Tag: travel

European Cruise: Day 5 Rome!

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

We have 1.5 days in Rome to squeeze in as much as we can. Get ready to be exhausted just from reading this post.

We started with a 10am tour of the colosseum 

This was out 2nd tour buy the company ‘CityWonders’ I HIGHLY recommend them. Their people are funny, unique, and soooo interesting. They also have lots of different kinds of tours. 

With our colosseum tour we got to enter through the private gladiator entrance with only 1 other group. It was pretty cool to enter the colosseum through the private gladiator entrance. 

This place was pretty amazing.

There are ruins everywhere you look in this area

Pagan arch 


Then off to lunch we went!

More pizza!!!

Tiramisu!!!

After lunch it was off to explore Roma!!

The Pantheon 

Crazy amazing 

Then dinner, then to the spanish steps we went 

And the Trevi fountain!!! Yes, I through a coin in and made a wish.  

And now I am in for the night and ready to sleep.  So far i have been consistently walking about 12 miles a day. Almost a half marathon a day!! 

Tomorrow we head to Vatican city! This will be an interesting day, the other 5 of my traveling companions are taking a different tour than I am (it was too rich for my blood) so I get to navigate myself their and back alone…….I got this!!!……right?

European Cruise: Day 4 VVFPR

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

Today is a go, go, go, cram everything in kind of day. We are waking up in Venice and ending the day in Rome.

We got up at 4am (well i woke up at 2am and couldn’t get back to sleep) and caught a train to Verona, the home of Romeo and Juliet! 

We only stayed in Verona about 3 hours, just long enough to catch the major sights. But they were pretty great. We were there right as the city was waking up!

Espresso and a pastry were a must!

We made it to Juliet’s house just as it was opening and beat the crowds, then something amazing happened,  a choir was visiting….just listen.

Found a big church to explore.  It was beautiful inside!

Now its back on the train to Florence!

We stayed in Florence for about 1.5 hours, no where near long enough but I’ll take it over not stopping at all. We got Gelato 

and saw an incredible church

 and some crazy square with insane statues

 and stopped at the Hard Rock Cafe for appetizers, thankfully they had a locally sourced appetizer….and it was delicious!! 

We overestimated our time a bit which left us literally running tp catch our train. 

Back on the train for a quick stop in Pisa!

We were here the bare minimum, just long enough to get to the tower, see it lean, walk in the cathedral, get some dinner and its back on the train to ROME!!
I am soooo exhausted am going to sleep so good tonight hahaha. Even though I’m exhausted I am going to take some melatonin tonight to make sure I don’t have a repeat of last night. 

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. 

European Cruise: day 1

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

Traveling from PDX to LAX and LAX to Venice!

I can’t believe this day is here!!! It came soooo fast! That is how i know i’m an adult, things come quicker than i could have imagined instead of dragging out hahaha. 

Wonderful Bf drove me to the airport this morning. 

Starbucks needed before boarding our first flight to LAX

Double decker planes, who knew

Many hours to kill in between flights. 

Now we are waiting for more in our party to join us then its on to Amsterdam with a slightly tight plane change then on to Venice! Talk to you soon!

Woo on the plan to Amsterdam!! We got the ‘extra room’ seats. 

Business class has suites! What does 1st class look like lol. It’s upstairs! Fancy plane lol

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!

School Catch-up

by Ariana Peters, posted in school/studying, travel

How is school going this quarter…..ehh. My class ends in 4 days, I currently have an A so I am doing something right but by no means did I perform to the best of my ability. I did great at the beginning of the quarter, I set time aside to study and did my vocab, read the book chapters and worked through the workbook and looked at the online lessons. As the quarter progressed I started just doing the vocab, which did enough that I have an A in the class but currently there is a significant chance it will drop to a B after the final which is 40% of my grade.

Monday evening and all of Tuesday will be reviewing and cramming so I don’t bomb the final which is comprehensive.

I think several things contributed to me slacking off at the end here:

  1. Taking the class online makes it easy to slack, I don’t need to answer a teachers questions or contribute to any in class discussions.
  2. At work I was either studying or had it up in the background while I was taking a break from the vocab and reading a book online, which meant that for almost 40 hours a week I was doing superficial easy studying of medical terminology (which seems like it would be great but I am at work so I can’t really focus which means this wasn’t very deep studying) and because I was ‘studying’ it so much I had no desire to even look at or think about medical terminology outside of work. I did a little studying on my phone here and there but that quickly ceased.
  3. I watch WAY too much TV outside of work, this has always been a problem for me, I become so unproductive when I turn the TV on, and once I turn it on, it tends to stay turned on. As my work load becomes more intense this will HAVE to change.
  4. All lumped into one: time management, space, organization
    1. I need to create a study space, someplace I go or set up that says it’s study time. I used to have a whole setup when I first went to school. I still have everything I need but haven’t created the space. Or of course I would camp out on campus in the library between classes or between class and work and I haven’t gotten back to giving myself that option yet.
  5. Headspace-I don’t think I have completely readjusted to being a student, I am still seeing work as the largest commitment in my life and I need to shift that thinking and focus to school.

 

I will not be taking any classes during the fall semester/quarter due to the cruise. I am going to go enjoy the cruise and enjoy this as my last big adventure for a little while because live is going to severely change. When I get back I need to get all my vaccines up to date, and take the American Red Cross’ Basic live saving CPR class then apply for a CNA class. My boyfriend and I are also working on moving in together. I will start the CNA class in January (baring any problems) which is a 7 credit class and will take a lot of time. After that it is the nursing program which will take more time. So I have 4.5 miles to get my sh*t completely together. I will keep you posted!

 

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