Tag: adventure

European Cruise: Day 3 Venice!!!

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, healthy lifestyle, travel

Today is all about exploring and experiencing everything Venice has to offer…..that I can afford, let’s remember I am on a budget.

Last night we had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe (that is the tourist spot my friends like to hit everywhere) I get it, I like to get the starbucks You Are Here mugs. 

Then we went straight home and passed out!!!! My bed was a little hard on my back so I tossed and turned a bit but we all slept for about 10 hours!! 

Up at 10am, everyone is showering and getting ready! 

Time to explore!

But first breakfast! Espresso and pastry. 

Oh man, did you know you aren’t supposed to drink the tap watsr I’m Venice? So we have to keep thinking about buying bottled water.  

We travelled around on the vapparetto and saw the outside of islands. 

I had pizza in Italy for lunch!!

Then we hopped off the vapparetto and ended up in an almost empty part of Venice which was amazing!!! 

Totally happy I got to see this classic Italy scene!

Piazza San Marco!

Enjoyed a glass of wine in the afternoon and people watched 

Then we took a walking tour

Saw some amazing things 



Then it was Gondola time!

And of course, pasta!!!!!!

And now it’s back to sleep cause we are leaving at 5am to catch a train to Verona! 

Goodnight!

European Cruise: Day 2

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, healthy lifestyle, travel

Wow does it take a long time to get from Portland, Oregon to Venice, Italy! After more than 24 hours of traveling, we have arrived!!! We landed around 4:30pm Venice time.

1st order of business: find everyone and find our AirBnB rental.



It’s a cute little place with 2 bathrooms 3 bedrooms a little loft and a couch and just feet from the Vapparettos and so much more!

Then it was exploring time!
everywhere you look is beautiful 


Saw all this in about 30 min hahahaha!!!!

But man when the tide comes in you can definitely tell that this place is sinking. Walking around after dark gave us wet socks and shoes. 

And oh man the humidity!!!! I never thought of Venice being humid but it is!!!!

Now we are dead tired. Gonna get some food and crash for the night. 

Ahhhh we leave for Europe tomorrow!!!!

by Ariana Peters, posted in healthy lifestyle, travel

 

I am definitely going to have to take a sleep-aid to be able to get any sleep tonight.

With that statement lets talk about what to do the night before you travel:

Do not take a sleep aid an less than 9 hours before you need to get up. Better safe than sorry.

Double check your list and make sure you have everything. You don’t want to travel to Siberia and realize you forgot your mittens.

Set out what you are going to wear on your journey tomorrow. Check in for your travel arrangements if you can, that is one less thing you have to worry about tomorrow especially if you are running late.

Have snacks ready to take with you so you are not tempted by overpriced junk at the airport.

Double check your suitcase and any carry-ons to make sure everything is where it needs to be.

See you tomorrow for the beginning of another adventure of a lifetime!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1 week to Europe!!!

by Ariana Peters, posted in healthy lifestyle, travel

 

Holy Hanna I fly to Europe in a week!!! I don’t know how I am going to sleep this week!

Things you should be doing the week before you travel:

print out all confirmations; flights, trains, boats, activities, everything. Print a copy of your itinerary.

Start the basics of your packing (if you are going on a long trip and don’t want a million suit cases you will pack and repack to find the best way to fit everything in.

How are you getting to the airport, train station, bus station, boat etc? Are you taking a cab or Uber, or do you need to make arrangements with someone to take you AND pick you up? Nail down that information now.

Also make copies of all important documents, passport, ID, insurance cards etc. Also leave a copy of each of these with someone who is not traveling with you, generally your emergency contact.

Take a deep breath and enjoy this exciting anticipation!

2 weeks to Europe!!

by Ariana Peters, posted in healthy lifestyle, travel

 

Only 2 weeks to go!!! Are you ready?

Have you stocked up on necessary food to accommodate your diet or taken that into account when planning meals?

Have you started looking for your toiletries in travel size and getting things together?

Has your itinerary been honed down to a point that you feel comfortable with?

Do you have a plan in case of an emergency? Do your loved ones know how you will attempt to contact them in an emergency?

How will you document your trip? Cell phone camera, digital camera, film? Do you have everything you need for that?

Have you thought about electrical outlet adaptors? Chargers?
My currency arrived yesterday!!!

This is what 40 American dollars gets you in Croatian Kuna….i’m excited to see how far this gets me hahahaha

Proud mama moment amd extras

by Ariana Peters, posted in healthy lifestyle, training, travel

Happy Saturday morning!!!

Wasn’t feeling 100% great yesterday so i spent the day napping and cuddling on the couch with Artemis

I got Artemis almost 2 years ago and she was so timid. Over the last 2 years i have taken Artemis on road trips and hikes and overnight trips and now to a farm and she is also sharing her house with 2 other dogs and slowly……very slowly she has started to come out of her shell. 

I showed you guys her and the cow

And now here is a video of her playing with DeeDee the other girl dog in our house 

She is working on learning how to play lol.

She loves to run full out. She gets the buggest grin! She loves to be out exploring on a hike or out on a farm. She loves to ride in the car. 

This was from our hike last September.  I LOVE the picture of her under the sleeping bag. I have that framed in my room

Playing in the snow
I love my crazy dog. 

Now for the extras…..

I just booked my Vatican city tour! 

I just bought some new shoes because the other ones i got were giving my blisters blisters.

These feel like they should be better on my feet. 

I also wanted some comfortable but cute walking shoes for Europe that i could wear with dresses as well as jeans. Running shoes don’t go well with dresses 

They are Keens!!!! Just like some hiking shoes i have and my favorite water shoes!! I am pretty stoked about them. I looked and looked and looked until i found a pair on sale on Amazon. Score!!!!!!

What is one awesome thing about your pet?

3 weeks to Europe!

by Ariana Peters, posted in healthy lifestyle, travel

Here is what needs to be done by 3 weeks out from a big trip:

Set up your bill pay so you don’t miss any bills while away. If you will be in a different time zone you might miss a deadline and really you don’t want to be thinking about your bills while you are on vacation.

Go online or head to the post office and put a hold on your mail for the time you will be away. You don’t want to come home to an overflowing mailbox and wonder if anything was stolen or blew away in the wind. On this same note as a friend or neighbor to stop by a week and make sure nothing has been delivered by mistake and pick up any packages.

If you need foreign currency and have not yet ordered it get to your bank ASAP.

Plan for any kind of motion, sea, plan, train sickness and anything else. I just placed my order for non-drowsy Dramamine and pressure point bracelets, sickness is not going to ruin my vacation! I will also be getting a small bottle of Advil and maybe something for anti-nausea. If you have any prescriptions make sure you will have enough, if not head to the pharmacy and tell them you need an extra month because you are heading out of town.

Think about your diet, are you gluten free, vegetarian, vegan, lactose intolerant, in training? Will the food you need be readily and inexpensively available to you? If not think about bring some food bars just in case.

Is your itinerary all set and planned? If not get to planning, you are running out of time.

Do you have any pets? If so how are they being cared for while you are gone? Do you have enough food stocked up?

Do you have a plan of how you are going to contact love ones to let them know you are safe periodically? Does someone have your travel itinerary in the event of an emergency?

What’s been going on over here

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, healthy lifestyle, school/studying, training, travel

I have been on a serious sweet tooth kick over here. Made my coffee a mocha.

Always fun to study something that no one knows what it does

Salad and something with cheese has been a big lunch time ritual for me lately.

pork roast with veggies and rice. I love using the slow cooker

Artemis and I enjoyed the eclipse by going for a run. It was pretty eerie. People looking at the sun with glasses while it got dark then as a group would turn and look at us run by, very pod people-esque. I kept waiting for zombies to jump out at us.

Smoothies are still a big thing over here.

More salad and cheese.

Mmmmm breakfast sandwich from the coffee shop near work.

Life has been food, running, work and starting to freak out about Europe hahaha. Talk to you soon!!!!!

Stitch Fix for Europe!!!

by Ariana Peters, posted in healthy lifestyle, travel

Good morning!!!

Europe is coming up quick and after asking my roommate about her packing situation and realizing we have 2 formal dinners on the cruise I thought I might need a little more style to add to my wardrobe for the trip. So I my clothes will be have stylish have workout clothes hahaha. I ordered a stichfix and for the first time gave them a dollar amount that I needed to stay with and they totally listened! She was actually $1 under my budget! I was impressed. But I won’t be keeping the whole box unfortunately. I wish they gave you like 10 things instead of 5. But here is what was in the box:

This necklace is actually on point for my style but so much so that I have at least 2 necklaces that are pretty similar hahaha.

This doesn’t wow me or unwow me. I have been starting to lose weight so in another 10lbs it will look totally cute but I have a few things in this style already.

LOVE this shirt, it is cute and comfy and has Polka Dots which are totally my jam. It is adorable and conservative so I can wear it to the more strict dress code places in Europe like Vatican City. and it is loose a breezy so I shouldn’t be dying on a hot day. This is definitely a keeper.

This dress is the style I love, its empire waist-like and its a dark green color which I love, it would be great in fall with leggings and boots and I like the neckline design, it makes it cute but still classy because it doesn’t really show cleavage. But again I have a dress pretty similar to this so I unfortunately don’t need to spend the extra money on something similar.

The fifth piece is this kimono cover thing. I don’t hate it but I don’t love it. I can see how it would be cute with jeans and a tank top in the fall and the colors are great but I am not 100% sold on it. And if my first thought isn’t “omg I have to have it” then it goes back.

That leaves me with the polka dot shirt. Maybe I will check out target and some discount websites.

 

Have you tried Stitchfix yet?

Here is my referral code if you have not.

https://www.stitchfix.com/referral/7169629?sod=w&som=c

 

 

4 weeks to Europe!!!

by Ariana Peters, posted in travel

4 weeks to international travel, here is what you should have done:

-Notify all banks and credit cards when and where you will be traveling. The last thing you want is to be overseas and have your account frozen due to unknown charges.

-Order any last minutes things online. Even if you have amazon prime you never know if that one thing you want isn’t on prime or something gets lost in the mail.

-Pre-packing/travel checklist. Time to make a list and check it twice, how many outfits do you need? Toiletries? Documents? Vaccines (this should have been done earlier)? Also if you need any Visa’s for your travel make sure you have received them and they are in order?

-Triple check any and all deposits or last minute due bills are paid and ready to go. Don’t want to show up and find out you didn’t pay for that excursion.

-Research and buy anything upfront that you can. (this week I am buying my skip the line pass for Vatican City) The last thing you want is to waste your time standing in a 5 hour line.

-Check for deals. Groupon is international! Like I am buying above check and see if there are any skip the line deals or fast pass kind of things. Usually these do not cost much extra and are soooo worth it. Also verify the language of your tours, don’t want to get stuck listening to Spanish or German if you don’t know the language.