Europe, Here We Come

As you can tell, by the title, this isn’t about the Caribbean.

This year was my youngest daughter‘s 30th birthday (Molly) and a significant birthday for me, but we won’t talk about that ;). So we decided this was the year to do a big celebration! Italy and France!!

My oldest daughter, Michelle , heard about the trip and wanted to be included. My other daughter, Cortney, said she wouldn’t want to deal with all the personalities for a three week trip so she was taking a hard pass!😂

My son, Nathan, and his wife, Jessie, would have been thrilled to go with us, but seeing as how Jessie was eight months pregnant that wasn’t happening.

So we started off by talking to a travel agent, and after she quoted us a ginormous amount for the trip, we decided to research things on our own . We found TAP Air Portugal to be the most reasonable. We were a little concerned because the ticket price was considerably less than all other airlines, sometimes even half the price, which sometimes is not worth it for the quality of service. But we thought we would risk it for the deal and when we looked at reviews, we were pleasantly surprised to find that they were quite good. The only drawback was the carry-on requirement was a ridiculously small size ….22x16x8 !!! Even Michelle , who is a seasoned traveler, was going to find it hard to fit everything she wanted to into that size carry-on. Plus, we knew we were going to be purchasing items in Europe to bring back so Molly and I said forget it! …we’re taking a decent size check bag.

So, after ordering a bunch of different carry-ons, Michelle settled on the average size carry-on that is allowed on other airlines and hoped for the best.

Next, we decided on getting Airbnb’s for all the towns where we would be sleeping in. Our flight was to Rome but we would be going onto Florence, Venice, then Antibes, France(near Nice) , Paris, Neuville then back to Paris. Molly would go back home because of work, Michelle would board a plane to Spain to visit friends and I would take a train to Bordeaux for a few days to visit friends. In all, it was five Airbnb stays because in Antibes, we would be staying with my cousins, Neuville with my uncle and then I in Bordeaux with my friends.

It was really interesting when we were researching Airbnb’s to find great places close to the sites we wanted to see without spending a fortune… Especially when you’re splitting it three ways😀

Next was figuring out transportation to all the places we wanted to go. We decided to only book online the train from Venice to Antibes (our longest train trip) figuring we could book the others when we got there. As it turned out, it was just fine to wait.

With all systems, go, we left on June 23 in the evening.

I don’t know if you can tell by the picture, but there was plenty of leg room and didn’t feel crowded at all. The meals and service were great, we were given a blanket and pillow for comfort and a wide range of movies to watch. I think I watched 3 full length movies since I couldn’t sleep😵‍💫And ,by the way, all that stress about the carry-on size ended up not being a thing at all! They allowed normal size carry-ons so if you ever fly TAP keep that in mind! I could’ve even taken my cute bag as a carry-on but I had paid ahead for a checked bag since it’s less expensive when you pay ahead. Ah well…. lesson learned. First of many lessons learned.

Now, the other reason TAP is so inexpensive is a long layover in Lisbon, Portugal. We left Chicago around 10 PM Central time and would normally arrive in Rome around nine hours later, which would be around 2pm Rome time. But our layover in Lisbon was about three hours so we got into Rome pretty late.

I believe most people do not like layovers but we appreciated being able to get off the plane, stretch our legs, eat some delicious European food at the airport. Believe me, food in European airports far excel anywhere in the U.S.! We also got to do a little shopping since items in Portugal are a lot less than here in the States.

Although none of us really slept, we had a lot of energy from just the excitement of arriving in Europe!

Once we arrived at the airport in Rome, we needed to get to our Airbnb, which was a few blocks from the Colosseum. Directions from our host: Take the Trenitalia train to the Tiburtina station (40 minutes) then take the underground line B to the Colosseum stop. From there, walk to the Airbnb.

Friends, this is why they say to pack light when traveling Europe. There is a LOT of walking and a LOT of steps, as Europe is not exactly elevator friendly, which is a disappointment for those who have strollers or are wheelchair-bound. A person literally has to have someone carry them up or down the steps. 😓

After flying all night, and hustling to get to the different trains, we finally arrived at our destination! But before we would go to our Airbnb, we needed to eat. It was evening, and we walked past the Colosseum, which was lit up and beautiful, and arrived at the first restaurant we saw, which was open directly across from the Colosseum.

So delighted Italians eat late dinners, we sat right down and immediately ordered.

We were so thrilled to be sitting there, eating in Rome, Italy, and then suddenly behind us, fireworks started going off as if to participate in our birthday celebration!

Next blog……. tour Rome with us!