EUROPEAN DREAMS 2024

How many of you have Europe on your bucket list? For me Santorini Greece and Rome Italy have always been on that list.

My friends and I have been talking about a trip to Europe since 2021, we were tempted to go that year but due to COVID regulations we kept putting it off. In our group we all chose Italy and then each chose another country (Greece, Switzerland, Spain, London). We had loose plans to go in 2022 and again in 2023 but it just never came together. Finally last August we decided that we were going to make it happen in 2024.

The group consisted of me, James, our best friend Gabby, and Gabby’s friends and our new friends Emily and Sasha. Once we decided we were going to make it happen group chat commenced! 

The planning was fun and stressful. It was trial and error choosing dates, choosing locations, mapping out directions to each location, finding Airbnbs and excursions that the group wanted to do. I literally spent countless hours trying to make the trip memorable that I feel lost without having anything to plan lol. But don't worry we already have our next few adventures planned ;) If you guys are interested on the planning process that will have to be another post.

The final decision was two weeks starting in Rome, Zurich, Switzlerand, Santorini ,Greece, Amalfi, Italy, and finish in Rome.

Without further ado here is a trip recap!

Day Before 

The group arrived in Dension in the evening on Saturday the 22nd, we all planned to ride to the airport together so we didn't have to all pay for parking. Gabby and Em drove up from Temple/Waco and Sasha drove in from Lubbock. We had dinner and finished some last minute packing before we flew out the next day.

Day 0 June 23rd

TODAY WAS THE DAY WE FINALLY MADE OUR DREAMS A REALITY. We woke up at 7am and got the truck loaded and we were off to the airport. Our flight for Detroit from Dallas was at 11am. We flew into Detroit at 2pm and had a 2.5 hour layover before our 9 hour flight to Rome. The 9HR flight was grueling, I think mostly because we were really excited to just be there. I had never had to use a bathroom on a plane before or even got up so having to get up and move around was an experience. Movies, video games, books and a nap helped the time go by. We left Detroit at 5pm and arrived in Rome at 8:30AM on June 24th. Delta had some great food options we had pasta, cheese, couscous for dinner, and for breakfast we got to choose between a breakfast calzone or a nutella calzone. 

Day 1 Monday June 24

We arrived into Rome at 8:30AM, had to go through customs to get our first passport stamp! We couldn't check in to our Airbnb until 3PM so we took our time trying to figure out navigation from the airport to our Airbnb. We took a train from the airport to the main train station, from there we took the metro to the nearest stop by our Airbnb and had a 12 min walk. Honestly we were exhausted from the travel so the walk to our Airbnb felt like forever. It was only 12pm when we arrived and fortunately our host let us drop our bags off so we didn't have to carry them around. We found a restaurant nearby and killed some time. By the time we finished eating it was only 2pm so we went to a park across the street from the Airbnb and took a nap on the concrete bench, we were EXHAUSTED. Keep in mind there is a 7 hour time difference so our travel day was actually about 30ish hours. Finally it was 3PM and we were able to check into our place and we found out there was no AC, it was brutal. Our food tour was booked for 6:30 so we were able to sleep for a couple of hours before we got ready. 

We had to learn the Rome bus system in order to get to our tour. Luckily there was a bus stop right by the Airbnb so it was a short walk and a short ride. We also learned that nobody checks tickets so we could have rode the bus for free. ): 

The food tour was based in Trastevre, we met our guide and followed her to some of the local spots. We started off at La Norcineria where we tried two cheeses Parmigiano Reggiano and Pecorino Romano, followed by some pork on focaccia and some delicious wine. Our next stop was street food where we got to try Suppli, it was rice, marinara and cheese fried in a ball. After street food it was time for pizza and beer. We tried Peroni, a beer based in Rome, and it was so smooth and didn’t make you feel bloated after drinking. While we got our fill of beer we got to try 3 different pizzas, margherita, a potato sausage pizza, and a marinara. We were starting to get full at this point but there was more food planned. It was time for our main pasta course accompanied with more wine. After dinner we got to tour a wine cellar that had wine older than the Colosseum. We took a short walk and finally it was time for the best part of the tour, GELATO. It was amazing. I definitely recommend a food tour if you travel to Italy! After the tour and full bellies, we walked to the bus stop and waited FOREVER for a bus. Finally one arrived and we made our way back to the Airbnb to sleep. 

Day 2 June 25 

After some much needed sleep to recover from the day before, it was time to sightsee! Gabby, Sasha, and I walked to a small coffee shop around the block to get breakfast. We had the best chocolate croissants, pistachio croissants and coffee! We went back to the Airbnb to get ready for the day. First stop was our Vatican tour! The Vatican tour was marvelous so much beautiful art and history, it made my Catholic heart complete. We had an amazing tour guide who made our tour engaging and fun! The tour ended in the Sistine Chapel and the views in there were breathtaking. Following the tour we were granted access to St. Peter’s Basilica, the oldest Catholic church. We also got to see the setup for the Papal mass the next day, I wish we would have booked a later train in order to get that experience, definitely adding that to the agenda for the next trip. Fun fact, Vatican City, is technically it’s own city within Rome and has walls bordering it so it was a neat experience! Following the tour we were STARVING so we made our way towards the Colosseum so we could get some food. We took in the views while we enjoyed a delicious meal and then we found a park with gorgeous flowers and the Colosseum was also in the background. Perfect for photo ops! After we relaxed and our park for awhile we made our way to the Pantheon. Another thing we learned is that from 3pm-7pm Italians take a siesta so the town is pretty dead. With that being said by the time we got to the Pantheon it was after 7PM and busy with tourists! We didn’t spend long in the area, because we wanted to make our way to the Trevi Fountain which was about a 10 min walk in the other direction, from the Trevi Fountain we went to the Spanish Steps because that’s where all the coolest movie scenes happen, especially in Fast and Furious X. After all the sightseeing we had an amazing dinner and a street performer who was actually from America sang some Italian opera. After dinner we had to make our way to the bus stop and unfortunately this required taking the Spanish Steps all the way up, that was fun with a full belly haha. Our night stroll through the city was entertaining especially when we walked by the bike rack, IYKYK. 20,000 steps later we were back at the airbnb and it was time to rest before our next travel day. 

Day 3 June 26 

We woke up in the morning to get ready for our train to Zurich, Switzerland. Our train was scheduled to leave at 10:30am and arrive at 7pm in Zurich. However, our train was delayed for an hour causing us to miss our connection in Milan and we didn’t arrive in Zurich until midnight. Thankfully the views were amazing!! After a super long day on the train we got into Zurich late and had the sweetest Uber driver who made sure we found our Airbnb safe, it was literally the best experience. We got settled and it was time for bed because we had to be up at 5am for our day trip to Interlaken and Grindewald. 

Day 4 June 27 

Arguably the best day of the trip, minus the super early start. We took an early train to Interlaken and then to Grindewald. Both are small towns in the mountains with the most incredible views. Grindewald was our stop for our excursion of the day. We took a Gondola up to Mountain First for some breathtaking views and to ride mountain carts through the Alps. The carts had a place for our feet and brakes, we coasted downhill for 30 minutes. I don’t have enough words to describe how incredible this was but it was definitely top 3 experience of the trip. Once we made our way back into town we grabbed some lunch before our train back to Interlaken. We planned to spend a few hours in Interlaken but we were exhausted, we killed some time before we took an early train back to Zurich. Up until this point our tickets never got scanned so even though we bought later train tickets we decided to get on a train that left a couple hours early. It came back to bite us in the butt because as luck would have it someone came to check our tickets with just 20 minutes left on the ride. That fine HURT. But train banditos for life. From the train station we went to Black Tap for dinner and if you haven’t been I definitely recommend (there is one in Dallas and New York) but those locations don’t have the best manager Vasko, who made our experience enjoyable and we got to sample new menu items! 

Day 5 June 28 

Our day started with a tour of the Lindt Chocolate factory, I booked this because of the all you can eat chocolate. What they don’t tell you is that it’s a literal history of how chocolate is made so while some of the group learned all the history Gabby and I made our way to the chocolate sampling portion of the tour, and it didn’t disappoint. We got to try liquid chocolate, small blocks of chocolate and then all the flavors of the Lindt chocolate balls!! After our tour we made our way to a park near a food truck to eat and relax. We ended up staying at this park for hours, got into the water knee deep, ate some of the best fried fish and took a nap on the grass. Did I mention that there were several dogs that also visited this park? It was the BEST. After we were well relaxed we made our way to a dinner spot, and if there is one thing you need to know about Switzerland is that the views are incredible but the prices are not. The food was good but overpriced. Needless to say we were ready to make our way out of Switzerland! 

Day 6 June 29

Another big travel day. We spent the bulk of the day in the Athens airport. Our flight from Zurich touched down in Athens around 2pm, our next flight to Santorini was at 10PM so we spent the day napping in the airport, and some of us were feeling under the weather since the trip had been nonstop. The rest day was much needed. We flew into Santorini at 11pm and got picked up by a driver, met with the BEST AIRBNB HOST of the trip and checked out our amazing Airbnb. Fortunately this Airbnb was located centrally in Thira and close to EVERYTHING. We ended the night with a Mexican food run which was surprisingly delicious.

Day 7 June 30 

Our first morning in Santorini started off with an amazing breakfast that was right around the corner from our Airbnb. The food was AMAZING. Greece has forever ruined orange juice for me because it was freshly squeezed and American juice does not compare!! After our fill of food we went back to the Airbnb to get ready for our day on the boat. We got picked up and made our way to Oia to sail to the volcanic sand, red, and white beach of Santorni. We took a catamaran on the water and the ride was so smooth, we had the most amazing view. We had the options to swim and we jumped off the side of the boat straight into the sea. We did some snorkeling and we could see all the way to the bottom. It was so surreal, the water was so blue and clear. The best part was seeing fish just doing their thing! After some fun in the water the crew whipped up some amazing food. In Greece I had some of the best tzatziki sauce, and potato salad, but everything else was equally delicious. Following our meal we were able to swim again in the White Beach, and the water was much colder here. We snorkeled and swam and then it was time to make our way back to the port. The excursion ended with the most AMAZING sunset. We made our way back to the airbnb for some much needed rest!! 

Day 8 July 1 

Our plans in Greece were very loose so we took the day to recover. Slept in and woke up to go grab some lunch, and explore the town. We found some really unique souvenirs and took in all the scenery. It was super hot so we decided to head to the Airbnb for some much needed AC. We decided to have a snack party and watch Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants around the iPad and just enjoy some downtime. After the movie we decided to go see the 3 Bells of Fira. Instead of walking we decided to rent some ATVs to cruise around the island. The island was small and so most people got around with ATVs and scooters, we experienced some of the best views on our ride! After some sightseeing we decided to go to Naoussa for dinner, this place was not only known for their food but also a chance to experience the traditional plate smashing like the Greeks do! I had the lemon chicken with potatoes and this was the BEST meal I ate over the two weeks, and we had lots of great food. The atmosphere was very lively with an amazing view of Santorini at night!! After dinner we made our way back to the airbnb but also decided to do some night cruising on the ATVs, it was kind of scary because some places were really dark and it was also hard to tell which roads were one ways. We made it safely to the ATV rental to return the quads and it was time to call it a night. 

Day 9 July 2 

It was unfortunately time to leave the beautiful land of Santorini, and honestly I can’t wait to go back and stay there longer. We had an amazing host, experience and some of the best food. If this is on your bucket list, definitely make it happen!! We left our Airbnb only an hour before we boarded our flight so were cutting it close to our departure time at the airport so we were a tad stressed. The checkin was the longest part but thankfully the airport was small so security and everything else went quickly! In case you didn’t know Europe TSA is unmatched. The speed and efficiency spoiled us by the time we got back to America, even though a couple of us had our hands, feet, and bags swabbed randomly. It was definitely a different experience for sure!! Also most airports we literally walked onto the tarmac and up stairs to get on the plane or walked down stairs to de-board, when sitting near the back it definitely made it easier and quicker to get off the plane. We landed in Naples around 1PM and had to wait until 2PM for our driver to pick us up and take us to the Amalfi Coast. We booked an Airbnb in Amalfi but the house itself was actually in a small village called Pogerola. We got to the spot around 4PM, settled into our rooms changed and then made our way down to the village for dinner. And by down I mean 150 stairs down to the town. We found a place called Gerry’s Pub and it ended up setting the tone for our stay on the Coast. Not only did we eat some of the best food at his place, he also helped us plan the rest of our days in Amalfi. Surprisingly there was a festival going on this night and we got to see the locals parade through the town and the night ended with fireworks. After dinner and a few drinks lol we had to make our hike up to the Airbnb, and we were a little tipsy and very full so that was fun and required some breaks. 

Day 10 July 3 

We decided to book a last minute cooking class so we made our way to the farm town of Agerola. The bus system in Amalfi was very interesting, imagine huge buses making several hairpin turns with other cars and switch back after switch back. It was nuts, those bus drivers in Amalfi are very skilled!! The bus could only take us so far so we had a short hike, (a literal hike because it was all an incline) to the meeting point for the class. The class was actually hosted in the home of the chef (Chef Ferdinando) and all the products we used came from his garden/farm. We made pasta from scratch, got to help make mozzarella and forms balls and knots, and finished it up with tirimusu. Everything tasted AMAZING. The chef also provided bruschetta and grilled eggplant and zucchini with our meal. After our class we made our way to the city of Amalfi, we weren’t able to spend much time here because it started to rain so we decided to make our way back to the Airbnb. We ended up getting rained on after we got off the bus and had to shelter under an awning.  Since the town was about 150 stairs down from our Airbnb we stopped and grabbed some pizza from Gerry’s before we hiked up to our Airbnb. We got changed out of our wet clothes and played some card games to pass the time. Our host provided some groceries to make pasta so we had pasta, pizza and salad for dinner. We got everything cleaned up and decided to watch a movie, thankfully this place had smart TVS so we were able to cast a movie from our iPad. We watched Challengers but only made it about halfway through before we started to fall asleep. 

Day 11 July 4 

Thanks to Gerry we decided to spend the day on a private beach. We made our way down to Amalfi where we boarded a small boat that took us to the restaurant and beach area. Our package included the boat ride to and from the beach, a 3 course seafood meal, and chairs and umbrellas for as long as we wanted to hang out on the beach. We started our time by getting in the water. One thing to note about beaches on the coast is that they are very rocky. We got a little beat up getting in and out of the water. But again the water was so blue and clear so that was very enjoyable. After some time soaking in the sun we made our way to the restaurant for our meal. The meal started off with a seafood antipasti that included octopus, calamari, salmon, mussels, and some small fish that I couldn’t remember the name of. We each got our own plates of all this and it was a lot of food. Following the antipasti we were served a pasta with mussels and clams, it was delicious and at this point we were pretty full. But there was MORE. Following the pasta we were served fried calamari, prawns, and octopus. At this point we were stuffed!! But this was some of the freshest seafood I’ve ever ate, and the octopus wasn’t that bad! Following our huge meal a couple of us decided to get back in the water. it got a little cloudy so we decided to make our way back to Amalfi. We got some gelato from the city and people watched on the stairs for bit before we made our way back to the Airbnb. We were exhausted from the day in the water so we got cleaned up and rested before making the trek down to the small village. Even though we loved Gerry’s food we decided to branch out so we found an Osteria. This place was bougie!! We decided that we just wanted an appetizer so we had a charcuterie board and some wine and then made our way to Gerry’s for more food. While waiting for the food Gerry serenaded us with Sweet Caroline and let us karaoke, we introduced Gerry to Taylor Swift, Selena, and other American hits. We had a drink with Gerry and then made our way up to the Airbnb. 

Day 12 July 5 

It is the last full day in Italy ): We leave our Airbnb at 10am to make our way to the train station in Salerno. Form Salerno we took a train to Naples, and then to Rome. By the time we got to our Airbnb in Rome it was 5pm. Gabby and I had found a tattoo shop that we wanted to check out so we called and they were able to get us in at 6pm. We took an Uber to the shop and waited for our tattoos! Em and Sasha decided to go explore while we got some ink, so once Gabby and I were done, Gabby, James and I made our way back to the Airbnb to change and then met up with Em and Sasha in Trastevre. We initially planned to go back to the pizza place from the food tour but they didn’t have a lot of seating so we decided to check out a different restaurant on the square. I may have forgot to mention that the day was so packed we didn’t make time to eat so at this point we were STARVING. The restaurant had a little bit of a wait so we went to get pizza to snack on and of course the second the group split our table was called. We had an amazing last meal in Rome and initially planned to stay out but we were exhausted and called it a night. We had to head home early in the morning. 

Day 13 July 6 

The day we were dreading but also secretly glad it was here. We had a rough start to the morning and overslept and nearly missed our Uber ride to the airport. The airport is 30 mins away so it’s not a short trip. We got to the airport, went through security and we were off to Boston.  I don’t know why but this 9HR ride felt much shorter than the initial ride over there. The food was even better and the flight service was great.! The snacks were nonstop. We landed in Boston around 2:30pm got a short break from the plane before our last leg to Dallas. The Boston airport is huge and although we thought our long walks were done with it was another trek through the airport to get to our terminal. We boarded our flight to Dallas at 4:55PM and arrived in Dallas at 7:45PM. Last thing we needed to do was get back to our truck! We did end up having to wait for a shuttle for a while to our parking spot. By the time we got to the truck and back to Denison. We all parted ways once we got back to the house and just like that our trip was complete. 

Takeways from our experiences.

1. Go through your bank for best currency conversion rates, don’t be like us and get robbed by fees at airports. 

2. Water is not free at restaurants and there is no ice. BUT all of their local tap water is fresh so bring a refillable bottle with you. (You can also bring these bottles into restaurants) 

3. Don’t pay for buses in Rome, nobody is checking. But you better pay for trains because they don’t mess around with trains. 

4. European AC is not the same as Texas AC, portable fans save lives. 

5. Always have euros on you for the bathrooms. Bathrooms are not always free. 

6. Bring a suitcase with wheels, the cobble stones aren’t that bad everywhere.

7. Wake up early to avoid crowds! 

8. Always keep an eye on your stuff, pickpockets are a thing!

9. Don’t be afraid to try new foods or activities, the memories are worth it. 

10. EAT ALL THE GELATO

I will say that this is one of the most unforgettable experiences and I am so thankful for the memories. I would totally do this again with some minor changes but all of the little inconveniences were part of the experience and it made it memorable! 

Now I get to start planning the next trips sooo STAY TUNED.