Tag: italy

The trip of a lifetime

by Stacy Ziegler, posted in Home Exhcange, Lifestyle, Travel

To say it was the trip or adventure of a lifetime almost does not do it justice. It was several adventures, some I could never have even imagined (hiking the Ligurian Riviera in Varigotti makes Cinque Terre look like an afterthought) even though I was the one planning it! We spent 88 days traveling. We visited 7 countries and stayed in 18 cities. We took a few day trips (Greve in Chianti, Amalfi, Sorrento and a few others but we did not stay overnight) This post is going to be an overview of the trip with budget travel tips. In the future, I will add a separate post highlighting the places we stayed, what we loved and what we didn’t. Italy deserves it’s own post since that is where we spent the most time and the country I want to return to again and again.

Let’s begin!

This trip needed to be as affordable as possible while not skimping on why we were there, the food and the history. I spent hours researching ways to cut cost, travel hacks, tips, tricks, etc. and now I will share them with you.

It started about a year ago, contacting others on home exchange apps. My goal was to cover as much of our trip as possible through home exchanges to reduce our costs and “live like a local.” We connected with several families from across the globe and had successful stays in Barcelona, Montpellier, Paris, Marseille,Bologna, Florence, Varigotti, Rome, and Santorini. We texted and video called with everyone we were exchanging with to ensure it was a good fit on both sides. We were the newbies on the scene whereas everyone we exchanged with had done so numerous times before and had great reviews from people they hosted or who hosted them. In using home exchange, we had all but 5 days of our trip covered. We used these days to travel to our next exchange site. Communication from our guests was fabulous. There were no real issues and everyone left our home the way the found it. We now have friends from across the globe and it has enriched our lives and expanded our appreciation for other cultures and lifestyles tremendously.

Once in Europe, most of our travel was by high speed train with a few short flights. We only rented a car once and that was in Santorini. Ryanair, if you can stand it, got us there from Paris and returned us to Marseille for less than $50 euro each, including baggage. If you book your train months in advance, you can usually get business or first class seats for just a few euro more than 2nd class (and totally worth it) regional and local trains were roughly 1-10 euros. We stuck with Trenitalia in Italy, booking exclusively on the app. It was extremely easy to use and the app would usually know the platform before it was posted on the boards at the station. SNCF was great for travel in France and they even have a high speed train from Barcelona to Paris, book early and look for promo codes. We also only traveled with a carry on and a backpack It can be done! If you chat with anyone who travels extensively, they would likely agree that most people always overpack. Had we not needed different clothes for formal nights on the cruise, it would have been a piece of cake. I ended up utilizing vacuum bags for my clothes and a lot of strategic layering . After the third or fourth location, we had it down to a science and even managed to bring back a few goodies from Italy.

To get to Europe, we booked a repositioning transatlantic cruise through Princess. The cost was in line with what we would have paid for airline tickets alone and now we have transportation, 14 nights of lodging, food and entertainment! The cruise departed Fort Lauderdale for Barcelona with stops in Madeira (Portugal) Cadiz, and Malaga. All of the ports were great but my favorite was Cadiz. I was very apprehensive about taking such a long cruise. I am prone to motion sickness and the last (and only) cruise I had taken before was less than a pleasant experience. Armed with Scolpamine, I booked a mid ship, lower stateroom to minimize the motion. There was only 1 day where I really felt it, 3 days into the trip in the middle of the Atlantic. The internet the cruise line swears is the best in the business, went out for 5 days. 5 days! Despite my initial hesitation in going on the cruise, a little sea sickness combined with the internet going down, we had an absolutely fantastic time. So much so that we booked another cruise for Lisa’s birthday next year!

Ok so we have accommodations covered and transportation to Europe but how to get back? One way tickets are notoriously expensive. I began to search for mileage or reward flights since I had a ton of points through my Chase card. I have scored many one way flights on United and JetBlue for as little as 5,500 miles. (Our flight to NYC and back over the holidays was a grand total of 40k for two, round trip, non stop tickets) I just transfer however many points are needed directly from Chase to the airline. To my dismay, I could not find such deals this time around so I began to look at the cheapest one way tickets I could find, Turkish Airlines kept coming up. I looked at their miles and smiles reward flight and it does not partner of Chase. Bummer! They had a promo running for business class seats at only 45k miles. This is beyond a good deal but I didn’t have miles and smiles points, so what’s a girl like me to do? Well, if you know me, you know once I find a way, I have the will to either make it happen or positively know that it cannot be done. Googling, “Miles and Smiles credit card partners” pointed me to two cards, Capital One and Citi. Citi just so happen to have a card with an 80k point sign up bonus! (This number fluctuates) I applied, was approved, used the card to pay for the cruise and other things (You have to spend $4,000 in the first 3 months to get the bonus) and patiently waited for my bonus points while crossing my fingers that Turkish didn’t sell out of those seats in the meantime.

It all came together! We flew out of Rome, changed planes in Istanbul and flew back to Mexico. It did make the 15 hour flight back much more enjoyable and we were actually able to sleep. Yes, it was the scenic route but if I get to hang out longer in a free business class seat, I consider that to be the cherry on top of the trip of the trip of a lifetime!

That happened…again

by Stacy Ziegler, posted in Early Retirement, Empty nest, home exchange, Inspirational, Lifestyle, Mexico, Travel

Months have passed since the last entry, I am beginning to think I should rename this my quarterly blog site.

The events since October have been continuous. We have had a steady stream of visitors; my kids, my coworkers and my friends have all made the trip down with Lisa’s niece (and her family), mother/step father, sister (and her family) One of our most memorable guests was my best friend who came down (with her family) and her husband in mid October to celebrate their 25 year wedding anniversary. Lisa performed the ceremony and we honored the local culture with offerings and Copal, it was magical. Lisa’s dad and step mom are coming next week though they are treating themselves to a week at an all inclusive resort in Playacar before they stay with us for a few nights. My youngest son came down in November and we flew back to Washington with him in December due to a sudden tragic loss of my other best friend’s daughter.

We completed our first Home Exchange in NYC over the holidays, which was really living out a life dream of mine. Despite the absolutely awful, freezing cold wind directed directly into our eyes, we managed to make it to the Christmas Eve showing of The Rockettes, “Christmas Spectacular” and spectacular it was! It felt surreal and dreamlike, as if we were in a movie. We also went out to Coney Island on New Years day to grab a hot dog and people watch those who were crazy enough to participate in the polar bear plunge. We dined at several places but our favorite had to be Pig Heaven, where we had Christmas Dinner. Their ribs…no words to do them justice. They were so tender, flavorful, finger licking sticky, pieces of deliciousness. We were lucky enough to be within a few blocks of everything, including the subway. We were just a block down from an actual speakeasy, the concoctions were impressive! We spent a fair amount of time in the apartment, enjoying the breathtaking view from the corner apartment, snacking on charcutier trays, and delighting in foods we cannot get here. After meandering through numerous parks, ferry landings, subways, burrows, etc. we wrapped up our trip by visiting Summit One Vanderbilt. If you go, you should book well in advance if you are aiming for sunset or a night time visit.

Rockefeller Center Tree/ Drinks at the UES / Vanderbilt One

I have spent endless hours planning ,messaging, and prepping for our next big adventure. The ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME! Really, it is. I have planned this for months and I know the odds of ever being able to do it again are slim. When we retired, our goal was to travel. The big question became how to do that on a sustainable level where we were not just blowing through our savings. Through Home Exchange, we have found many others, like ourselves, who want to reasonably travel. Our first exchange in NY was perfect. It was beyond perfect really, we have friends in NY now and we plan on exchange with them again in the future. I don’t expect all of our exchanges to go that well but being able to text, call or video chat with our incoming guests have made this a much more comfortable experience for all. We have 87 days of travel ahead of us. 15 of those days will be on a cruise across the Atlantic. From there, we have reciprocal exchanges lined up for Montpellier, Marseille and Florence. We are allowing other Home Exchangers to use our home for guest points, which act as currency. In return, we had enough guest points to cover our stays in Barcelona ,Paris, Rome and Santorini. We are planning a minimum of a week per city and almost 2 weeks in Rome as we want to use it as a base to explore Naples, Pompeii, Sorrento, etc. We are only paying for accommodations for 6 out of those 87 days. A highlight of Home Exchange is being able to “live like a local.” Hosts are happy to provide information on where to eat, visit, etc. that can’t be found in a travel guide 😉

As for life in Mexico, it is still just as great and full of surprises and adventures as it has ever been. Lisa had to see a dermatologist for a suspicious mole. She was able to be seen in 3 days, it cost 1300 pesos (65 dollars) and the doctor was fantastic. She took Lisa’s medical history herself and spent about 45 minutes with us discussing concerns and what to look out for. She even had me look through her dermascope so I could see for myself what she was seeing. We also had to go through a process of changing out our license plates and registering the car for this year. It was not hard to do but one does question the logic behind making everyone change their plates every 3 years, at the same time. The lines in some places were hours long, I lucked out on a rainy day at a satellite office where it only took me 20 minutes.

When we returned from NYC, we did talk about possibly buying another home back in the States but then we were reminded of all the reasons we left. Sometimes it feels like we are on perpetual vacation and coming back from NY felt like we were coming back to a vacation house and not a home but that is exactly what we need it to be for the next few years. Who knows what the future will bring. Especially in regards to taking care of parents, helping out with grandkids (one day, I hope!!) or other unknowns but until then, we are going to travel travel travel and continue living our best lives!