Rome

Rome is officially my favorite city. There is no place like it. Here you see a constant surging forward, you see modernity at the footsteps of antiquity. You see a huge city where people gather in piazzas at night with families, neighbors and friends, on cellphones and vespas passing by monuments older than can be imagined.

It is really difficult to explain, but this is a very interesting place to be. People here seem so much more connected to each other than in the states, they seem live a less extravagant lifestyle, at least in terms of resources, and everyone walks, everyone who lives here is fashionable, healthy and friendly (for the most part.)

I love it. Even if it was disconcerting to see 3 big guys with semiautomatic rifles guarding an embassy across the street from the hotel. But at least we should be safe!

Across the Border

Greetings! I have gone on a mini-vacation and crossed the Miami-Dade border to head north again to New York. This trip will be short but definitely needed. I needed a break from the 90 degree temps everyday! Although there is no air conditioning up here so that's not really helping things. I'm still sweating but just not as much. I flew in last night with a stop over in Atlanta. We sat on the runway forever due to a thunderstorm. It was neat to watch, seeing the bolts of lightning coming down over the city of Atlanta, but it was no fun sitting in a window seat waiting to take off. Eventually we did (thank God it wasn't one of those ordeals you hear about - like sitting on the runway for hours not being able to go back to the gate) and the thunderstorm/sky show was pretty cool from the air. When we landed in New York a little after midnight, it was hilarious! I saw these 2 guys waving their flashlight-things around so that the plane would pull up to their gate, but we kept going, and went past them and stopped at a gate where there was no one around and nothing happened (no one was home). We sat there for about 5 minutes before the Captain came on and said we pulled up to the wrong gate and had to back up - slowly. It was also funny too in Atlanta with the guys on the ground. Two of them were dancing with their flashlight-things, waving them around as our plane taxied towards the runway. They probably do that a lot and have different dances depending on their moods and to kill the time. But now I am here and already had a few outings. I will post some pictures when I get back to the 305!

The day has started

Today is a whirlwind of travel activity that won't really end until late Friday, early Saturday. I fly to North Carolina today, then Italy, by way of Philly, tomorrow. In the next 48 hours, I will have graced two of my least favorite airports, Philly and Milan, and I will be on firm footing in Italy. I'm packing light, bringing extra memory cards, and I will see you all when I return!

Going abroad

In a few short days I am going to be boarding a plane for Italy. Actually, first I am going to fly to North Carolina, and then to Italy the next day. Needless to say, I am pumped. I've been once before to Italy, on a study abroad, and it was hands-down the best trip I have taken.

Everyone travels for different reasons, whether to relax, experience a different culture or explore new adventures. In this case, I get to explore some of my roots. See, my mom is Italian, and in addition to her, my grandfather is also joining us on this trip, along with my mom's sister and her family. It's not often that you can see your family in their original roots, and I look forward to it. And I plan to bring back TONS of photos.

So to you all, arrivaderci!

Flowers in the Northland

This post is about a sojourn I took up north in the beginning of the summer. I headed to Rochester, New York and spent a lot of time outside since the weather was delightful (i.e. you could go outside and not sweat :) I also ended up taking a million pictures of pansies. And other flowers. There was a lilac festival going on too.

Travel Tips

I have a good friend from Charleston that I met on my study abroad to Italy. She is this super cool writer/editor chick. She is an editor for the Charlotte version of Skirt! Magazine.

As long as I have known Aleigh, she has been picking up freelance gigs, and her latest is blogging for a site called Beautorium. Her latest entry is all about how to "Travel Pretty". As someone who automatically feels like death after a 2 hour plane ride in the middle of the day, these are tips I will have to keep in mind on my trip to Italy. 'Cause while I am excited about this upcoming adventure, I hate flying for that long.

So how do you keep yourself amused on planes? I get nervous so I generally try to take a Tylenol PM or something, but in the event that I can't fall asleep, or I have a layover, I have to do a music/book/games on my ipod combo. Since I am trying to perfect the art of traveling light, I am not taking the laptop, and instead will spend all that space on books, since I'm a fast reader.

Welcome

Hi there! It's Christina from 305 Misadventures! I have decided to start another "misadventures-themed" blog about travel. Why? Well, I want to keep 305 mainly focusing on South Florida, but I also have alot of travel stories that I would like to related.

Really, I got inspired because of my upcoming trip to Italy, and I started thinking it would be fun to chronicle that adventure. But then I got to thinking that there's so much more one can write about traveling when one lives for their next vacation. So what am I going to write about? Well, I plan to write about anything and everything related to vacation really. I may share stories from South Florida, but probably not alot as I intend to keep 305 active.

So welcome, and I hope you enjoy!