Travel Archives · Page 5 of 8 · Bon Voyage on a Big Adventure!

September 12, 2018September 12, 2018

Days 60- 62: Halong Bay and Hue, Vietnam

If you follow our Insta, and you should be following our Insta (@bonvoyagebigadventure), you know that we had way too much fun with the Halong Bay jokes.

Amanda: Rich, we sure our a Halong way from home…

Rich: It’s going to be a Halong trip if you keep telling jokes like that!

View of Halong Bay — Taking in Halong Bay, Vietnam

Halong Bay, Vietnam is BEAUTIFUL, and we mostly enjoyed our trip– more on that below– and really enjoyed our time in Hue.

Days 60-61: Our Halong Bay Cruise and a Monster Attacks

Halong Bay, Vietnam is a UNESCO World Heritage Site filled with immense beauty and small fishing villages where, until recently, for multiple generations the people have lived their lives almost exclusively on the water.

Based on all of the research conducted by our expert trip planner (Rich), we concluded that the best way to see the Halong Bay was on an overnight cruise. After even more research, Rich selected the Bhaya Cruise Line for our cruise operator.

The Itinerary

Day 1:

The cruise company picks you up directly from where you are staying in Hanoi. You take about a four hour van ride to Halong Bay.
You are greeted with a welcome drink, board the ship, and receive a safety briefing while you eat lunch and the ship sets sail.
You cruise until you reach a fishing village, at which point you spend about an hour kayaking in and around the village.
You return to the boat and enter “safe” waters to enjoy a swim.
Then there is happy hour with half priced drinks and a cooking demonstration.
Then you enjoy a bbq dinner on the top deck of the ship, and there are optional evening activities (a movie, night fishing) after dinner.

Day 2:

There is optional sunrise Tai Chi, followed by a continental breakfast.
You travel to a cave to explore.
You cruise back to the bay and enjoy brunch.
You disembark, and the van drives the four hours back to Hanoi.

The Good

For the first several hours of the cruise, we were loving life. Navigating Hanoi had been a lot, and now we had a beautiful cabin to stay in and delicious food to eat, and we had to do zero work to obtain food and be surrounded in comfort. We could sit back and enjoy a little luxury!

And, of course, Halong Bay is breathtakingly beautiful with some of the most amazing vistas in the entire world. Watching the sunrise from our cabin was spectacular. We also sat for about 30 minutes on our private balcony overlooking the bay while the boat was cruising and we had returned from kayaking, which was heaven.

Rich in Halong bay — Handsome Rich and the Halong Bay

We loved sitting together on our private balcony.

The Bad/Meh

Visiting the fishing village felt a little invasive, and honestly distasteful, to me. We were a group of people wealthy enough to afford a cruise paddling around a neighborhood mouths agape trying not to say things like, “I can’t believe these are people’s homes.” (Read more nuanced research on the positive and negative effects of “slum tourism” here.)

You could say that we were looking at the beautiful, brightly colored houses, but I think that would be disingenuous. Had I lived in those homes, I would not want people paddling around looking at me, remarking upon the way my community lives. The original cruise we booked had us paddle through a cave, and then we received an email that we had received an “upgrade” on our cruise the day before. I would have preferred to paddle through the cave.

Instead, we did a walking tour of a cave which was also super meh. We were not exploring, we were walking about 100 yards total around in a circle. Had we known more what to expect, we would have enjoyed sitting for a few more minutes together on our private balcony.

Rich’s first time wearing a life jacket!

kayaking in Halong Bay — Kayaking through the fishing village. Amanda paddles; Rich rests his feet.

The Ugly

I got stung by a jelly fish. Or maybe by seven jellyfish. I had stings all over my body.

The staff made a big deal about docking in a spot with water that was “safe” to swim in, and I was actually the one pressuring Rich to jump in this time. We were two of the first people in the water, and then a young guy jumped in a minute or two later, and it was clear something happened to him in the water. We were remarking on what it might be, when I felt like I had been electrocuted– pain shot through my body like electricity.

“Something got me,” I said. “I have to get out now.”

Rich, who was wonderful while the attack was happening and for the entire time after, later conceded that his first thought was hoping I was okay and his second was to get himself out of the water before whatever it was came for him.

As soon as I was back on the boat, my skin turned prickly red and white bumps and welts appeared. And it hurt. I was really trying to be brave because, I mean, we are around the world adventurers (ha!), but it was scary and it hurt. In retrospect, I can’t believe I didn’t cry. Or that Rich didn’t cry either! I was a wreck, and gore/medical emergencies are not his favorite.

One of the staff members on the ship poured vinegar on me. Another started rubbing limes on my welts. One said not to shower, the other said shower immediately. We went back to the room where first I took a cold shower and then Rich read to take a hot shower and the we rubbed every medication in the First Aid kit all over my body. Rich was as calm and cool as a cucumber.

My frustration with the situation was that a.) I was the most uncomfortable I have been in years and b.) if they told us there was a chance of there being attacked by a jellyfish (but probably 7 jellyfish) I would have opted out! I got stung as a kid so I had done this before. It hurts!

Based on the staff’s quick response, it clearly had happened before. Another guest told me at breakfast the next day that they had participated in a night fishing activity and seen about 20 jellyfish in a five minute period! Come on!

So the Halong Bay cruise was not my favorite. We attempted to do the fanciest, most luxurious thing of the whole trip, and I ended up having the worst experience! I preferred eating hot dogs and camping in Iceland! Go figure. You live, you learn.

Day 62: Hue, Vietnam

After we disembarked from the boat, we had a six hour ride back to Hanoi, then we took a super easy bus back to the Hanoi airport, and then we flew to Hue, Vietnam. We got to our AirBNB at about 10:00 PM, which was actually a room in an adorable boutique hotel.

We sat next to a gentleman on our flight who had also been on our cruise and talked travel and life the entire flight (not like us– we are way too introverted to enjoy talking to strangers). He, his wife, and his teenage daughters live in Lisbon, Portugal, but he and his wife had lived in New York working in investment banking in the 90’s. We really enjoyed exchanging travel stories, and they were incredibly encouraging when we told them about our trip.

The gentleman also shared that despite owning his own investment banking company in Portugal, the most important thing he does every day is to make it home in time to have dinner with his wife and daughters. The family was really wonderful, and it was our pleasure to have met them.

Exploring Hue

After being on a boat for several days, it was nice to stretch our legs a bit. We walked about 30 minutes to the Imperial Palace, a complex filled with beautiful buildings from when Hue had been the capital of Vietnam.

golden dragon in Hue — Rich with a golden dragon! He likes to have his picture taken with animals and creatures, FYI.

Amanda at the Imperial Palace, from when Hue was the capital of Vietnam

We then walked another hour to visit the Thien Mu Pagoda, or the Pagoda of the Celestial Lady, an ancient temple overlooking the river. Most tourists do not walk quite this far–opting to take inexpensive tuk tuks instead– so we got curious looks both on the way there and on the way back!

We returned back to the hotel where we took advantage of the hotel jacuzzi and fell asleep in hammock chairs (I know, rough life!).

For dinner, we ate at one of our favorite restaurants of the entire trip: Nook Cafe and Bar. I had a delicious veggie curry and Rich ate honey fried chicken with coconut sticky rice. Yum!

This is Rich’s happy, I’m-about-to-eat-food face.

Hue was super hip, and I think we both could have happily stayed longer, enjoying being in a Vietnamese city that is a bit more modern with a slower pace than Hanoi. If you are planning a trip to Vietnam, we would definitely encourage you to add Hue to your list.

September 10, 2018

Days 57-59: Hanoi, Vietnam. We are in Southeast Asia!

I am a bit behind on the blog (what’s new?), but I am so excited to start sharing about our time in Vietnam, beginning with Hanoi.

I’m going to “jump in” with a little analogy: When Rich and I were in Rovinj, Croatia, there was a swimming spot on the sea located off of some rocks right by the town. There were two ways to get into the water. You could climb down a ladder and ease into the water or you could climb up on the biggest rock, run, and then jump at least ten feet down straight into the sea.

I took the ladder; Rich ran and jumped off the high rock.

Deciding to start our first trip to Asia for either of us in Hanoi was definitely jumping off of the highest rock. From the second, we stepped into the Hanoi airport, we were in a quite different world.

Let me be clear: we had a great time. Hanoi is an incredibly culturally rich city that has faced and overcome monumental challenges. In our time there, we learned a ton– both about Vietnam and about ourselves.

Day 56/57: Intercontinental Travel and Arriving in Hanoi

If you are a faithful reader, I left you last in Cefalu, Sicily on day 54 of our time abroad. I’m going to fast forward a bit: on day 55, we traveled by train from Cefalu back to Palermo. In the early morning (~4:30 AM) of day 56, we started our 24+ hours of travel to Hanoi which looked like:

A bus from Palermo to the airport
A flight from Palermo to Rome
A flight from Rome to Taipei
A flight from Taipei to Hanoi
A bus from the airport to our neighborhood

Quick Highlights of the Long(EST) Travel Day

Lounge Access. The international lounge in Rome was amazing, and we enjoyed a big breakfast. When we landed in Taiwan, the pace of the airport was a bit frenetic, and at the security checkpoint, the Taiwanese official spotted a small pair of scissors in Rich’s bag that we had no idea we had. We emptied everything out of his bag to discover the scissors came with our first aid kit and had already made it through about 1000 security checkpoints undetected. Suffice it to say, we needed the zen of the lounge in Taiwan, and it delivered.
Our Long Haul Flight on China Airlines. We have no complaints about this flight, and we have one really big kudos: The in-flight entertainment options included a 25 minute film on the Philadelphia Eagles winning the Super Bowl last season. We are HUGE Eagles fans, and I first found the film and watched it while Rich was sleeping. I cried. No really, I actually really and truly cried. When Rich woke up, we watched it together. Then he watched it two more times before the plane landed. I didn’t tell you this, but Rich may have cried each time he watched it too.

Arriving in Hanoi, Vietnam

So when we left our apartment in Palermo, Italy, it was about 4:30 AM on Monday local time, and when we landed in Hanoi, it was 11:00 AM on Tuesday. Crazy, huh?

We read that there was an easy, and cheap, bus (Bus 86- ~$1.50/person) to take us from the Hanoi airport to near where we were staying in Hanoi, and we were able to find it and get on pretty quickly.

Rich and I knew this day of travel was going to be challenging, particularly once we arrived on a different continent. We have gotten a fair number of questions from readers that basically boil down to how do you keep from killing each other, and one way is by talking through situations where we know we will want to kill each other in advance. It’s like running a race and visualizing where the hills are going to be and how you are going to keep your mind right when you get to them. We had already talked through staying calm, taking our time, remaining patient, etc.

Still, visualizing Hanoi and being in Hanoi are two totally different things. Once we got off the bus, we had about a 15 minute walk in the middle of the day with all of our belongings through the streets of Hanoi in approximately 95 degree heat.

What you should know about walking in Hanoi:

Sidewalks are not for walking. They are almost like personal carports. On the sidewalks, people cook food, park motorcycles, sit in small plastic chairs, burn trash, drink beer, sell items, make flower wreaths, prepare meat, keep animals, exercise, etc. You can try to walk on sidewalks…
Traffic signals are meaningless. Cars, motorbikes, bicycles, tuk tuk drivers, and pedestrians somehow just make it work, regulation-free. Someone told me that you just have to close your eyes and step into traffic when crossing the street and trust that the motorbikes and bicyclists will find a way around you. Let’s just say Rich and I did more hand holding (hand gripping?) in three days in Hanoi than we had previously done in three years of marriage combined.
The smells are overpowering. Some of the smells are breathtakingly positive– imagine freshly baked bread and sweet fruit– and some are a bit sickening, mostly where meat is being prepared. Walking down the street is like walking through kitchen after kitchen. The intensity of the smells was something I had not anticipated.

So learning to walk in Hanoi is probably best done without carrying all of your belongings after 24+ hours of travel. We made it to our AirBNB which was four flights up a stairwell with no air conditioning (we hardly ever fight but there may have been 30 seconds of screaming while we tried to get the key lock box open), and then immediately opened the door to our beautiful AirBNB and took off all our clothes (sorry to be graphic, but that is exactly what happened. We were literally dripping with sweat. And we’re married.). We had arrived!

AirBNB in Hanoi — Our super chic– and most importantly, well air conditioned– AirBNB

Day 58: Exploring Hanoi

Exercise at Hoan Kiem Lake

If you enjoy exercise, do not go to Hanoi without making it to Hoan Kiem Lake at 6:00 AM. It was everything.

So Hanoi is hot. And as I shared, the sidewalks are useless. If you want to exercise, you need to do it very first thing in the morning, and what better place to do it than at Hoan Kiem Lake, a centrally located lake surrounded by a large park.

We arrived at the lake right at 6:00 AM and exercise was already in full effect. There were runners, cyclists, workout classes, men lifting weights, and groups doing Tai Chi.

lifting weights in Hanoi — The weight lifting area at Hoan Kiem Lake

Exercise in Hanoi — The walkers and cyclists at Hoan Kiem Lake

We ran around the lake one time, which was about a mile, and we were, once again, the sweatiest. Rich wandered over to where the men were lifting weights and did a few bench presses after a local gentleman invited him to join in. There were no women anywhere near the bench so I used that as my excuse to stick to running.

Rich lifting weights in Hanoi — My strong husband lifts really heavy weights

The morning had the feel of a community 5k– people happy to sweat, laugh, and be healthy together. I loved this.

Coffee, The Ngoc Son Temple, Bun Cha, and the Temple of Literature

We grabbed coffee at the Note Cafe (super cute) and then went home so that Rich could participate in Fantasy Football Draft #1 (of 3) because #priorities.

Amanda's note at the Note Cafe — My Note at the Note Cafe

Note Cafe in Hanoi — Amanda at the Note Cafe post-workout. Everyone who visits leaves a note behind!

After that, we headed to the Ngoc Son Temple, a temple dedicated to Confucius and Tran Huong Dao, back at Hoan Kiem Lake.

From there, we walked to Bun Cha Huonh Lien, the famous spot where President Obama and Anthony Bourdain ate bun cha (imagine a variation on beef pho) together. The bun cha was delicious and cheap.

Obama and Bourdain in Hanoi — Selfie with the picture of President Obama and Anthony Bourdain. My sweaty hair is proof that we are really and truly in Hanoi.

bun cha in hanoi — Bun Cha- 85000 Vietnamese dongs (their currency) = ~$3.62

Our last stop of the day was the Temple of Literature. This temple dates back to 1070 and honors scholars throughout Vietnamese history. The educator (and nerd) in me thinks this is the coolest— if you did the best on your royal exams, given by the ruler himself, you had a statue of you erected for posterity. Amazing.

We also overheard a tour guide tell this priceless story about a man who spent his whole life studying and preparing for these exams and finally took it and passed when he was 80+ years old. #growthmindset #neverstoplearning

Inside temple of literature — Inside the Temple of Literature. I *think* that is Confucius.

Temple of Literature Hanoi — Amanda with a bonsai tree at the Temple of Literature

Temple of Literature in Hanoi — Rich at the Temple of Literature complex.

When we got back to our apartment, we took a long, glorious, air conditioned nap! The heat takes it out of you!

Day 59: Our Visit to the Hanoi Hilton

Day 58 was light and fun. Day 59 anchored us a bit. We were Americans visiting a country where individuals in our parents’ generation had waged a war.

The Hoa Lo Prison

The Hoa Lo Prison, nicknamed the Hanoi Hilton tongue-in-cheek by Americans during the Vietnam War, is a must visit in Hanoi.

The museum is in Vietnam, run by the Vietnamese, and thus, very much reflects a Vietnamese worldview. The tour starts by showing how the French built the prison and then continuously renovated it to hold more and more Vietnamese prisoners. It heralds the “brave communists” who risked personal safety to compose newsletters and encourage one another while imprisoned. The museum highlights several Vietnamese prisoners who were able to escape through a cistern and honors communists who paid the ultimate sacrifice by displaying photographs of their being beheaded.

You are able to walk in to almost all of the cells.

Hanoi Hilton prison — Outside of the Hoa Lo Prison, aka the Hanoi Hilton.

At the end of the tour, there are two small rooms dedicated to sharing the story of the captivity of the American pilots during the Vietnam War. The room shows smiling pictures of American soldiers playing basketball, strumming their guitars, celebrating Christmas, eating full meals, and receiving medical care.

Senator John McCain passed away two days after our visit to the Hanoi Hilton, and our visit in combination with his death, certainly made Rich and I think and talk a lot about bravery, propaganda, and how communities tell their own stories.

Senator McCain went months without medical treatment. He spent six years of his life imprisoned in Hanoi. He considered suicide because he was being beaten multiple times a day. While he refused an early release unless soldiers imprisoned before him were also released, he did sign a false confession he would regret all of his life.

McCain at Hanoi Hilton — A picture of Senator McCain visiting years later

When the Vietnamese were held in the Hoa Lo prison, the treatment was brutal and inhumane. When Americans were held, the treatment was kind and generous. Who the storyteller is changes the story.

A depiction of how the Vietnamese were kept by the French.

Hanoi Coffee Station, Banh Mi, and Bia Hoi

On a lighter note, we enjoyed some good food and drinks!

Banh Mi. A banh mi is a traditional Vietnamese sandwich on french bread. They are ubiquitous, cheap, and delicious.
Enjoying banh mi!
Bia Hoi. Bia Hoi is the local draft beer in Vietnam. It is very low alcohol content– about 3%– and each one costs about 35 cents. Bia Hoi was exactly what we needed after our visit to the Hanoi Hilton.
A much needed bia hoi. The best part is that they are served ICE cold.
Hanoi Coffee Station. In Vietnam, the coffee is typically served with condensed milk, and often with additions such as egg, butter, and coconut. Our host at the Hanoi Coffee Station explained to us that this is because Vietnamese Coffee is particularly bitter, and the flavors are necessary to make the coffee taste good. This gentleman extolled the Hanoi Coffee Station’s process of selecting and roasting their beans and truly he made us two of the most delicious cups of coffee of our entire time abroad.
Highly recommend the Hanoi Coffee Station for coffee and conversation

Our host at the Hanoi Coffee Station wanted to know more about how we drink coffee back in America. We told him about our favorite coffee, La Colombe, which started in Fishtown, our neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and how they had developed an amazing draft latte. He asked about our travels, and we shared that we were , in fact, traveling for nearly a year.

This bright, kind, interesting young man then said very directly that because of the low wages in Vietnam, he would probably never leave the country, and it gutted me. Sure, we made some sacrifices to save money for this trip, but we did absolutely nothing to influence our both being born in a country with high wages and boundless opportunities, particularly for white, straight, healthy individuals like ourselves. Talk about unpacking your privilege backpack.

In Hanoi, many people live their lives on the sidewalks. They wake up before dawn and work until after dusk. They sweep the streets, they butcher animals, they prepare food sitting on low plastic stools or in deep squats. They laugh and love and yell and show kindness, and they have much more demanding lives than Rich or I could imagine living. While our time in Hanoi was sweaty and crossing streets was more than a little challenging, the experience was eye opening, humbling, and expanding, and I am glad we decided to dive in head first. I will always remember and appreciate our three days in Hanoi.

September 3, 2018September 3, 2018

Our Second 30 Days: By the Numbers

It’s step back time! As we go place to place, packing and unpacking, lugging our backpacks, checking in for flights and checking in to AirBNB’s, the big picture– that we are taking a YEAR of our lives to travel the WORLD together– can get lost in the details.

In this post, we want to back away from the blur to share some of what the past 30 days has looked like. And feel free to look back at our first 30 days to see how much has changed!

Dates Included: July 26 – August 24, 2018

Countries Visited: 4 (Greece, Malta, Italy, Vietnam)

Cities/Towns Visited: 18 (Rethymno, Agios Nikolaos, Heraklion, Valletta, Mdina, Rabat, Marsaxlokk, Sliema, Alghero, Stintino, Bosa, Palermo, Trapani, Agrigento, Siracusa, Cefalu, Hanoi, Halong Bay)

Transportation

Number of Flights Taken: 9

Number of Buses Taken: 26 (what?!?)

Number of Trains Taken: 3

Number of Ferries Taken: 1

Number of Taxi/Uber Rides: 2

Number of Funicular Rides: 1

Number of Cruise Ships: 1

Rich on funicular — Does it get anymore funicular than this guy?

lodging

Number of AirBNB’s Slept In: 10

Number of Hotels Slept In: 1

Food

Percentage of Meals Eaten Out: 60% (54)

Percentage of Meals Eaten In: 27% (24)

Percentage of Meals Eaten in Airport Lounges: 8% (7)

Percentage of Meals Provided by Hotels or AirBNB’s: 5% (5)

Physical Activity

If you read about our first 30 days, you know that Rich and Amanda spend (almost) all of their time together, and the FitBit gives Rich credit for a million more steps. See more evidence below.

Rich

Total Distance: 445,621 steps (209.41 miles)
Average Daily Distance: 14,854 steps (6.98 miles)
Daily High: 29,413 steps (13.51 miles)
Daily Low: 5,311 steps (2.44 miles)

Amanda

Total Distance: 354,694 steps (158.89 miles)
Average Daily Distance: 11,823 steps (5.30 miles)
Daily High: 23,787 steps (10.39 miles)
Daily Low: 4,512 steps (1.97 miles)

Intellectual ActivitY

New category because Amanda likes to win at things that are clearly not competitions too.

Rich

Books Read: 5 (The Sunrise, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, The Godfather, Davinci Code)

Amanda

Books Read: 9 (Mediterranean Summer, The Shore, The Sunrise, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Revival, My Brilliant Friend, The Godfather, Little Fires Everywhere)

Overall Costs As Percentage of Budget

Flights: 15% ( 5% decrease)

Other Transportation (Buses, Trains, Ferries, Taxis, Funiculars): 8% (13% decrease)

Lodging: 44% (2% decrease)

Food: 19% (4% increase)

Sightseeing: 5% (4.98% increase)

Other (Books, Toiletries, Trips to H&M): 10% (8.7% increase)

Favorites:

Choosing is so hard!

Favorite Meal:

Rich: Charcuterie at a’Putia Bottega Siciliana in Agrigento, Sicily
Amanda: Salami Sandwich at Caseficio Borderi in Siracusa, Sicily

sandwich in sardinia — This foccacia sandwich in Sardinia was a close runner-up for favorite meal for Amanda.

Favorite AirBNB:

Rich: The Apartment Overlooking the Cathedral in Heraklion, Crete
Amanda: The Apartment Overlooking the Cathedral in Heraklion, Crete

Favorite City/Town:

Rich: Siracusa, Sicily
Amanda: Palermo, Sicily (Runner Up: Heraklion, Greece)

view from Heraklion balcony — Heraklion: Great AirBNB view (pictured!), great city

Favorite Mode of Transportation:

Rich: The Flight from Rome to Taiwan (Meals! Movies! Naps! Eagles NFL Super Bowl special watched 3 times!)
Amanda: The Funicular in Trapani, Sicily

Favorite Beach:

Rich: Stintino, Sardinia
Amanda: Stintino, Sardinia

Gorgeous Stintino — Need we say more? Stintino wins best beach unanimously. Bonus: We got chairs and an umbrella!

Favorite Town Center:

Rich: Valletta, Malta
Amanda: Siracusa, Sicily

Favorite Book:

Rich: The Godfather
Amanda: Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

Least Favorite Moment:

Rich: Being trapped outside of the apartment in Alghero while Amanda was trapped inside with our AirBNB host’s father who only spoke Italian because the key wouldn’t work in the lock. And the major bus delay in Agrigento due to Sicily’s reverance for the Assumption of Mary. And probably pretty much any other time we had to wait a long time for something.
Amanda: Getting stung by a jellyfish swimming in Halong Bay. The end.

waiting for bus — Waiting = not Rich’s favorite

Most Favorite Moments:

Rich: Exercising with thousands of Vietnamese locals at Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi at 6:00 AM, watching the sunrise over Halong Bay, and finally reveling in beach chairs in Stintino.
Amanda: Seeing the temples at Agrigento, watching our sandwiches get made in Siracusa, and successfully crossing the street in Hanoi without dying.

DELTAS:

Life’s a dance, you learn as you go. Some things we have learned/might do differently in retrospect:

Familiarize ourselves with local holiday and Sunday schedules. It seems like this one got us every Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation while we were travelling in Sicily and half the stores were closed or the bus schedules had changed. We are going to google major holidays in each new destination before we arrive and everything is closed.
Slow down! While we have a whole year to devote to travel, there are times when it seems like not enough time to see EVERYTHING we want to see so we try to get in as much as we possibly can. We did that in Sicily, moving city to city to city and wound up exhausted by the time we reached the end. As my dad used to say, you can do anything you want, but you can’t do everything you want. Moving forward, our goal is to stay everywhere for at least three nights to avoid giving ourselves travel whiplash.
The things Rich and I like to do at home are the things we like to do on the road. We like to read, we like to run, we like to go on long walks and explore the neighborhood around us, we like to have time to work and feel organized, we like to cook and eat in, we like to get 7-8 hours of sleep, and we like to spend time together. When we prioritize doing these things, we are relaxed and energized and in a good space to take in and reflect on the unbelievable world around us. When we pretend like we are contestants on the Amazing Race and jet from city to city or skip lunch or go to sleep at 3:30 AM, we are cranky and off. It doesn’t matter how incredible the destination is if we are too grumpy to enjoy it. Happiness is a state of mind!

Feeling super relaxed in Agios Nikolaos, Greece. Those four days were full of running, reading, eating, and going to the beach.

LOVES:

Living in a state of wonder and seeing things with new eyes. I haven’t written about Hanoi yet, but let’s just say, it is a city like no other city I have ever seen. I have also never seen a beach with water as blue as the water in Stintino, Sardinia, I have never before watched thousands of people welcome a statue of Mary riding on a boat to their town with fireworks, horns, and candles, and I have never explored ancient Greek temple after ancient Greek temple at sunset. It is so exciting to be excited and experience true wonder and awe so often.
Stretching new muscles. Blogging and managing social media is new work for me, and planning hundreds of hours of travel, lodging, and touring is new for Rich. It feels good to try something really different and to learn and grow.
Spending time together. This made the list in the first thirty days too! I feel like this one year of marriage is probably worth about 5-10 in terms of learning about and enjoying each other too. We have experienced some amazing, wonderful moments, and we have also navigated the hot, humid, and busy streets of Hanoi with very heavy backpacks to reach our AirBNB that is up four flights of oppressively hot stairs. It’s not always pretty, but we are grateful for every second of it.

September 1, 2018September 1, 2018

Days 52-54: Closing Out Sicily in Siracusa and Cefalu

If there is one place from the trip so far where I wish we had more days, it has to be Siracusa. It was fabulous, and we loved it from the moment we stepped off the bus. Cefalu was also solid, though not without some hiccups. Read on!

Day 52: Spunky Siracusa

If you read our last blog post, you know that getting from Agrigento to Siracusa proved to be a bit of an ordeal. We didn’t arrive to our AirBNB until almost 11 PM, and then we were a bit too wound up to sleep.

We needed to sleep in, so we did and didn’t actually start our day in Siracusa until around 9:30 AM or so. Mastering bedtime and wake up times while traveling has been a challenge!

Lunch

I had read online about Caseificio Borderi, where the sandwiches were not just described as being the best in Sicily, but as being the best in the universe. There were a few complaints around the “theatre” of the sandwich making as well as how long lines could be.

Still the about us section of the website read like a description of the family business in The Godfather: “The Borderi Dairy was created in 1930 by Don Pasquale Borderi who was involved in the production and trade of Sicilian extra-virgin olive oil.”

I convinced Rich to give it a try.

When we arrived in the market, there were maybe 20 people in line in front of us. Not bad! Within our first two minutes of being there, the two principal sandwich makers had given a tourist a tray of pistachio-flavored cheese to offer everyone in the line to sample. Delicious!

sandwich line in Siracusa — View from the line

However, we quickly realized this would be no ordinary sandwich line when the two gentlemen broke into song: “Ciao, Bianca, Ciaio, Bianca, Ciao, Bianca, Ciaaaaao.”

sandwich singing in Siracusa — Andrea, the lead sandwich maker, right as he is about to break out into song

For every sandwich produced, the gentlemen completely stopped what they were doing and proudly did a song and dance around the area where the food was prepared.

I 10000% loved every second of it. Rich was a little hungrier than me so he loved about 80% of it, and the other 20% of him wished he could just eat his sandwich already.

sandiwch in siracusa — Our AMAZING sandiwches being made. Note all of the mozarella on top.

When we reached the front of the line about an hour and a half later, the men asked where we were from, and when we responded the United States, they performed this elaborate ruse pretending to call Michelle Obama to let her know that we would be bringing some cheese back to her in the United States. It was ridiciculous and wildly fun.

Calling Michelle Obama from Siracusa — Just going to place a quick call to our friend Michelle.

And the most important part: the sandwich. So many fresh ingredients: tomatoes, cheese, herbs, salami for me and mortadella for Rich, mozarella, fresh lemon, soft bread. It was profound. We both agreed: the. best. sandwich. of. our. lives.

Exploring Siracusa

We did a whirlwind tour of the sites of Siracusa. We saw the cathedral, walked to the ancient amphitheatre a bit out of town, visited the Temple of Athena, and made it to the Castllo Maniace (a castle/fort on the water) by sunset.

sunset Siracusa — The sunset in Siracusa

Greek ruins in Siracusa — Together at the Greek ruins

rich on a rock in Siracusa — The series continues: Rich on a rock

Amanda at the ancient Greek amphitheatre in Siracusa

Athena's temple in Siracusa — Outside of the ruins of Athena’s temple

Every step was beautiful, the people were friendly, and, as we shared, the food was delicious. We could have stayed in Siracusa for weeks.

Day 53: On to Cefalu, Sicily

We took an early morning bus out of Siracusa back to Palermo and then a second bus from Palermo to Cefalu. In line with most of our travel through Sicily, the second bus came about an hour after we expected it to arrive based on the information online.

We arrived in Cefalu early afternoon. The outside of our AirBNB was beautiful and included a huge outdoor terrace, complete with a full outdoor kitchen.

Amanda cooks in the outdoor kitchen in Cefalu.

Epic views: This picture of Rich was taken from our outdoor terrace in Cefalu. Note the grocery store parking lot below- ha!

The inside of the AirBNB was dirty. And that’s all I’m going to say about that.

Redeeming about Cefalu was the huge, modern, incredible grocery store a football field away from our place. Imagine a Whole Foods when all you had seen for weeks was a Piggly Wiggly. We bought everything we needed to make burgers for dinner, which we were able to prepare outdoors. Bon apetite!

Day 54: Enjoying Cefalu

Cefalu is a popular tourist destination because it has beautiful beaches, an ancient town, and is surrounded by rocky hills– what more could you want?

Cefalu from sea — The view of the ancient town of Cefalu from the sea- so striking.

We went for an early morning run and then headed to the beach for a few hours. The beach is crowded so we were right next to our neighbors, most of whom were Italian. I finished my book, and then the people watching kept me occupied!

We ate a late lunch, then showered, and headed into the ancient town for dinner. Because it was Saturday night, when we made it to the Cathedral, mass was in progress. We loved seeing the Cathedral in action!

Amanda outside the Cathedral in Cefalu– you can see the open doors.

Inside of the Cathedral during mass. Isn’t the mosaic Jesus incredible?

Dinner was good but not particularly memorable. It was no sandwich in Siracusa!

We followed dinner up with some gelato (we are in Italy, duh), and then we headed back to the apartment for Rich to complete fantasy football draft #1 of 3…at midnight. Despite my stated desire to stay up late with him to cheer on his picks, I think I was asleep by the end of the first round!

I will speak for myself: I would have liked Cefalu better if I had felt more at home in our AirBNB (read: if it had been clean). We enjoyed running, the beach was beautiful, and the Old Town was really nice too. Still, for me, it was hard to totally relax, which surely dampened my experience of what seemed like an otherwise beautiful and fun place. Just keeping it one hundred.

August 29, 2018August 29, 2018

Days 48-51: More Sicily! Trapani and Agrigento

After a great- and food-filled- day in Palermo, we jumped on a train to explore more of Sicily, starting with Trapani and then heading to Agrigento. Sicily is a large island, much larger than Malta, and we could have spent a whole additional week there taking it all in.

Map of Sicily — In Sicily, we visited Palermo, Trapani, Agrigento, Siracusa, and Cefalu.

Day 48: Sicily Is Closed on Sunday.

Rich and I had an early bus/train combination (7:20 AM) to Trapani. The bus portion was really nice, followed by a slightly grimy train experience, which is totally opposite of travel in the U.S. (I love Amtrak). Still, we arrived safely in Trapani at about 11:00 AM.

crossaint in palermo, sicily — Healthy breakfast before leaving Palermo (ha!)

Our AirBNB host was kind enough to allow us to drop our luggage at our apartment since we arrived several hours before check-in. On the 20-minute walk from the train station to the apartment, I couldn’t help but think that we had arrived in a ghost town. We were clearly on a main street, and we passed 4-5 other people. Everything was closed and really quiet. It was extra creepy.

Rich does 100% of our travel planning, and usually my role is ride-or-die eager participant, but I may have asked, “So, umm, why do people come here?”

Turns out it was Sunday, and Sicily is the most Catholic place I have ever been (saying a lot since I went to Catholic high school led by Dominican Sisters and have visited the Vatican). On Sundays, everything closes, and apparently, everyone stays inside.

We ate lunch at the one open restaurant we had passed, and then Rich and I went to the one open grocery store to get food to make dinner. We took a long nap after lunch, made a huge pot of pasta (huge- Rich bought enough pasta to feed a family of 15), and stayed in the rest of the evening. A true Sicilian Sunday!

Day 49: Trapani and Erice, Sicily

Greatest Cannoli of All Time in Trapani, Sicily

Turns out, we had also walked away from the picturesque Old Town to get from the train station to the AirBNB. In the morning, when Rich asked if I wanted to take a bit of a longer walk (~35 minutes) to get coffee in the Old Town, I said, yes, absolutely, which was 100% the exact, right answer.

Ladies and gentlemen, with a delicious coffee, I present to you the best cannoli of my entire life:

cannoli in sicily — The Cannoli Dreams Are Made Of.

Imagine funnel cake meets ricotta filling. We picked the spot with the fewest tourists and the most older local Sicilian gentleman, and this analysis paid off. I type this from Vietnam and would pay all of the dongs (dong=Vietnamese currency) to have this cannoli now. All questions about why we visited Trapani were answered.

Trip to Erice, Sicily

We walked the 40 minutes back to the apartment (we were moving a little more slowly post-cannoli), got ready, and then walked another 45 minutes in the opposite direction to a funicular to take us up to the Medieval town of Erice, Sicily.

So a funicular is basically a series of cable cars that seat ~8 people. On Mondays, it doesn’t start running until 1:00 PM so we got in a long line with lots of other tourists at about 12:45 PM. We waited about 30 minutes and then it was our turn to head up the mountain.

funcicular in sicily — Having too much funicular…

funicular pic in sicily — My funicular husband

funicular in sicily — Living the funicular life (which includes puns on puns on puns on puns).

After about a 15 minute ride offering the most spectacular views, we were in Erice. Legend has it that on clear days, you can see as far as Africa. Since the time of the ancient Greeks, a village has existed on top of this mountain. Most of the castles and churches that remain are medieval but some date back earlier than that.

church in erice, sicily — Ancient Church in Erice

The village is super hilly offering breathtaking views at every turn. We had a fun time twisting in and out of the small streets and then enjoying a pizza for lunch.

Walk Into Trapani

We walked into Trapani around sunset to see the churches and explore. Although several of the churches closed earlier than we anticipated, the sunset certainly did not disappoint. Trapani is a major port city in Sicily, exporting tuna and canned goods, and all of the water views were beautiful.

statue in sicily — A pretty statue in Trapani

cathedral in sicily — The Cathedral in Trapani

On our walk, we noticed that there was a pretty big crowd down by the water, that was growing by the minute. We did a bit of google research and turns out that in Trapani, they start celebrating the Assumption of Mary, a Catholic feast day typically celebrated on August 15th, on August 13th by delivering a famous statue of Mary to the town by boat.

We are talking candles, hymns, fireworks, horns, sirens– Mary did not come quietly. It was like nothing we had seen before.

We started watching Mary arrive around 8:30 PM, and at 10:15 or so, we were starving and had to say Arrivederchi. We picked up a gelato on the way home and then ate several bowls of leftover pasta when we finally made it back to the AirBNB.

Day 50: Agrigento, Sicily

Just typing day FIFTY feels surreal. I cannot believe we have been gone so long.

We had an easy bus ride from Trapani to Agrigento and arrived around 1:10 PM. Our AirBNB host Davide picked us up from the train station and drove us to the apartment, which was a huge blessing because our place was at the top of a steep hill I’m not sure I could have scaled with my backpack!

The apartment was super cute and comfortable and was a spot where we felt at home immediately.

The Valley of the Temples

This was one of my very favorite visits of the entire trip! The Valley of the Temples is an incredibly well-preserved group of seven Greek temples mostly build in the 5th century BC.

Rich and I visited Athens, Greece on our very first international trip together in 2013. Hot take: I thought the Valley of the Temples in Sicily was a more impressive archaelogical site than the Acropolis in Athens. Walking from temple to temple in Agrigento, you get such a unique sense of size, scale, proximity, and overall grandeur. It was really magical.

We timed our visit perfectly to catch sunset and the transition to night.

There were Christian catacombs at this spot in the early AD years.

When an ancient statue photobombs your selfie

It’s 100% necessary to travel with this much water at all times.

A couple of quick notes for folks considering visiting:

Agrigento is not set up for people to walk to the entrance to the temples. We did because we walk everywhere, but we were on the side of the road at points, walking on sidewalks covered in trash at others, etc. We should have probably taken the bus from our apartment to the Temples, even though the walk was under three miles.
That said, going back on the bus took us over an hour, and I’m pretty sure we drove into totally different regions of Sicily. There were also some groups of rival teenagers on the bus and some social cues between groups that felt hostile but were hard for us to totally parse out with the language barriers.
The entrance to the temples at the bottom of the hill was next to impossible to find (Rich: “Forget this. If we don’t find the entrance in the next 2 minutes, I’m going home.”). Taking the bus might have made that part easier, but just know the signs send you in conflicting directions.

Our Favorite Dinner in Sicily

As you can perhaps surmise, our trip from the Temples back to Agrigento was a bit stressful, and we were hungry. We wandered into downtown Agrigento and stumbled upon the perfect dinner at A’ Putia Bottega Siciliana.

Prices were really reasonable so we ordered two beers, a meat and cheese plate, a dish with honey, goat cheese, and prosciutto, and a baked eggplant dish. The waiter told us we had ordered enough, and he was not kidding– by the time we finished, we were too full to order dessert. The space was modern, the vibe was laid back, and the food was delicious.

If you want my husband to smile, feed him.

Day 51: Sicily Is Closed on Holy Days of Obligation

Rich and I both attended Catholic schools, and we both had to memorize our Holy Days of Obligation (i.e. days that are not Sundays when you are still supposed to attend mass). However, all the A’s in religion class throughout the years mean little if you don’t recall information when it matters most.

August 15th is the Assumption of Mary, a Holy Day of Obligation.

When Davide dropped us at our apartment in Agrigento, he mentioned that the grocery store would be closed, but it was the kind of comment that went in one ear and out the other. When we arrived at the bus station, however, not paying attention to that comment would haunt us.

So to make a long story long, we planned to take an 8:00 AM bus from Agrigento to Catania and then the next bus from Catania to Siracusa. We would arrive in Siracusa around 2:00 PM. However, because of the holiday, the 8:00 AM bus was cancelled, and the next bus would not leave Agrigento until 4:15 PM.

And we learned this when we arrived at the bus station at 7:30 AM and had already checked out of our AirBNB.

Eeeek. When you are unexpectedly super early for your bus trip…

Even worse, we feared that every grocery store and restaurant would close. We like to eat. How would eat? Where would we go to the bathroom? Would we sit in the sun with our backpacks all day? Would our cell phone batteries last until we could find our AirBNB in Siracusa? Would there still be a connecting bus in Catania? Things were not looking good.

This will make a great blog post cheered the spirits of one of us much more than the other.

First order of business: we saw a vending machine. We loaded snacks from the vending machine into my purse. Chances of surviving the day increased.

Second order of business: we walked to the train station. There was a train coming about an hour earlier than the bus, but our last Sicilian train experience had not been great. We would wait the extra hour for the bus and could wait out the day at a nearby park.

Waiting on a park bench. If it can be funny later, it can be funny now. At least to one of us.

Walking back from the train to the bus, however, we saw a light at the end of the tunnel: an open cafe! We found a table inside next to a plug (charging was vital) and proceeded to eat breakfast and lunch in this tiny cafe. We were there for seven hours.

I did get a really delicious yogurt- with pistachios- out of our time at the cafe.

The sight of the bus arriving to take us from Agrigento rivaled the visions of the temples at sunset the night before. The long wait was over!

The bus rides were comfortable, and we made it to Siracusa around 11 PM. Lesson learned: we will now check holiday schedules in all the countries we visit!