Category: Uncategorized

Well, I slipped off a boat first thing this morning.
Mom and I got ready for our day trip to Capri, ate breakfast in our little kitchen and walked down to the marina hotel we were getting picked up at.. all before 7:30am. We. Are. Tired.

When the driver picked us up, we were the second group of people, and the couple already in the van is from Texas. That lady was chatty as hell for it to not even be 8am. Mom kept shooting me looks like I was the one talking, haha, at least we know I come by my morning irritability honestly. When we picked up everyone else (a total of like 10 people in our van) and finally got to the doc, we had to check in and get our group numbers. Chatty lady and husband are in our group.

Mom disappeared to find coffee, it was too hot already so she got me a coke.. when we went to get on our boat, there was a drop to the deck.. I was holding my open glass coke bottle in my left hand, my waterproof bag with our wallets was looped around my right arm and my cell phone was in my right hand. I thought briefly that the boat deck looked slippery, but mom handled it fine.. plus the captain holds your arm to steady you..

The captain held my left arm, I stepped down with my right foot.. and it slipped out from under me directly into the water. So picture it: this man is holding my left arm with my coke in hand, my right leg up to my waist is in the sea, my left leg is splayed out in front of us trying to make connection.. I’m in a bathing suit and a coverup dress. Lord have mercy. What a scene. As my left arm goes into the water, I toss my cell phone onto the boat praying to connect with cushions and not slide off the other side.. then I fling up the bag, the whole while the captain isn’t letting my big ass go-I’m telling him to let go, I don’t want to pull him in with me, and y’all-I’m going down.. it all happened so damn fast!

Someone else ran up and grabbed me too and between him and the captain they saved me from a complete submersion. How? I really have no idea-they stand me up, look me over-my hair is dry, my coke it upright without a drop spilt, my left arm is starting to bruise a bit and my right shin is starting to swell and bleed a tad-but overall, with all the adrenaline I guess, I was fine! Mom had missed the whole thing from when I slipped until I was yanked up and put back standing, it had to have been less than 10-15 seconds of pure chaos. Hahahaha

So, from that moment forward: I was not trusted to walk alone on the boat, step on or off the boat without my hand being held-that poor captain, Gianluca, looked like he was going through flashbacks every time I moved anywhere.. it was pretty damn funny. The couple I sat next to (which I think they may actually be friends or siblings) Juan and Caro, checked to make sure I was actually ok once everyone seemed to calm down.. mom kept staring at me and asking if I was ok, like I was suddenly going to freak out or something lol.. ahhh, good times.

Anyway, we went straight to the Blue Grotto by the island of Capri from the marina. We paid €14 each to get into a tiny rowboat (Gianluca looked ready to have a stroke watching me do that), with a man that paddled us in through the tiny hole, took us around in a circle while singing, and back out again. And then he asked for a €10 tip. Uhhh, excuse me? Don’t get me wrong, it was beautiful in there, the water literally looked like it was glowing blue and we did enjoy all 3 and half minutes of it.. but we were in there with about 10 other boats, all with men randomly singing in Italian (pretty neat really), and then boom, we were back out again.

When I go to give him a €2 coin, he says, “you don’t think I’m worth the €10? Haha, uh, honestly, no.. I don’t. So, I just said, “you can have the €2” and we stared at each other a second and he realized I was budging. The couple from Texas tipped a €10.. so €12 for 5 minutes seems pretty legit to me.

So, from there we got back on our boat and went to Capri. We arrived by 10am and didn’t have to be back by 3:15.. which sounds great, except we thought this was a swimming thing and here we are in bathing suits walking around a town. Yikes. We end up meeting another couple from our boat, Allison and Jimmy, and Mom and I plus Juan and Caro all kinda stuck together. We took a bus to AnaCapri, a town on top of the mountain of the island. It had gorgeous views of the bay that only got better as we went up the gondola to the top of Mount Solaro.

As gorgeous as it was, we all got bored a little quick. We had to take a timed bus back down into Capri, and there wasn’t anything really to look at while we waited. Mom and I got drinks and we all sat and chatted in the heat waiting for the bus. When it finally came, it took us into Capri and we had 3 hours to explore..

We all ended up splitting up, mom and I went and got drinks and split a pizza on a terrace with gorgeous views of the water.. the only issue-it was SO FLIPPIN HOT! We literally dripped sweat all day long. We all thought we’d be swimming and day drinking on this boat tour, this isn’t quite what we were expecting. Capri is stunning, but walking around in hoards of people during the peak part of the day was a bit-dare I say it-miserable.

I did end up buying a bathing suit and a cute coverup in one of the shops. Mom and I played the game of shopping only in the stores with very good air conditioner. It didn’t matter what they were selling, cigars? Bourbon? €3,500 sweaters? Yep, we wanna see every single one.. hahaha

We were thrilled when it was finally time to get back down to the marina to board our boat. Gianluca and Andrea, his skipper, took us around the island by boat to different scenic spots. We say the green grotto, the big rocks that jut up out of the water that Capri is famous for, heart cove, and a few other spots, one with a waterfall. We finally got to swim and have beer and listen to music! Now THIS is what we’ve all been wanting!

When it was time to pull back into the marina to end the day, I tell our new friends that this looks a lot like our marina-like that yellow building up there with a terrace looks like our apartment. Come to find out.. this IS our marina! We actually docked at our marina, and while everyone else walked to the van-mom and I walked up the stairs to our apartment! We were probably inside before they even made it to the top of the hill in the van! Wahoo!

We showered and got ready for our dinner at Donna Sofia. When we walked over, we were seated immediately, on the terrace outside. It was picture perfect out there! I ordered the seafood risotto, which I loved! Thankfully the seafood part was just shrimp, and nothing still had its head on it-whew. It was maybe too 3 of my favorite meals. Mom just got grilled veggies and I swear the waiter looked like he was actively having a coronary when he couldn’t talk her into adding something else lol-poor buddy.

After dinner, we perused the little shops on the way to a pharmacy. At the pharmacy I set up our appointment for our covid test to get into Malta for tomorrow at 6pm. Then we walked over to the lemon tree restaurant for kicks and giggles to see about a reservation for tomorrow. The line to get in was a long one, and when I finally got to ask, the lady said they were booked but if it was just the two of us we could come tomorrow at exactly 7 and try our luck with being sat-but she couldn’t promise. Hmmm.. ok, we have to be down the road a little at 6 for the tests, so this could work out!

We slowly walked around and meandered back to our room. Today turned out to be incredible, even after I busted my shin and took an unexpected dip first thing this morning. I’d say, all in all, today was a great day. Tomorrow is a free day, so we plan to sleep in and then check out the beach Juan and Caro told us about until it’s time for our covid tests. I think we’re both ready to sleep in after the last 3 early days!

Ahhh, what sweet sweet bliss it is to sleep in! My God it was lovely! We didn’t wake up until close to 11am! And I loved every second that I snoozed. After breakfast we got in our bathing suits and coverups, snagged our new Amalfi beach towels and our sunscreen and started the walk to the “beach.”

It was another scorcher of a day, and the heat and hills were starting to get to mom. When we got to the top of the main hill our apartment is on, we had to walk down to the area that has the steep slopes all the way down the cliff side to where the beaches are below. It took maybe 20-30 minutes total, but we both looked like we had already gone swimming thanks to the heat, sunscreen, and sweat.

At the bottom, there are “beach resorts” that look like long piers out into the water, where you pay for a sun-bed or sun chair, with or without a mattress, and then you have a designated space on the pier.. you walk to the steps and swim out into the water from there, never being able to touch the sea floor. There are waiters to bring you food and drinks and then you can also pay for towels and umbrellas. The sun beds have sun visors attached to shield your face if you so choose. Pretty neat!

However, at first, we didn’t know about this. In between these “resorts” there are free beach spots, with small sandy stretches of beach and you walk into the water like normal. We walked down to a couple of these, and people were already packed in on their towels, so close that people had to have their knees bent-they literally didn’t have the room to stretch all the way out! Plus, because of the cliff jutting straight up directly behind the beaches, the sand was all in the shade already.

We ended up walking back to the resort place we first saw when we walked up. I asked for 2 sun beds. The man said they only had chairs. I said never mind, mom was getting irritated and he heard her say, “alright, let’s just go back to our marina beach, this is too much..” and the man told us to wait a minute and he’d try to find us sunbeds.

Within a couple minutes, he was ushering us past several other people waiting to our sun beds on the back part of the pier-in perfect view of the sun! It was glorious! We got settled and then quickly went to get into the water. It was the most perfect, refreshing temperature, without being too hot or too cold. We swam and laid out in the sun.. I drank Prosecco and read my book on my kindle (The Paper Palace, by the way..).. it was awesome.

I realized I lost service on the pier after I was messaging with Juan and Caro about meeting up on the beach area and getting lunch together. Here I thought I was telling them where we were and when we wanted to eat, and nothing had actually sent. Whoops. I got hit with messages when we were walking up the steps of the cliff around 4:45.. I felt so bad for missing them!

We had to hustle home and shower, to get ready for nose swabs and dinner. We made it to the pharmacy at a minute before 6pm, had our tests done by 6:15 and told to come back in 20 minutes to get the results and our travel paperwork. We went next door and had a drink at a cafe, to cool off some, then went back and got our negative results. During that 20 ish minutes, I was googling our apartment and other hotels in the area, just in case one of us was positive and we couldn’t fly to Malta tomorrow..

Thankfully that wasn’t the case-although mom and I both agree that Sorrento is our favorite location so far! After we had our paperwork tucked away, we walked to the lemon tree restaurant. We waited in line, and as we got closer and closer to the hostess, the views of the place just got prettier and prettier. When it was our turn, I was fully expecting a “we have no tables” from the man, but instead he told us to wait to the side. Less than 5 minutes later, we were sitting at a table with gorgeous lemon trees and a garden of flowers behind mom. It was stunning!

I ordered wine and seafood risotto, I know-I have a problem.. it’s just so flipping good! The seafood was shrimp and clams, and y’all-I don’t actually like clams-plus I had to pluck them out of their little shells, but it was actually really good and not too chewy. Mom got lasagna.. I asked our waiter if it was customary to put eggs and peas in the lasagna, and he told us it’s a Sorrento tradition, the boiled egg anyway, not the peas.. so her lasagna had an egg in it-but it was actually really good! She just picked the egg out.

After dinner we walked through the garden area of the restaurant taking pictures and being silly. We’d offer to take pictures of couples we saw trying to get decent selfies, too. It was so fun and so many laughs. From the garden we wondered the tiny roads for the last time, knowing we’d be leaving for Malta in the morning.. making sure to love every minute. We found a little shop selling purses and mom and I both found one we had to have-so ridiculous, but when in Sorrento!

On the way back towards the room, fireworks were going off! We watched the show from the top of the cliffs beside the pretty hotel we walk past everyday. When they were over, we carried on to the apartment. We poured glasses of wine to celebrate our last night here (not that mom drank more than a sip), and as I was about done pouring, more fireworks started from our marina!

We sipped our wine while watching on the terrace! It was the perfect ending to our time in Sorrento. I literally couldn’t have asked for it to have been any better, even with the terrible meal thrown in the mix. I truly think I’ll have to come back and spend more time here some day. Ah, I’m actually really sad to leave.

We got a taxi to drop us off at the train station by 8am on Sunday to catch the shuttle bus to the Naples airport. It all went off without a hitch. The bus ride was a nice 1 and a half hour tour along the hilly coast on a coach bus.. with air conditioning. All for €10 each. We arrived at the airport by 10am and checked in.

The flight to Malta was less than 2 hours. We had to show our covid test results at their passport control, and then we had a ride arranged to the hotel. Literally from the time we walked off the plane to the time we got in the car, a whole 9 minutes had passed-total. It was impressive.
The hotel has more of a resort feel to it. 5 pools, 9 restaurants, a spa and a gym, plus beach access. We were right on the bay and everything was beautiful. During our 4 days there, we literally swam at the pools, laid in the sun, sipped drinks and ate food. We’d leave the resort every evening for dinner some where else, but honestly, we just wanted to relax and take it easy.

We didn’t do any excursions or tours, while I would have enjoyed exploring this country more, we just needed the relaxation time. Mom even scheduled me a 90 minute massage on our last full day.. incredible, and so appreciated.
I did end up having my second best meal in Malta. A lobster risotto that at first I was terrified of. They put the whole thing on top of the risotto. Little beady eyes and all.. but when I flipped him over, all the meat was already falling off.. perfect! No work required at all! Just like I like it. It ended up being so dang delicious!

On our second night we liked the food so much at this one restaurant, that we came back the 3rd night after going somewhere else first and deciding we’d rather our last dinner be back at the other place instead. Eh, we like what we like!I did get different meals though, the first one was spaghetti carbonara.. delicious, the next night was-you guessed it, risotto. Believe it or not, I still wanna eat at Mezza Luna when I get back home.. maybe *after* I lose the 15-95 pounds of pasta and bread weight I’ve gained this last 6 weeks..

On Thursday morning, we ate room service breakfast (smoked salmon and eggs on toast for me) and then packed up our stuff. We took a taxi to the airport around 12:30, and the cabbie let me have my Prosecco in a to go cup in his car, lol. I couldn’t chug it and he got there so fast. We boarded our flight to Paris and found it funny that no one seemed to check anything or ask any questions at any of these gates.

I was happy I decided to book us a night in Paris instead of trying to make a close connecting flight the same day to NYC, because our flight ran long, we didn’t land until 6:30 and the flight to NYC leaves daily at 6:45pm.. AND we still had to take our proctored covid tests to get back into the states. We got off our flight, went through customs and took the tram 3 stops and got off right in front of our hotel.

We checked in, did our covid tests-got negative results, and then went to have dinner in the restaurant attached to the hotel. The hotel is very nice and set up almost like a destination in itself. There was the restaurant and bar, plus tons of lounging spaces. We ended up watching a movie in our room until after 1am.. then slept in.
With our flight being at 6:45pm, we lounged in the room until check out, at noon, then had lunch in the restaurant. While I ran, and then proceeded to just walk around awhile to get my steps, mom relaxed in the lounge. At 3, we made our way back to the tram and to the airport. It was good that we got there early, because the lines for the baggage drop were nuts.. thankfully security was a breeze.

Our flight was 8 hours long, and it felt like 45 years. I watched movies, I read, I tried and failed to sleep. When I finally did-they turned the lights on and announced (in French and then English) that the flight attendants were coming through the aisles with perfumes and other things for sale.. for a good deal.. talk about irritating. Otherwise, it really was a comfortable flight, just long.

We time traveled backwards during this flight, so while we left at 6:45pm, we landed in Newark New Jersey at 9pm the same day. Weird.. it was 3am to us but the sun was still out. We went through all the customs and stuff, got our luggage, got a Lyft and made it to the hotel for the night.. by 10:30pm. I tried to door dash Taco Bell (because for some unknown reason, I love that stupid crap food), but my order got canceled. Heartbreak. So, we got food from the restaurant at the hotel before they closed and ate it in the room.. I passed out shortly there after.
When we woke up this morning, we showered and basked in the glory of large American showers and the perfection of fluffy full sized beds. Ridiculous, yes, but it’s nice to miss “home.”

We ate chic fil a for breakfast and took the shuttle to the airport. Now, I’m sitting on my delta flight to atlanta-our 44 day European adventure now coming to an end. It feels so surreal. I really can’t believe all of the places we’ve seen and all of the experiences we’ve had. It has been so magical, and to share all of these memories with my favorite person on top of that, it’s priceless. Mom and I will surely remanence over this trip for the rest of our lives, even after we make new memories in new places.

I know Covid took its toll on all of us, but I’m also grateful that I was able to have something wonderful come out of something so tragic. In 2020 I worked my ass off fighting to save lives of those suffering from this contagion.. and because I was working so much in hot spots across the country, I saved my money. I completed my dream of hiking the Appalachian trail last year, and now I can say I completed my other dream of taking my mom on the trip of a lifetime. I’ll never take having her here with me for granted. (And now, I need to take my butt back to work, as my puny savings account keeps reminding me).

Anyway, I think that’s all for now. My next post will have the breakdown and information of our itinerary.. probably in the next few days or so. Haha. Time to get home and enjoy being with family, friends, and that boyfriend I get to call mine 😉