Ok guys, I am sitting here in my hostel in Czech Republic in one of the most beautiful little towns of the trip, Cesky Krumlov, and my heart is kind of clutching and, well…I’m getting a bit teary and nostalgic. Here I am taking a bit of relaxing time to finish reading my book by the pretty river that winds through the town (still reading Lolita) and all of a sudden it hits me that whole regions of this trip around the world are over.
Several other RTW travel blogs that …

Hands down one of the best days in Italy (and a top day on the RTW trip actually) was the Tuscany bike tour we signed up for –it was done on a bit of a whim since the price was a bit high at Euro 60 for the day, but after our long hard day of absorbing art and culture at the Uffizi and the Accademia, coupled with a great hostel we dug around and found on HostelBookers, we decided to splurge. Besides the pretty pictures in the brochure and the …

Thanks to the recommendation of the proprietress of the Hotel Tina (we stayed here the first two nights before heading over to the Locanda Starlight Hostel– highly recommend both!)with the beautiful Boboli Gardens done, we scheduled ourselves an appointment to see the two signature attractions in the city: the Galleria dell’Accademia with Michelangelo’s David and the Galleria degli Uffizi stocked with the most recognizable Botticelli masterpieces in the world. I can definitely wait in lines when the need arises, but the three of us agreed that it was worth …

The train landed in Florence, Italy and the city looked as indistinct as any other…but that was just the train station – hefting my backpack and setting out into the city had me quickly surrounded by a low-built city with gorgeous buildings and a impossibly small-town vibe.
Somehow I missed Florence on my first trip through Italy so this time the  fabled art and architecture and all around beauty were mine to consume for a week (and by beauty I mean the sheer and inexplicable exquisiteness that is Michelangelo’s David)
Huffing …

What RTW travel blog can be complete without the cheesiest possible shots that have been done to death by tons of people the world over in front of majorly recognizable sights? Surely not this one! No matter how cliché, Jenn and I had both never seen the UNESCO listed Piazza del Duomo in Pisa and wanted a chance to hold it up the leaning tower, knock it over, and make general fools of ourselves. Our train taking us from Cinque Terre to Florence (Firenze to the locals) passed right …

The trip to Cinque Terre is entirely for the five-hour hike that hugs the coastline and took us from the water’s edge to cliffs high above the sea, and then back down again as we passed through the five small towns. Cinque Terre is unapologetically spectacular. Some backpackers I meet scoff at the tourist beat – and Cinque Terre is definitely on the tourist beat, but to miss this gem would just be an atrocity. Even Helen loved Cinque Terre and she shuns the sun with full on red-headed …