Category: Meanderings Abroad
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The Philippines: Manila Day 2
After a brief rest in the morning, I had originally planned to just do some exploring of the immediate area of Makati. However, when I requested a map from the front desk asking how to get to different parts of town, they suggested that I do a three-hour tour where I could see the highlights…
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The Philippines: Manila Day 1
I arrived last night in Manila and am staying in the Makati area of town. Since I arrived late, I do not yet have an pics to share, but my first impressions are as follows: *People are quite friendly, though not necessarily helpful *Crossing the street seems to be an act of taking your life…
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Italy: Day 7 – Milan
Well, our last stop of our Italy trip ended in Milan. We took an early train on a foggy Venice morning to be sure we had enough time to see what needed seeing in Milan. Most people have said it’s not worth a long stop, despite it’s popularity for high-end shopping. However, Milan seemed to…
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Italy: Day 6 – Venice & Murano
We arrived late in Venice, but managed to work out buying a 36 hour transportation card allowing us to use the boats and buses freely during our visit. Our hotel was the Rio Alto, which was conveniently located near the famous Rioalto bridge. Once we checked in, which was a bit of a strange process,…
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Italy: Day 5 – Florence
Despite not buying tickets to the museums prior to arrival, we were able to get tickets through our hotel. When we checked out of Residenza Betta, Elizabetta, the owner was very warm and friendly to serve us a cappuccino before we headed out. After a quick breakfast, we headed to the train station to get…
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Italy: Day 4 – Tour of Tuscany
As I mentioned before, Mondays are generally the day major museums are closed. We had heard that it’s a good idea to also explore outside of Florence if we could. Since we could, we booked The Best of Tuscany Tour with WalkAbout through our hotel. Unfortunately, out of the entire week, this was the ONLY…
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Italy: Day 3 – Florence
We planned a late morning train and left our Roman accommodations with plenty of time to reach the main train station – Termini, supposedly just 15 minutes away. We were told that the tram would take us there and so we hopped on board feeling good about our timing. The worst and perhaps best part…
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Italy: Day 2 – Vatican City & Rome
Our second day started off relaxingly with a long breakfast and chatting as we planned out our day. It was our only real full day to see the rest of what was to be seen in Rome. Thus, there was no time to waste! We managed the bus 810 straight to Vatican City, where we…
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Italy: Day 1 – Rome
Originally, my mama and I had planned to do this Italy trip as her 60th birthday adventure. However, my university decided to change the vacation dates to two weeks earlier and though we couldn’t celebrate her 60th there, we were still able to enjoy our Italian adventure! Coming from opposite sides of the world, we…
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Summer 2010: Part VII
The final part of my summer brought me back full circle to New York City. Wanting a bit of a touristy experience in the City, I decided to get a hotel in the midtown area instead of troubling friends to stay with them. Also, I was still wanting to mentally refresh, so it was a…
