italy recap
FOOD
My most drool and cry-worthy dishes were the fried zucchini flowers (stuffed with mozzarella and pepperoncini) that Andrea made me at San Cassiano, the lemon ravioli Laura and I shared at Gusto e Sapori, the mixed goat’s and cow’s milk ricotta and the potato, green bean, and pesto pasta at Orti di Mare, and just about everything Laura and I had at Da Augusto. The pizza at Sorbillo was absolutely unmatched and the best gelato, hands down, was the fresh and creamy Zero Gradi gelato I had on Elba. However, Gelateria del Teatro in Rome is a close second, so fresh you can see them prepping everything through a large, well lit, window from the street.
ACCOMMODATIONS
Mosaic Hostel was my first and last stop on my trip so maybe I’m biased, but the facilities were super clean, the staff very friendly and helpful, and perfectly quiet and reserved for a homebody/grandma like myself.
Hostel Mancini in Napoli was the first place that provided Laura and I the quintessential hostel experience. It was clean, had a spacious kitchen, the facilities were well maintained, the staff was so kind and informative, and we made really great friends who shared the process of immersing ourselves in a specific place.
My Airbnb in Salerno with Laura was incredible. We found a great place for a great price, super clean and cute, and with a great alternative location to see everything we wanted to see on the Amalfi Coast. To top it all off, our host was full of great suggestions and even came to pick us up at the train station despite the fact that it was only two minutes away.
Camping Plus Roma was the perfect place to get away and just RELAX. I honestly never left except for once, they had everything a person on vacation could want: tent cabins with actual beds, pristine communal showers and bathrooms, a supermarket, a restaurant, two bars, a pool, and an endless amount of potential new friends. While it’s still fairly easy to get into the center (they even offer a €3 shuttle ride to the Vatican if you don’t want to use public transportation), it is a bit of work to get there and if you’re there in the height of summer the tent cabins are basically a no-go zone in the middle part of the day because they get too hot. But with the pool, that really was no problem at all.
Freedom Traveller was really only a place for Laura and I to sleep and keep our stuff during our short stay in Rome. Because we had a private room, we were located further away from the main area of the hostel and met very few people. That being said, everything was up to par and I have no doubt that if we had stayed in a dorm we would have had a great time meeting people and interacting with the staff more.
Ostello Tramonti was alright. I made my Cinque Terre plans fairly last-minute so I was left with few options. The upsides: plenty of people to meet since there seem to be about 100 rooms, the rooms were clean, and the shuttle service into Riomaggiore (free with a three nights stay) was clutch. The downsides: location, lockout, curfew, and poor directions provided from the train station. Other than that, it got the job done!
Hostelworld is the only resource I used other than Airbnb to book all accommodations during my trip. The review system is really helpful, they offer a “hostelworld recommends” feature that ensures a great stay, and they even provide information on other forms of accommodation beyond hostels.
TOMATOES
Tomatoes are magical. I've read a few articles in the past few years about natural sources of uv-protection and had always held on to the idea that tomatoes were the best form. The lycopene in tomatoes is what supposedly makes them protect your skin from UV damage working from the inside out. For someone who wants to avoid exposure to gnarly chemicals (like those found in sunblock creams) this is a great alternative. I have never believed in their power as much as I do now after my trip; while on Elba, where the UV rating is very high in summer, I did not apply sunscreen once nor did I ever receive a sunburn. I attribute this to the large quantity of both cooked and raw tomatoes that had entered my diet. But hey, I’m no scientist. I would usually have tomatoes in salad at lunch and then at dinner would have a bowl of pasta with tomato sauce and a huge side bowl of diced tomatoes covered in olive oil.
ALOE
Aloe is also quite magical. When I have any kind of stomach problems, aloe vera juice seems to fix me up right quick. I also used it to soothe my mosquito bites and noticed that the inflammation and itching would subside drastically within hours. Rosie also told me that once when she got the worst sunburn of her life in Hawaii she mixed fresh aloe and coconut oil, lathered it on her aching skin, and woke the next morning to find herself pain-free and beautifully bronzed.
MOSQUITOES
Mosquitoes, much like the French language, are not my friend. After receiving hundreds of bites in Yosemite a few years ago and witnessing them flying through Off bug spray to get to me I had kind of given up hope that anything could help. Mosquitoes are abundant in Italy so I was keen to find something, anything, that could help and received a few suggestions from friends that I was willing to try. Avon Skin So Soft lotion as well as Johnson’s Baby Creamy Oil both have quite ridiculous names and both also do a fairly decent job at warding off mosquitoes. If I had to rate them, I would say the Avon product worked better but both seemed completely useless unless they were freshly applied, i.e. if you were sweating through the lotion working at pulling weeds all day, it wasn’t going to be much help, but if you put some on before a night out it seemed to work pretty well.
QUICK TIPS
World Nomads offers great, affordable, travel insurance that was very flexible, straightforward, and offered me peace of mind for my trip. Changes can be made easily, even while you’re traveling, and I’m sure if I had needed it I would have had very little hassle.
The Charles Schwab Visa debit card was recommended to me by Karin and it is awesome. Because it’s Visa it’s accepted pretty much everywhere, it works at all ATMs, and for any fees that you incur from withdrawing money, they refund back to you at the end of every month. I was a little worried that it was too good to be true and maybe I would get slammed with conversion rates but those were also superb. I always seemed to get the best rate possible on every withdrawal.
Skyscanner is so far unmatched in terms of churning up the cheapest flight options. I think I will continue to use it in the future and strongly suggest it to all of you looking to score some cheap airfare.
Norwegian Airlines ended up being exactly what I paid for, and for someone like me who could care less about comfort and luxury, that was excellent. On my flight to Rome I somehow scored free beverages and meals but discovered on my return flight that free food and drink are not the norm for the airline, you won’t even get a free cup of water so plan ahead.
Google Voice has got to be the cheapest way to make phone calls around, if anyone knows anything cheaper, do tell. I paid €10 at the beginning of my trip for a credit and at 1 cent per minute, talking with my dad for three hours a week every week, I didn’t even come close to using it all. So if you want a cheap way to stay in touch with family and friends back home, Google Voice is your best bet, all you need is a Google account, a WiFi connection, and to pay for the credit as you go!
Thanks so much for sharing my trip with me!
