Europe Travel Diary | 2018

Back in May I traveled with my best friend for 12 days in Europe.
It. Was. Magical.

This insane trip literally started right when we all woke up.
Started off with Brett forgetting his passport at home, and Sam forgetting his international license. Which then led to Joyce leaving her bag with EVERYTHING in a taxi, and me having a cry fest meltdown in a foreign restaurant.
But before I get in to that........ we'll start at the beginning.
We flew from Orlando, Fl --> Atlanta, Ga. 

best almonds i've ever had ^

It's actually sad how much I love airports...literally brings out the hopeless romantic in me..meet cutes just get my heart.
But any who, from Atlanta we flew into Barcelona, Spain..and literally, so much more than I expected.

I think this whole trip I was basically just shook in awe and was just going through the motions not realizing where I really was. It was absolutely incredible.
The flight from Atlanta to Spain, I didn't sleep at alllll. It usually doesn't matter whether it's a 20 minute flight, or 15 hours, I knock the heck out. But this flight....I didn't know what to expect. Traveling with a family that's not yours, in a foreign place, not knowing anything! I was way too anxious, and excited to sleep. 

My friends brother in law has connections with delta employee, so we were able to get deltas buddy passes. Which means any flight with delta was free! Only downside, you were on a "standby" meaning whatever seats were left, that was yours. So we truly never really knew what flight we were going to get on and or if we'd be all together! So on this 13 hour flight, I was thinking every question in my head imaginable.
But joyces sister is literally a boss ass bitch and ALWAYS made it work. I'm convinced she has super powers in some way.
Also..

 < this pic was pure joy because since we never knew what seat we were going to get, when we found out we got a window seat (me) AND to sit next to each other..... pure bliss.

















So after chilling in the airport when we landed, for about an hour...trying to find a place to stay....Jessica found Hotel Regina...in
B A R C E L O N A

We had two rooms, and one had a balcony, and it was everything.
We tried to crash right when we landed, but there was too much to see.

In Spain. they party all night and wake up literally in the afternoon. So when we landed around noon, I walked out to the balcony where there was a man in his morning undies just yellin away. In that moment, I knew we weren't in America anymore.

Not even 3 blocks from our hotel was this cathedral

there were birds literally chirping and my heart was singing.... 

That night was our first dinner night, and the food..... omg the food....(everywhere really) was so. GOOD. Too good.

And the one great thing about Spain.... Sangria, Sangria, Sangriiiaaaaaa. 

There was so many sangrias to go around. Every restaurant probably, that was a main course drink.
Spains sangria is the Souths sweet tea.

Also had sardines for the first time....have to say, was not disappointed. 

The next night (and the night after that) we went to this restaurant, el guindilla, and we were soooooo obnoxious. All of the PITCHERS of sangria! We had alter ego Europe names. Brett was Bruce, who we called bruce the rest of the trip. Joyce was Jaja, Sam was Sergio, Jessica was Jolenea, and I was Serena.
We were having so much fun I think the waiters low key hated us. But it was fine because we made friends with the table next to us...this man made a joke and I almost spit my sangria out.. loved him.

A l s o..... these fries........ i was way. too. pumped.

I eyeballed this shop for 2 days and when it was finally open when we were by it, I grabbed my friend and booked it.

I mean a cone of fries!! With toppings!! Can't beat that...
I was happy to say the least.
And right across from it was this gelato shop, so of course had to hit up.

Best pistachio gelato I'll ever have in my life.

In the next days to come, we did some shopping and such, & plenty walking and exploring.

Baileys coffee saves lives. ^

^ok, and these guys sellin' the stuff.. apparently is illegal because 2 cops on bikes came through and I have never seen someone move so fast in my life. And wrap up a blanket with sh*t so so fast.
It was hilarious.

^I crack myself up..

Park De La Ciutadella is a def must on your to do list if you ever visit.
There was a guitarist at the end of the steps and I think my heart exploded...

We then Visited Gaudi's House located within "Park Guell"

We came when they were closing so didn't get to explore thattttt much, but still enough to appreciate it.

^me laughing at how un-photographer esqu i am

On our way back to the hotel on our last night, we passed a gold ole' street tap dancer.. and I loved him.

Also on our last night, we went and watched a Flamenco show!!!

During this very intimate flamenco show, Jaja, aka Joyce, decided she needed to use the restroom. So we buddy systemed it, and this girl, FALLS IN THE BATHROOM. I almost peed laughing so dang loud cause her sangria self apparently couldn't stand anymore!! It was too much.. too much fun a bathroom should have 😂

There is a chance though, Serena made a tiny appearance.

 After the show, one of the entertainers are outside...and joyce had a mega crush on him during the show, so Jaja and Jolena decide to try and talk to him!!

I was laughing so hard.
To get back to our hotel we had to walk through La Rambla. It's a little strip, but a cool little strip.
Many crepe and gelato stands on the way.. so, it was practically a must.

And plus, we needed all the sugar we could take because our flight to Rome was less than 6 hours away :)
So that night, we decided to pull our first all nighter.

At least we had a pot of coffee.
But sadly we had to say goodbye to our little Barcelona room and exchange it for....

I T A L Y.
Italy...was by far.....my favorite place....I have ever been to.

 I knew I was going to love it, but def not as much as I did.

But before I pretend and act like getting to Italy was an easy sail.... I just have to include the best part of the trip.
Joyce leaving her bag in the taxi at the airport.
With every.thing. in. it.
Moral of the story, we were all huddled in the airport deciding what our next move was. ULTIMATELY we decided splitting up was not an option, and finding a way to get joyces things back was number one.
So we got to stay an extra day in Barcelona!
We tried calling the taxi company, no luck. So we ventured over to the U.S embassy and got it taken care of. They gave her a temporary passport that lasts up to a year, so we were good to go!!
I'll never forget Sam and I's bonding moments while it took the hour or two for Joyce and Jess to finagle their way with the US embassy.
So when that was all taken care of and done with!!!

We finally landed from Barcelona to Rome.
From Rome we rented a car & drove down to Tuscany. But on the way stayed in Florence for just 2 days.
Had the CUTEST airbnb. But of course forgot to snap pics of it. (: by this point we pulled 2 overnighters...my body hates flight germs, so I got sick on this flight..but was definitely not about to let that stop me.. (bad choice because I got worse :))

Also on the plane, we made ourselves a nice little apple juice spritzer with champagne!

We were very sleep deprived by this point...lol

Renting a car is gutsy, but soooooo dannnggg epic.

Our Florence stay wasn't too long, just about 2 days..but still amaze balls. yes, just said amaze balls... hate myself too.

Our place was right in this alley way & it was a little too cool. The place was epic but the door......omg the door... had to have been there since Florence became a city 'cause that shit was authentic af. It was SO heavy we made friends with the neighbor when they heard us all struggling. It was quite the entertainment watching 4 people try to get this heavy ass door open.
And don't even get me started on the RIDE to this airbnb! The streets are extremely tiny, our little car barely fit through, but somehow we, aka jess, made it through and we all survived and it was gr8.

First night tho, of course had to be pizza!

The service in Europe is soooo different. We kept wanting to tip everywhere but it's just not a thing.
But anyway, day one was kind of short, walked around a bit and had pizza then chilled at our little home finding a next little home in Tuscany. Yes, Tuscany. Cue the beautiful tears.
So the next day Joyce and I woke up little early to explore just a little bit more before we had to venture on down south.

^me thinking about our next towns pizza.

^happiness moments before a foreign bird flew right into my face

So that ends our 2 day Florence scene and now we move on to the Sienna route!
my personal absolute, fav.
Our House. That We Stayed In. Was. Epic.

The viewsssss oh my god the views. Nothing can capture how gorgeous it was.

Right when we arrived, the nicest Italian family greeted us. And so did their 592 lb dogs.

Such gentle giants tho.

Lionel was a fan fav.

As great as the outside was, the inside took my breath away.

So authentic I think I cried.

Me and Joyce shared a loft with its own bathroom. 

In the morning I opened up the bathroom window and it was such a peaceful experience... Italian birds man, they know how to sing.

In our first day in Sienna, we drove to a town called San Gimignano. 

 

Probably my favorite drive of the whole trip & hands down went to the best restaurant of the entire trip.

 

 

The owner of the restaurant was telling us the whole history from way back when his great grandfather owned it and then he gave us a tour of inside...so stupid cute.

There was a little garden table type thing & Joyce and I grabbed our little americanos and sat ourselves down.

Right around the corner was a tiny little market shop and everything is just so fresh... 

 

I will probably never get over the taste difference in the foods. You can literally taste the noodles and probably every single other ingredient. 

The next day we traveled on to a town my camera roll calls Talamone, and Orbetello.

Had the BEST pizza of my life. 

This. This right here. Looks like nothing, but oh my lordt tastes like everything.

What's a trip to Italy without a wine tour..

From that little town, we went to Castellina in Chianti.

At this little restaurant was when everyone, and myself, noticed I was getting super sick, super fast. 

But still wasn't stopping me!! (once again, bad idea :))
The food here though......immaculate.  

 ^this was "soup" but I wasn't mad about it when my "soup" came out.

From our little lunch, our tour guide drove us to the wine making location.

 And when we came back home...our lovely Italian family made us a homemade bundt cake 😭

So that kinda concludes my favorite part of Tuscany 😭

I'm so going back....

BUT. 

LAST BUT NOT LEAST.

R O M A 

The drive to Rome was probably one of the best highlights of the trip.

 Way too fun.

And way too pretty.

The tunnels... you can see coming up, but going through them and coming out the other end...whole other level of a religious experience. 

But Rome in itself is a whole other religious experience.

CUE THE LIZZIE MCGUIRE SOUNDTRACK

We stayed in Rome for about 3-4 days, did many tours, and many cathedrals.

I think it was the first night in Rome, that we ate at this super nice, super yummy restaurant, that I was fighting back allllllll the sickness. Sam though, he knew, with his medical background, he knew yo girl was not up to par. Right when he asked, "Shelbie, are you feeling okay?" I..lostttttt it. Tears would nottttt stop. lol. I was a crying mess I had to go to the bathroom to try and at least stop them. But nope, I held in too many emotions and feelings for too long my body was just like haha, you ignore me, I ignore you. 

So after that meal we stopped in a local pharmacy and got antibiotic eye drops, throat medicine, ear medicine, and a decongestant. 

Come to find out... I had pink eye with a sinus & ear infection :)

haha :)

^at least we got  free gelato with our tour though!

And the next day, we did a segway tour!!

YES. SEGWAY TOUR. epic. worth it.

The guys that own the shop, we basically became best friends with. Gr8 dudes. Lent us their jackets because it was a little nippy out, and I told them to hella wash the one i borrowed 🙃

But this trip......

If you ever get the chance to travel with your best friend, do it. Absolutely life changing.

But there ya have it! That concludes my very long, overdue trip to Europe. Will never get over the fact it happened, and is done with...but will forever, never forget it. 😌
...and also....while I was away, someone decided to surprise me at the end of the trip..

because yo girl got engaged!!

I was lookin' a HOT ass mess getting off that plane, and he knew I was getting over pink eye and still was holding Italian food in one hand, and a ring in the other.
But now the pinterest wedding planning begins!! 

XOXO, s.