Flashback

It's time to get off of my Negative Nancy horse and move on to more happy things!  This post is going to be a bit of a flashback and will include a ton of pictures.  Probably way more pictures than you want to see, and way more information than you care to read!  

Last year at this time we were packing our bags and heading off to our honeymoon.  Yes, we went over a month after our actual wedding date, but there was a reason for that.  We had a few events we needed to be at throughout the week after our wedding and the ship we were cruising on only sailed once a month.  Originally, we could not decide if we wanted to go on a cruise or travel to Italy.  We decided to combine the two and go on a Mediterranean cruise.  We had a hard time deciding what cruise line and ship to choose, but ended up going with Carnival (I had been on one of their ships before) because it was the best bang for our buck and it was a brand new ship.  By brand new, I mean that we were literally the second sailing for the ship.  How awesome!

Our plan for the trip:  Travel to Barcelona, Spain a day early so we could check out the city and relax after the international flight.  Board the ship (Carnival Breeze) on day 2 and sail to all of the planned ports.  Return to Barcelona and make the long flight home.  Oh, if only things always went as planned!  You may get bored with this story, but it is too funny to us (and some of our family!) not to share!

Day 1:  Travel to BWI (Baltimore) to make the flight to Philadelphia and then connect to Barcelona. Yes.  Our first flight was from Baltimore to Philadelphia.  Had we known this, we would have opted out of the first flight to begin with.  Oh.. if only we had known.  We got to Baltimore two hours before our flight.. which was pointless.  There were storms in the area that day.  Our flight time came and went and still no plan sitting on the tarmac.  Ugh.  The staff informed everyone that was to connect to an international flight that they were going to miss their flight.  You have got to be kidding, right?  WTF.  (Keep in mind here that I can get fired up pretty darn easily!)  I call our travel agent.  She calls the airline. Sure enough, we are going to miss our flight.  She will find us something else.  In the meantime, the plane finally shows up.  We board (while the staff in Baltimore just tells us to go to Philly and they will direct us from there.. HA) and make the flight.  Twenty minutes from take off to touch down.  That pilot was not messing around.  Sure enough, as we touched down, our connecting flight took off.  Super.  

Back on the phone with our travel agent.  She says go to the international terminal and go to customer support.  If you have ever flown in or out of Philly, you know there are five terminals.  And you need a shuttle to get from one to the other.  We flew in to F, and we needed to be in A.  Of course.  On to the shuttle we go.  We get to customer service (while I am still on the phone with our travel agent) and they tell us they have nowhere for us go to.  Our agent says she got us on another flight (to Frankfurt!  Again.. WTF?) that was currently boarding.  We just needed the customer service lady to get our luggage pulled and put on the correct flight.  Her response, I can't do that.  You will not have your luggage by the time you board your cruise ship.  Now I am hot.  This woman was not cooperative and did not understand my request.  Ohhh.. so mad.  She also says we are not on the flight my agent says we are.  Ok, I am done with this lady.  Off to the gate our agent just told us to go to.  Yes!  We are on this flight.. but we need to print our boarding passes.  Ugh.  We print them.  Great!  Matt is in row 4, I am row 24.  Super.  A nine hour flight 20 rows apart.. on our honeymoon.  At least our agent has informed us that she personally called baggage and ensured our luggage was on this flight.  How great is she?

We board the plane and prepare for the long overnight flight.  Luckily, (for us) two people missed the flight (that might I add, was held specifically for us) so we were able to move seats and sit together.  Nine hours later we land in Frankfurt.  We now have two hours to claim our bags, get through customs, and then board a German flight.  Luftansa.  All in Germany.  Matt speaks no German.  I can count and give you the days of the week.  We get through customs (this was by far the cleanest and most organized airport I have EVER been in!) and find a super nice customer service rep who got us our tickets, checked our bags, and sent us on our way.  An hour later, we are in the air eating some nasty German snack from the airline.  Seriously.. Matt even said it was nasty.

Finally!  23 hours later, we land in Barcelona!  Thank goodness we planned that extra day in between!  We got to our hotel, took a half hour power nap, and headed out to explore the city.  What we saw was beautiful!

This is how excited we were about having to change flights.

Familia Sagrada.  Look it up.  So amazingly beautiful!

By this time, exhaustion had set in, and we knew we had another long day when we woke up.  We woke up Saturday morning (Day 1), got some breakfast, and then took the shuttle to the port.  We were able to check in and board the ship pretty much immediately.  But not before we bought some wine to take with us!  We did some exploring and the ship was pretty awesome.

Day 2: Monaco.  Holy beautiful.  This place is only about 3 square miles, but it is breathtaking.  We were told that if you wanted to purchase a 500 sq ft apartment here, you would only need a measly 1.5 million dollars.  Pocket change!  We even saw the prince while we were exploring!  Monaco is known for the Monte Carlo and their casino and yachts and famous, wealthy people that drive some kick ass cars.  The casino has a dress code and charges just to get in.  

The casino.

We all have one of these in our garage, right?

Day 3: Florence and Pisa.  Our days were literally jam packed.  The first half of our day was spent in Florence.  I really wanted to do the Jersey Shore tour (yes, I love trashy reality tv) but time did not allow!  We did get to see some beautiful sights, thought!

It was good luck to rub this guy's nose.

Our afternoon was spent in Pisa.  Yep, that tower really does lean.  A whole lot!  You can walk inside of it, but only 30 people at a time so it doesn't fall over.  Seriously!

Day 4: Rome.  Matt had been to Rome before, so we did our own walking tour.  We literally busted our butts and saw every single thing we wanted to see!  It was amazing!

Spanish Steps

Trevi Fountain 

Pantheon 

St. Peters Basilica

Day 5: Naples, Capri, and Amalfi.  Ok, this was by far my most favorite place.  We docked in Naples, then took a boat to Capri.  This place was so peaceful.  I could live here!  We had a delicious lunch here and then took another boat along the Amalfi Coast into the town of Amalfi.  We were able to explore here for an hour or so, and then we took a bus up one of those roads you see on tv.  Zig Zagging back and forth, higher and higher.  

Capri

I could not get enough of this water!

Amalfi Coast

Day 6:  Finally!  A relaxing day at sea.. spend lounging by the pool!

Day 7: Dubrovnik, Croatia.  The water here was by far the prettiest I have ever seen.  We spent the morning at a pebble beach, and then toured the old city in the afternoon.  The city it still surrounded by a stone wall that was used to protect them during their Civil War.

Day 8:  Another day at sea capped off with a beautiful sunset.

Day 9: Venice - Murano, Burano, and Torcello.  We decided to avoid the main island of Venice and go see some of the smaller, quaint places.  Matt had been to the main island before and said I would enjoy these much more.  We started the morning in Burano, where they are known for making lace.  This place was silent and colorful!  Then we traveled to Torcello where we got to see a wedding (only 20 people live on this island!) and eat another delicious Italian lunch!  We then went to Murano where they are known for making glass.  We got to watch a factory worker make a few things, and then of course were sent into the gift shop where the cheapest thing was almost $2000.  We ended the day with a boat ride past Venice to see some of the famous sites, including Elton John's house!

Elton John's house..

Each color represents a family name!

It was literally 130 degrees in this place!

Day 10:  Sea day.. which consisted of many naps and dips in the pool!  We were getting pretty exhausted at this point with 11 hour back to back tours!

Day 11:  Messina, Sicily.  Hmm.. we did not do any excursions here.  We were going to do Mt. Etna, but they said we did not have a good chance of seeing it because of the fog.  Instead, we decided to venture on our own.  We referred to this place as the ghetto of Italy. It was pretty dirty, but had pretty good shopping district.

Day 12:  We ended with one final day at sea.  One last day of relaxation!

Day 13:  We got off the boat and traveled to the airport.  Our luggage arrived an hour after us.. which left no time for breakfast.  Grr.  Our flight from Barcelona to Philly was nice and event-less.  Once we landed in Philly, we had to claim our bags, go through customs, and then take the lovely shuttle from terminal A back to terminal F.  Then re-check our bags and board our flight.  All within 40 minutes.  After a few sprints we made it to our gate as they were boarding.  Yes!  And then we sat on the tarmac for over an hour while they cleaned up a fuel spill.  Ugh.. we had NO luck with our travel days on this trip!

We finally arrived back in Baltimore and made the hour drive home!  Home really is where the heart is!  Our trip was absolutely amazing and I would do it over and over again, but it was also nice to be home!

I know this was a LOOOOOONG post filled with more pictures than you ever wanted to see, (and probably more information than you ever wanted to hear) but this was a trip that we truly enjoyed and love to look back on, especially this week!

As for our cycle updates, nothing much right now.  I am on week 2 of 3 of the BC pills.  My baseline ultrasound is in less than two weeks, and then the fun begins!

We are now off to my parents for the day to spend time with family at my Grandma's public Estate Sale.  So bittersweet.  Happy Hump Day everyone!