and transportation. In my mind, the most important things to get in advance. 

We could easily arrive without talking or planning all the different places we want to see, but that would take all the fun out of anticipation! 

So we've decided to use our standard Friday date nights to look through travel books and recommendations, list all the cool places we want to see/things we want to do, and test if we think it'll fit! 

Thank god we did, because there's a lot of reservations and tickets to buy... Now! And so many wants to narrow down. We have questions to ask the hotel and things to make sure we pack. Money to set aside and exchange.

I found a roll of simple sticky chalkboard paper and chalk pens. We posted it up on the wall and started drawing our first destination, Paris! With a borrowed Rick Steve's France Travel book (thank you Leann!), we studied the Paris map with the 5 districts and the Sienne River. We are most interested in historic landmarks, city sightseeing, and delicious romantic meals. 

My goal is to enjoy the vacation (time off work + quality time with hubby) and still be touristy without exhausting ourselves. Mark is feeling a little more ambitious, for fear that we will never get to go back. We will end up falling somewhere in the middle, especially after realizing the effort to overcome jet lag. We will bring LOTS of Amino energy powder with us (for those of you who know us, we love it and drink it daily)!

We have 3 more Friday's to plan 3 more stops: Venice, Florence, and Rome. 

Looking forward to more date night planning! ❤️