Day 27: One month of travelling together
Right now, we are on a train ride from Bologna, Italy to Venice, Italy and will be picking up a car to drive to Dolomites!
You may or may not know what the Dolomites are but it’s a beautiful mountainous range in Europe, a hiker’s dream destination!
For our honeymoon, I planned a lot of hiking destinations (e.g. Madeira, Portugal, Dolomites, Norway, etc.) since we prefer that over lounging by the beach.
Don’t get me wrong, we do love swimming in the water but there’s only so much tanning you can do in one trip! (Note: My current tans are whacked out with all of the different bikinis and tops I’ve been wearing on this trip lol).
Also, I didn’t want to scare Slam by visiting a bunch of beach destinations that will be packed with people during peak season (we are here from June to August!) so maybe we can visit another time when there are less tourists.
Anyway, so DOLOMITES EH?
I bookmarked a bunch of places on Google Maps that I would love to visit but we only have a limited time there. I booked accommodation for 2 nights on the left side of the Dolomites and accommodation for 2 nights on the right side of the Dolomites (LOL).
I don’t exactly know the locations I booked but I read in some blog posts that it’s best to book two places as the hikes and activities are spread across many different areas. And with my wee quick research, Dolomites is HUUUUUGE! There will be a LOT of driving across the week we are there.
Okay, so let’s do a recap of where we have visited within our ONE MONTH so far.
Places we have visited so far:
United Kingdom (London)
France (Paris)
Portugal (Lisbon, Porto, Madeira)
Spain (Barcelona, San Sebastián, Bilbao)
Italy (Rome, Cinque Terre, Bologna, Florence, Pisa, Parma, Venice)
Currently enroute to:
The Dolomites!!!
Slam’s thoughts
So I asked Slam to give me a recap of his thoughts on our one month trip and these were his answers…
“It’s very tiring, I’m not used to travelling this much”
“If I were to do it again, I would book at least three nights at one place instead of two nights.”
“The European summer is much more challenging than I had expected. I thought the summers would be like Melbourne where there are some hot days and then some cooler days, but nope. It’s been all 30 degrees. Well, at least it’s consistent. Lol.”
“People in Europe treat tourists well. I haven’t had a problem with anyone so far.”
Then I asked asked Slam what his favourite moment was and he responded with, “When Kim lost her boarding pass.”
Lol. I mean, yes… I did lose my paper boarding pass but I had a mobile one as well so I was able to get into the plane fine.
Hoooowever, once I was seated, one of the flight attendants actually came over to my seat and handed me my paper boarding pass (LOL).
Uhhh, so like, where was it?! I still have no idea where it was but it was probably found at a restaurant table somewhere as we were sitting around eating before getting on board.
And last question was, “What is your favourite city so far?”
He responded with Bologna. When I asked why, he said “Good food, nice clean city, good place to base yourself to visit other cities.”
Us going for a run in Bologna because the weather was cooler than it was at the other European cities we visited!
Kim’s thoughts
All right, so you may be reading the above and think that Slam isn’t enjoying his (forced) honeymoon and you may be right but now it’s my turn to sum up my thoughts so far! ;)
So what are MY thoughts on this trip so far?
Let’s go!
It’s been good, hectic, and fun so far - Although Slam complains he is tired all of the time, I’m on the opposite end and want to do MORE. My mind is constantly planning and racing (I know that’s a bad thing!) but once I’m in travel mode, I just want to do as much as I can at the place I may or may not ever visit again. Life is short!
We have eaten and LOT of pizza and pasta - Omg, we are in dire need of more vegetables HAHA. We have eaten a LOT of pizza and pasta and more carbs everywhere we go so I think we are excited to move onto the next few places to see what other goodies they have.
“This is what happens when you want to visit all of the ‘main’ cities.” - Lol. That’s my reply to Slam’s first comment of being tired all of the time, hahaha. I wasn’t a fan of re-visiting the touristy places like Rome, Paris, Venice... etc. I wanted to do a lot more of the ‘off-the-beaten’ path sort of places that I have never seen before but since it was Slam’s first time in Europe, we HAD to knock off those bucket list places. He liked some, he didn’t like others but at least he’s seen them now. Next time we plan a trip, we will go much sloooower!
Omg, some of my ‘favourite’ places were flops. - I wanted to show Slam Lisbon, Portugal and Cinque Terre, Italy but those just didn’t hit the mark as places to “fall in love with.” Both felt much more touristy than I had remembered 9 years ago and we just didn’t really enjoy visiting those places. Well, I booked a beautiful place at the highest point of Cinque Terre but it meant that you needed to climb up a gazillion steps (25 minutes uphill) to get there and sweat like a pig to just go home soooo that was a fail.
The places I had zero expectations for became my favourite cities - Slam mentioned that his favourite city was Bologna and that is also high up there on my list. It was just a great place to chill, relax, and eat good food!
Truffle pasta made in a cheese wheel, a touristy adventure!
Additional thoughts/summary (written by Kim)
Memorable activities:
Learning how to make pasta with Nonna in Palombara Sabina (a small town about 1.5 hours from Rome)
Learning how to make gelato, sorbetto, and granita at the Gelato Lab with Alessandro in his home kitchen
Visiting a Parmigiano Reggiano factory (Caseificio San Pier Damiani) in Parma
Taking a couples’ photoshoot in Paris
Walking across one of the most dangerous places in Paris (e.g. Barbès) at 9pm to get to our hotel (oops)
Making gelato in Bolonga!
Me and my pistachio ice cream!!
Things we could have lived without doing (lol):
Attending a Fado show at a restaurant in Lisbon (LOL) - I really wanted to go to one but didn’t know it would make me fall asleep during dinner! I did my research and chose an “authentic” one that was recommended by a lot of people on Facebook groups and local drivers, but it just wasn’t for us. The restaurant was packed with tourists soooo… I don’t know. Lol. And the dinner was 50 euros per person as the mandatory fee to eat a set meal and experience a Fado show (booo!).
Going to any TikTok recommendations (e.g. Osteria Pastella for truffle cheese wheel pasta) - I booked Osteria Pastella in Florence after seeing this on either TikTok or Instagram Reels which served customers fresh truffle pasta made in front of you on a cheese wheel. I booked this place a month in advance (it ONLY opens bookings within a month so I literally refreshed it closer to the day I was able to book it in. We got there 15 minutes before the booking and were the third couple in line and the queue was suuuuuper long by the time the restaurant opened at 12:00pm. The whole experience felt sooo touristy and didn’t feel authentic. Plus the truffle pasta dish was like 27 euros for one plate and usually you can get a decent plate of pasta for 8 to 15 euros depending on where you are in Italy! (We have some delicious plates at that price!). I enjoyed the pasta but Slam was over spending that much money on food HAHA.
Moments we fought:
When Slam tried to get us to catch the wrong bus to San Sebastián (he thought the bus just went in a circle lol - I was pretty mad cause we were rushing to get to a famous restaurant and I didn’t want to be at the end of the line).
Speed-walking to our Parisian photoshoot - we were running late to this experience and Slam directed us to the wrong path so we began speed walking to the destination. I was soaking wet in my sweat and was frustrated but we ended up being 2 minutes early to it and everyone else was running late (one girl ended up missing the first photo location entirely!)
Anytime we are running late to catch a train or bus (the stress levels are HIGH)
When Slam told me he was bringing his backpack to the hike so I didn’t end up bringing mine. And when we got to the start of the hike, I asked him if he brought all of the snacks we bought last night and he told me he brought NONE. UMMMMM. What was the point of buying all of those snacks when he was planning to pack none??? I was PISSED. Also, we bought 2 bananas the night before as well and he didn’t pack those. In fact, he ate his banana that morning and just left mine in the car. LOL. UHHH, WHO LEAVES A BANANA IN A CAR ON A HOT DAY?? Anyway, since we didn’t really start the hike, we ended up just walking back to our car to grab the snacks from the car. Lol. I was mad during most of the hike but eventually forgave him. In his defense, it was a short and easy 2-hour hike so he didn’t think we needed snacks, but I’m someone who NEEDS snacks. I’ve learned my lesson and will be packing my own back pack!
Honestly, these are just minor things we fought about and could be prevented by me doing my own research and preparation instead of putting my full trust in Slam (heh) so I can’t blame him. ;) He’s just the easy scapegoat when something goes wrong. Buahaha.
Anyway, wish us good luck as we continue our journey!
I’ll end this blog post with one of our photos in Paris, the most honeymoon-y place alive!
xoxo, knd.
Happy honeymoon (sort of) to us! <3