15Oct 2012

The Wheel on the Bus Goes POP!

And I mean that literally … the wheel on the bus (read party bus) went POP. So which (party) bus, how, when and what exactly happened is the “not so funny then”, but “kind of funny now” type of story. Last summer my amazing maid of honor and bridesmaids planned a super fun bachelorette weekend for me and our friends!! It was weekend packed of fun activities in the DC area.

The weekend started with a roof deck party. Each girl brought a special drink/shot to share with the group. It was our “low key” night in, however it turned into a late night with a very late night round of the game “never have I ever”. Seriously, I don’t think I had played that game since high school, but what a fun thing to do on my last weekend as a single lady!

The next day we woke up and got ready for our party bus to arrive! The ladies and I were headed to the beach to catch some rays and relax before our big night out that evening. We all loaded onto the super cool bus and off we went.

About two thirds of the way there we all hear this huge POP! The bus driver stayed calm and managed to pull over without any incidents. We all pilled out of the bus and there was the culprit …

There wasn’t a whole lot we could do, but sit on the bus and wait. This is where we went wrong. What we should have done was called a cab and had the bus company meet us at the beach. Instead the bus driver kept assuring us it would only be another 30 minutes. About 2-3 hours later they finally had a limo pick us up and drive us to the beach. By the time we made it to the beach it was FULL and they were no longer letting people in. We were all at a loss. What should we do at this point?!

Luckily one of my friends jumped into action. She called her friend who has a boat and he agreed to let a bunch of girls come hang out for a couple hours … lucky him, right :) Back to the city we went and spent a little fun in the sun on the boat.

The evening was spent having dinner at Lincoln and then we got our dance on at Josephine’s. Despite the wheel going POP we had a great day!!! I’m very lucky to have friends who just roll with the punches (so to speak). The weekend showed me no matter what happens my friends and I always have a great time together … even if that means sitting on a hot party bus on the side of the highway for a few hours!

Do you have any “not so funny then”, but “kind of funny now” bachelorette weekend stories?

Happy Bachelorette Weekend!

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13Jun 2012

Rome, Italy: Honeymoon Part IV

by Nicole ⋅ Leave a Comment

Previously on our honeymoon series: Positano, Sorrento and Cinque Terre. Now that you are all caught up let’s talk ROME!

After another extremely long train ride we arrived in Rome! I feel like our last stop was the most cultural. Rome was a great way to spend our last few days in Italy and on our honeymoon. We stayed in downtown Rome and within walking distance of the at the Artemide Hotel. On the evening we arrived we were starving after checking into the hotel. We walked down the street to a local bar. We had a little food as well as a drink and just people watched for a while.

Day 10: Colosseum, Palatine Hill and Roman Forum

After breakfast, at the hotel, we headed to the Colosseum. We packed plenty of water and suntan lotion into our backpack as well as the camera. Rome in mid-August is HOT HOT HOT! The ticket line at the Colosseum was super long.

In order to skip the line we decided to join a tour. This was a bad idea. Although they got us into the Colosseum rather quickly, the tour really didn’t provide any substantial information. The time spent within the Colosseum was very limited before they tried rushing us off to the next two locations – Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum.

There was no reentry to the Colosseum and we weren’t done exploring so we opted to stay behind and really soak it all in. The tour guide didn’t give us our tickets so we wouldn’t be able to get into Palatine Hill without being with the group. Saying behind meant we would need to purchase tickets again to gain entrance to the other sites. Tourist fail and we absolutely felt like we had been scammed, but it was the only issue we encountered the entire time we were in Italy. Lesson learned!

After walking around the Colosseum we headed over to the Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. The line was SO short. After getting our fill of tourist stuff we headed back to the hotel to relax and get ready for dinner.

TIP – Go to Palatine Hill and buy tickets there for the Colosseum. The lines at Palatine Hill/Forum are SO much shorter the Colosseum.

Restaurant Romantico came highly recommended so we made a reservation through Facebook. The ambience and food did NOT disappoint! The restaurant was quaint and very romantic … perfect for a honeymoon.

Day 11: Capital Hill, Pantheon, Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain

We had trouble deciding what to do on our last day. Torn between the Vatican and a self guided tour around Rome to see a bunch of sites. In the end a self guided walking tour won out. Although we really wanted to see the Vatican we also weren’t excited about missing all the other great sites around the city. Our guided tour went like this: Capital Hill, Pantheon, lunch at Life Pizzeria, Spanish Steps to the Trevi Fountain.

Our last dinner in Rome was at La Pentolaccia. The owner of the restaurant suggested a fabulous bottle of wine and helped us choose great meals. After dinner he suggested we get have some of their homemade limoncello. It was delicious and the meal was a great bookend to our honeymoon!

Side Note: The wine in this picture is actually sold at Costco in VA! When I told the husband I found a wine from our honeymoon at Costco he didn’t believe me. Luckily I took a picture of the bottle and was able to PROVE to him it was in fact a “honeymoon” wine. :) Every time we buy the wine we reminisce a little about our trip.

Day 12: Heading Home

We took an EARLY cab ride to the airport and checked our flight back to the states. Does anyone remember that crazy hurricane from last summer? Well we do! When we arrived at the airport a number of flights to New York and New Jersey were already cancelled. We were fortunate and our flight from Rome to Boston to DC was still on schedule.

Apparently when we were already inflight to Boston our connecting flight to DC was cancelled. This was actually not a big deal since my parents live in MA so we had a place to stay. PLUS they had been watching Sophi so we got to be with our puppy too! After a couple nights with my parents and sister we flew back to DC with the dog and started our life in DC as husband and wife!

Have you been to Rome? What was your favorite restaurant or thing to do?

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17Apr 2012

Sorrento, Italy: Honeymoon Part II

by Nicole ⋅ Leave a Comment

After spending three days in Positano, Italy we had a driver pick us up and take us to our next destination … Sorrento!

Google Map of Sorrento, Italy | Life's Tidbits

The plan was to stay here the shortest amount of time and therefore find the cheapest place we could. We ended up staying at a cute little B&B on the main strip. We had decided to do a lot of sightseeing while in Sorrento so we were less concerned with staying at someplace “fancy”. Besides sleeping at night we weren’t really in the room so it worked out perfectly. This B&B was in walking distance of the port, train and a ton of restaurants.

Day 4:

We arrived at the B&B, checked in, and went ahead and changed. We walked around town a little and headed down to the port to catch the ferry from Sorrento to Capri.

Honeymooning in Sorrento, Italy - ferry from Sorrento to Capri | Life's Tidbits

Once we arrived in Capri we had a horrible lunch (pizza & beer) at a “restaurant” near where the ferry dropped us off. Due to poor planning and arriving at siesta time we missed seeing the Garrato and ended up taking a bus to Anacapri city. The city was unfortunately pretty much shut down. We walked around for a while and then took the bus back down to the port. If you plan to explore Capri make it there early in the day. Our poor planning lead to a less than amazing day. Dinner however made up for our so-so day! After looking through TripAdvisor reviews for a long while my husband found Ristorante Bar Parco Ibsen. This place seemed a little weird as we walked down the path, but it was so romantic and the food was A-MAZING!

Honeymooning in Sorrento, Italy - Ristorante Bar Parco Ibsen | Life's Tidbits

After a fantastic dinner we randomly walked past someone handing out brochures to see some new ruins. Although it was still “under construction” it was a fun way to spend 30 minutes. A little impromptu sightseeing!

Honeymooning in Sorrento, Italy | Life's Tidbits

Despite our plan to head directly to bed, so we could wake up early for the trip to Pompeii, we ended up at a little wine bar just down the street from the B&B. It was crazy – the whole main strip had been closed to traffic and people were mulling about. It was so much fun to people watch and have a glass of wine.

Day 5:

It’s our one week anniversary!! We totally overslept, but managed to rally and get to the train station. After a fairly quick train ride we arrived at Pompeii. My husband is super into the whole historical thing so we rented audio guides and headed off to see the ruins. One thing to note is we forgot to pick up a map! Seriously navigating around without a map proved to be difficult, but neither of us realized our mistake until it was too late. Thank goodness we have the Rick Steve’s book with us, which included a mini map of Pompeii. We spent the day wondering around Pompeii (and sweating a lot … Italy in August is HOT!). The husband was definitively way more into the whole experience than me, but overall it was a great day.

Things to do in Sorrento, Italy: View Pompeii for a day. Honeymooning in Italy | Life's Tidbits

Clearly since it was our one week anniversary we figured we should splurge on dinner. So we chose L’Antica Trattoria restaurant for dinner and ate a 7 course meal. It was WAY too much food, but it was also fantastic so C’est la vie. My favorite course was the pasta and shrimp with a lemon sauce served in a lemon!

Honeymoon: L’Antica Trattoria restaurant in Sorrento, Italy | Life's Tidbits

After dinner we rolled back to the B&B and hoped into bed. It was a long fun day, but we needed to rest up for tomorrow when we would be boarding the train for a long ride to our next destination. I think one more day in Sorrento would have been nice. That way we could have explore Sorrento itself a little more. This is someplace I would definitely like to return to one day.

Caio! See you in Cinque Terre!

Happy vacationing.

Tag Archives: Restaurants