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My Favorite Fall Activities: Grape Stomps, Picking Apples & Pumpkin Patches
When I think about fall, I immediately drift into dreams of crackling fires, crisp mornings, changing leaves, chilly nights, hot apple cider, cozy sweaters, and pumpkin everything. Fall is one of my favorite times of the year as the holiday season begins and happiness and cheer are everywhere. The weather is usually perfect — not too hot and not too cold. It’s the ideal time to harvest the fall vegetables, which leads to some of my favorite outdoor fall activities — apple picking, grape harvesting, and visiting pumpkin patches! Last fall, I tried to attend as many harvests as I could during my time in Italy. The main one I…
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The Complete Travel Guide to Thailand
Endless temples, elephant sanctuaries, white sandy beaches, floating markets, and cuisines like nowhere else in the world. These are just a few of the things you’ll experience when visiting Thailand. Dare I say you’ll fall in love with Southeast Asia and the friendliness of its people and it will leave you wanting to return time and time again. In this complete Thailand travel guide, I will show you an overview of the experiences we had when touring Thailand for the first time. It will be broken up day by day to show how long we spent in each city and the order in which we traveled. Important note: We booked…
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Cortina d’Ampezzo | ItalybyUS
I’ve shared my favorite things to do in Cortina d’Ampezzo, located in the Italian Dolomites, with Italy by US Vicenza. You can read the full article here:Cortina d’Ampezzo – A Town for All Seasons
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We’ve Moved! A Tour of Our New Home in Germany
(March 2021 update: whew, I read back over this post and realize I had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. I’m not going to delete things out of this post, because I think it’s important for me to remember what I liked about Kaltenbrunn at first. But, this place was terrible. The dog park backyard turned into nothing but piles of poop, the small playground was nothing but a spot for dogs to pee on, and the small rooms developed mold quickly. There was drama, baby mama drama, and even more drama! We were fortunate enough to move to a bigger government house in the neighborhood called Netzaberg,…
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A Bucket List Experience: Elephant Jungle Sanctuary in Chiang Mai, Thailand
Feeding, bathing and swimming with Asian elephants at Elephant Jungle Sanctuary in Chiang Mai, Thailand was an experience I’ll never forget. I wanted time to stand still just to have the opportunity to soak in every second with the most fascinating creatures I’ve seen in my 26 years of life. It brought tears to my eyes at how beautiful and majestic these huge animals were and at the same time the amount of personality they encompassed. Seeing elephants up close and personal has been on my ever-growing bucket list for a while now. We missed our opportunity back in May 2017 when we had plans to honeymoon in Thailand. Due…
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The Best Itinerary for a Weekend Hiking in the Heart of the Dolomites
For July 4th, we celebrated our freedom and American independence by traveling to our favorite place in Italy – the Dolomites. On our very last weekend living in Italy, we couldn’t have chosen a better spot. It’s all thanks to connections made through a Facebook group that I’m an admin/moderator of – Hike the Dolomites – that I learned about Rocca Bruna Dolomiti Bed & Breakfast. If only we had found this location earlier, we would have enjoyed many more weekends here! After a fantastic weekend, I couldn’t wait to share all the details from our days at Rocca Bruna and in the Italian Dolomites. Below you will find the…
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A Tour of Our Italian Home
The time has come for us to say goodbye to our little home in (Costabissara) Vicenza, Italy after 1.5 years. Although our home will never be featured in a Southern Italian Living Magazine, I found peace and comfort inside these walls and we made some of our best memories here. From reunions and parties to new puppies and newlywed memories, we’ll always remember this place in Italy and our first home together. While the rooms in our home never had a “theme”, they somehow turned into a hodgepodge of souvenirs from our travels mixed with IKEA and government rental furniture. A unique style of decorating! We knew we wouldn’t be…
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Business Guide to Vicenza, Italy
Moving to a new place with unfamiliar faces, and especially to a new country, is overwhelming. Not knowing where to find certain goods and services can cause a lot of anxiety and frustration at first. The language barrier, transportation, opening hours – a lot of things are probably different from your previous location, at least they were for me. Luckily, as an army wife, there are a million and one Facebook groups where people can ask these questions – but for the rest of the American community living in our area, the method to find these products and/or services is basically a translated google search or trial and errors. My…
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Bikepark Lavarone: Downhill Mountain Biking in Italy
Downhill mountain biking is one of those things that I sit around and daydream about. It gives me such a thrill and adrenaline rush, unlike any other hobby of ours. The adrenaline that flows through my veins each time I accomplish a downhill track at full speed in the woods is unspeakable. I didn’t expect to have a chance to hit any trails before we moved away from Italy, because the season usually starts so late in June. But when I saw that Bikepark Lavarone was having its season opener at the beginning of June, I knew it was the perfect time for us to go! Bikepark Lavarone is awesome…
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10 Books to Add to Your Reading List This Summer
Reading provides a great escape and is the perfect way to pass the time when you’re traveling, sitting by the lake or beach, or at home during those mid-summer afternoon thunderstorms. This year I set a goal for myself to read 15 books and by the end of May, I had already surpassed that goal by reading 22 books! It was easy to fall back into reading when I had the right books and were reading ones that captured my attention, transporting me into a different world sometimes. That’s what this list of books has done for me over the last few months. Therefore, I’m here to recommend 10 books…
