uk, ok.

several years back i met my friend marc in ireland at a conference. ever since we've tried to catch up with each other at least once a year. we've met in amsterdam and paris. he's come to milan...and this year caitlin and i went to nottingham to visit him and his partner adam.

it was awesome to travel somewhere and have to think about nothing! marc and adam planned everything and we just went along for the ride, literally...a zillion miles to be exact, but we'll get to that.

we wandered around wollaton hall...home of 'wayne manor' in the 2011 batman movie the dark knight rises.

it was so pretty.

this guy was a surprise!

#friends

we had 'american' burgers. marc needed us to give them our seal of approval.

verdict: yummmmm!

in fairness, this is barely even a burger. 

we biked 20+ miles in the peak district national park. and then walked another handful.

marc and i seem to bike a lot while traveling...tulips, Versailles...

all this exercise paid off because we went straight to bakewell, home of the famous bakewell tart. i had actually heard of this...just had no idea what it was.

reminded me a bit of paula deen's gooey butter cake

came across several groups of dancers that were entertaining. why were they there? we have no idea.

since we needed more sugar, the next morning we headed to 'doughnotts' and they were amazing. and over the top. and crazy. but so worth it.

there's no such thing as too many pictures of donuts, right?

we settled on some 'simpler' choices. comparatively speaking, one might even say boring. but i'm okay with that.

what a great weekend in the uk! thanks to marc and adam for hosting us and taking such good care of us all weekend! can't wait for our next adventure! 

#40by40

when i moved to italy in 2011 i never would've imagined the amount of travel and experiences i would be fortunate enough to have in the subsequent years.

living here, i spend my money differently than i did in the us. 

less things, more experiences. 

and so, instead of buying tons of stuff, i travel. 

with my 40th birthday looming in 2017, i set out a goal of visiting 40 countries by my 40th birthday. 

with my trip to romania in may, the goal was met!

here's my list of the 40 countries i've visited!

europe

1. austria

2. belgium

3. croatia

4. czech republic

5. denmark

6. england

7. france

8. germany

9. hungary

10. iceland

11. ireland

12. italy

13. luxembourg

14. norway

15. poland

16. portugal

17. romania

18. san marino

19. scotland

20. slovakia

21. slovenia

22. spain

23. sweden

24. switzerland

25. the netherlands

26. the vatican

27. turkey

asia

28. cambodia

29. laos

30. oman

31. philippines

32. thailand

33. united arab emirates

34. vietnam

north america

35. canada

36. mexico

37. the bahamas

38. usa

africa

39. egypt

40. morocco

here's to 40 more! 

the best spa ever!!! and other parts of romania...

in an effort to get to country #40 before my 40th birthday i had to get to romania before the school year let out.

i had tried to go in february, but had to stay behind to take my italian language exam. (btw, i passed!)

so on another random weekend in may, i jumped on a cheap ryan air flight to bucharest.

i had received some recommendations from a friend who taught in bucharest for several years, and one of her suggestions was a huge spa that had been built outside the city.

after the requisite stop at starbucks for coffee, we found a taxi and made our way out to the spa.

this spa, therme' bucharest, is quite frankly, amazing.

there are three parts to the spa and their prices are tiered. basically, the galaxy area is a water park full of fun water slides and wave pools. then there is the palm, which includes the area featured above. it includes this large pool with a large drink bar, a couple mineral pools, and a few other areas. the third area, elysium, includes multiple saunas. the cost for elysium includes the palm and the galaxy areas as well.

you can pay for the top tier entrance for three hours for 75 lei, which is 16 euro or 19 USD. if you stay longer than three hours, you pay for the additional time on your way out. towel rental is 16 lei, 3.5 euro or 4 USD.

we just loved this spa and ended up spending nearly the entire day there.

we made arrangements with our taxi driver from the spa to take a day trip the following day to peles castle outside of bucharest. we worried that this decision was not our smartest, but decided that all good travel stories come from some risky moves.

after storing our luggage at the town's very convenient luggage lockers. these are unmonitored, easy to use and handy for those with late flights. (however, it seemed that a local without proper toilet access might have also used this small storage space as his toilet, so beware.)

peles castle is located in the carpathian mountains about 80 miles outside of bucharest. i had seen some pictures and it was just so picturesque that i had really wanted to see it for myself.

our driver and his wife took us to a local restaurant and helped us order traditional romanian food.

during this trip we spent very little time in the city of bucharest, but we did wander about a little with some of our few extra moments.

view from our airbnb

what a deal!

cute window art

travel tips:
- take flip flops for the spa. without them, you'll have to buy a pair before going in.
- taxis were difficult. we used the taxify app to finally find a taxi. there were others around, but they were all unmarked and that made us nervous.
- we stayed in this airbnb. pretty good. i'd stay there again.
- prices in romania, like most of eastern europe, are pretty low! makes it a very affordable travel stop!

muuuuuuuunich!

in march i headed back to munich for another visit. i had made arrangements to visit an international school in the area for a couple of days and then spent the weekend in the city. munich has always been one of my favorite european cities since having visited there first back in 2011.

while in munich i was able to take a tour to nearby neuschwanstein castle. this castle had been on my radar for awhile, but i had never taken the time to get there.

construction of this castle began in 1869 by ludwig II. the castle is quite dreamy and photogenic from afar. it even served as the inspiration for the castle in disney's sleeping beauty.

after hiking up to the castle, i had a little extra time for some apple strudel and a stroll around the lake.

before leaving munich i had dinner with a friend and the meal was so good i'm still thinking about it! if you're ever in munich be sure to head to an nam and have the summer rolls. you'll receive a full on arrangement of goodies to customize each and every roll for yourself!

this was so delicious. 

travel tips...

pretty sure that i used radius tours for the trip to neuschwanstein. while this tour was fairly annoying...it turned out to be a good choice. usual transport for this tour is via train, but there was work happening that day and the company was able to substitute a bus. once you arrive at neuschwanstein you don't have to stay with the tour, just show up for the scheduled time for the castle entrance- this was a plus.

i stayed at hotel eder this trip. i liked this hotel, but the area directly around it was a little sketchy at night as it is fairly centrally located.