Mount Solaro, Villa San Michele, and Del Faro on Isle of Capri

Last day on Isle of Capri. Decided to walk from Hotel Carmencita to the chairlift that goes up Mount Solaro. It was very peaceful and tranquil. I had to laugh when one guy passing me on his way down answered his cellphone.

It could  have been rough or windy, but it was actually quiet, smooth, and peaceful. It takes about 30 minutes around trip.

I don't like to shop and I took one small carry on so my shopping was limited. I bought two small dipping bowls for olive oil, an apron, and a wine stopper.

For 7 Euros we decided to stop in at Villa St. Michele. Awesome. It was absolutely beautiful and an interesting story.

Rubbing the sphinx for luck

Headed to the beach in the evening for sunset, seafood, and cocktails. We went to Del Faro which is beautiful.

Isle of Capri and Hotel Carmencita

The Isle of Capri is beautiful. This was the laid back part of our  trip. Our room at Hotel Carmencita (Anacapri) was perfect. It was close to the bus stop, the city square, and the family that ran the hotel are wonderful. See photos below.

Our 2nd day in this beautiful city, we decided to take a boat tour. It was only about an hour or so long. We bought the tickets at the hotel. We went around the entire island and stopped at the grottos. The famous blue grotto was packed to the gills with tourists boats so we were not able to go inside. Well we could have, if we wanted to sit in a boat and wait for three hours. We were fine with viewing the Internet photos and having the three hours to ride the Funicular and have a nice lunch.

The bus ride anywhere on the island is approximately $2 USD each.

This is the Arch of Love. We made sure and kissed as we went through the arch.

Funicular

 Hotel Carmencita

We did not buy a selfie stick until we got to Rome....so this is the old fashioned kind of selfie.

Rome to Naples to Capri

Our Italy trip was the yen and yang of trips. The relaxing beautiful waters of Capri followed by running around Rome chasing 25-year old archaeologists/tour guides for 8 hours a day. The first part of the trip was to Capri.


We arrived in Rome from London about midnight. There were no shuttles, cabs or hardly any people at the airport. Five of us jumped into a 'gypsy' cab. Nick and I alone paid $35 for a five minute ride, but we felt like if we didn't take this cab, we might be stuck at the airport overnight.

We stayed at the Hilton Rome Airport. The room was fine and we had free breakfast in the morning. After breakfast, we hopped in a cab to go to Roma Termini (train station). London had Audis, BMWs, Mercedes. Rome has tiny clown cars and there is a reason for that. Traffic is terrible. Nicky and I had a conversation about what would it take to get a traffic ticket in this country. We are pretty sure they don't have them. All the cars are dented and crashed. This was quite the ride. It seemed we were going about 90 mph on the highway and our driver was tailgating other clown cars. However, in Rome, they are polite about it. When someone is tailgating, the lead driver pulls into the middle lane and lets the tailgater pass. What a concept. I would love to see that happen on the Bush.

View out train window

Roma Termini is crowded and lots of beggars. We paid a woman $10 to show us how to get train tickets and find our platform. I think this train was about $100 for the both of us and no frills. This was the Frecciarossa train. The ride was a little over an hour. You get assigned seats in a specific car. Each train ride we had to walk a mile as our cars were always at the end.

We got to Naples. The traffic is scarier here than Rome. We took a cab to the port. I'm wearing my capris for Capri. Plus, I heard Jacqueline Kennedy always wore her capris in Capri with her custom-made sandals. I'm wearing my super comfortable Skechers with memory foam that are washable. I bought two pairs just for this trip and that was a great investment, but not real cute.

The large boat that says SNAV is the fast ferry.

Next was the high speed ferry to Anacapri which took about 45 minutes. This ferry had a bar onboard. The one on the way back did not. 




We arrived in Capri. We had no working phones.....or so we thought. We needed to call for the hotel shuttle, but instead we stopped at Limoncello Cafe where we had Limoncellos and connected to their Wifi.

My man with a smile on his face

Italian lemons are HUGE

So I'm sitting there and I hear a familiar sound. Bruno Mars. It's my ring tone. I answer the phone and its my son wishing me a Happy Mother's day. My phone was accepting Wifi calls in Italy. We decided to just take a cab because we were too challenged to make a European phone call. When we told the cab driver where we were staying, he called the hotel shuttle for us and wouldn't take our money. Everyone was super friendly and nice in the Isle of Capri.

Shuttle ride to hotel

For dinner, we went to Materita. It is on the square by the church. The church bells go off every 15 minutes. Kids, dogs, babies everywhere in the square. Kids run around chasing pigeons. Me and Nick joked the entire trip that we were going to "kick a pigeon". No worries. No animals were injured or kicked on this trip.  Nick had  Margherita pizza and I had pasta with shrimp. The pasta in Italy is very al dente which was okay with me. So the shocker here. I've only had pickled olives out of a jar. Here I had a 'real' olive not pickled and it was awesome. 

Dallas to London for a Day

Thursday, May 7th we flew from Dallas to London (9 hours). We left at 3:40 pm and arrived around 7 am. The intent was to sleep on the plane. That did not happen.

The original plan, which seemed okay before this flight, was to store our luggage at the airport, tour Windsor Castle, and have lunch before boarding our flight to Rome later in the day. It was going to be more than $60 to store four bags for a few hours and then car service was going to be about $80, and did I mention we were tired? 

We went to guest desk at airport and asked if they could locate a room that we could check in at 8 am and leave later in the afternoon. Well, hello Heathrow Marriott Hotel. We went to hotel, brushed our teeth, and took a nap.


After the much needed nap, we asked the concierge where a good place for lunch would be and he suggested The Pheasant Inn. We walked there and ate with the locals.

Everyone was dressed in suits or business casual and drinking quite a bit of alcohol (mostly Stella Artois). We were in hoodies and jeans.

We couldn't figure out the lunch thing. There was a separate area for table service in a swanky looking area (we read that to mean expensive) and there was not a single person in that area. We wanted to eat on the patio.

We decided to do what the locals were doing...if we could figure it out. 

The place was like a zoo. After some people watching, we figured it out. I stood in a line at the bar to get beers and Nick stood in a very long line to order food. Nice teamwork.

After you order the food, they give you a spoon with a number and bring your food to your table when it is ready. Kind of like McAlister's Deli, but two lines. It took an hour to order and get food, but it was worth it.

Nick had Bangers and Mash and I had an open-faced roast beef sandwich with horseradish sauce and lots of sides. This was an awesome meal. With a couple of large beers it was about $40 USD.

Later in the afternoon, we went back to London Heathrow to get checked in for our 8pm flight to Rome.

I had no idea that I was supposed to take my tablet out of my backpack. I thought it was only laptops. There were no instructions at security. My tablet was fine in my bag at DFW. Au contraire in London.

My suitcase made it through unscathed. This little bag held all my clothes and shoes for a 10-day trip. I packed my clothes in gallon baggies and smooshed the air out of the bags. I think that helped.

I also brought a small backpack for my toiletries, tablet, phone, books, a sea of adapters, books, and chargers. Anything I might want easy access to while on the plane.

My backpack went to the 'secure' area. I had to wait behind the other losers who were tagged. The TSA agent eventually dumped everything out of my bag. She individually swabbed every item in my bag. Then, she took my tablet and sent it back through the x-ray machine and informed me, not very nicely, that the next time I came through Heathrow I needed to take my tablet out. Did I mention that Nick had his iPad in his backpack and his bag went through fine? But don't worry, Nick's bags might have made it through security, but Nick got his turn at a body search at Heathrow. I laughed as I typed that.

So the next time I went through Heathrow, I took my tablet out and guess what? They 'secured' the bin with my tablet and a few other assorted items and swabbed it all. Oh, and Nick's iPad was just fine again. He did not get body searched the second time around. I think they hate me or Samsung tablets. Urgh. 

Before boarding, we went for dinner at the airport. Again, this restaurant had two sections: table service and NOT table service. We sat in NOT table service. We went to the bar to order food and drinks and the bartender brought the food to the table when it was ready. 

This was the only day that we did not follow our itinerary.

Toilets, Electrical Outlets, and Wifi in Europe (England and Italy)

Today, I'm here to give some practical information about toilets, electrical outlets, and Wifi in Europe. I was smart enough to know that I needed an electrical adapter for Italy. That is the only thing I was smart about. In photo, the adapter is behind the three-outlet tap. 

We borrowed two adapters for our trip. In Italy the outlets are two round holes. I decided one outlet was not enough because we needed to charge two phones, two tablets, and a camera each night. A quick trip to Family Dollar fixed that. I bought a $2.25 package of two three-outlet tap thingys to attach to the two adapters so we could charge up to six items simulataneously.

I did not realize that London has different electrical outlets. They have two rectangle holes. We did find one outlet in the bathroom that fit our Italian adapter so we were able to charge our items. The hotel was also kind enough to offer to loan us adapters to use while we were there. 

The first day in London I declared that our toilet was not working. No water was flowing. I had a little toilet paper in the toilet and it wouldn't go down. I flushed about 10 times and was getting ready to call front desk. Nicky, in is infinite wisdom, let me know that I had to pump the toilet. Wow. So this toilet had a cylinder in the wall and you pumped it a few times and then flushed. The next toilet I encountered in London had a handle on the toilet, but you also pumped it up and down a few times before flushing. You can't pump too hard or you do a bad flush. Dexterity is a must. 

In Italy, the toilets are similar to US toilets, but the tanks are behind the walls. No pumping is involved, but they have a number one and a number two button. Number one (small button is for just that). Number two (large button is for just that).

I have cheap MetroPCS in the states. I did turn on International calling (not sure what good that did, but it is only $10). All hotels have Wifi and almost every restaurant we went to except one had Wifi. This made it a breeze to map things, load pics to Facebook, and even make Wifi calls to the states. On Mother's day, I was sitting on the Isle of Capri and my Bruno Mars ring tone went off. It was my son calling  me to wish me a Happy Mother's day. I was able to call my mom while sitting on a patio having lunch overlooking the ocean with a Limoncello.

Another tidbit, have cash. Lots of cabs didn't take credit cards. You also need a credit card with a chip in it at most places. Many hotels let us charge the room, but wanted cash for all other charges. Some places had a minimum amount in order to use a credit card. We spent plenty of time at ATMs.

European Vacation 10 days

We almost look Photoshopped in with our bright colors.

I have been wanting to visit Italy for the past 20 years and no one would go with me. Must be my charming personality.

Anyway, Nick agreed to go with me (as he is my boyfriend and it was my 50th birthday request). That is me giving Nick a thank you kiss at Lido Del Faro beach in Capri as we do a selfie.

Lido Del Faro beach

I had told my coworkers a few months how long I had wanted to go on this trip, but it was just too much work to plan it. I was ready to just throw in the towel and go to the British Virgin Islands,  drink PainKillers, and lie on the beach. My coworkers convinced me to get my act together and plan my dream trip. I thank them so much for pushing me. It was a wonderful trip.

Due to both of our jobs, we had to wait a while to book flights and we had to move the trip up a week. After the wait, we could no longer get nonstop flights between DFW and Rome. We went May 7 to May 17th, 2015.  I got home three days before my birthday, but that is fine by me. It was an awesome trip and the weather was absolutely beautiful.

I'm going to blog over the next few days as time permits with reviews, pictures, and prices of the hotel rooms, food, and tours.

Below is a rundown of the transportation and hotels.....urgh. 

• Flight to London Heathrow (9 hours and TSA hates me there...details to come later). 
• Stay a few hours during the day at the Marriott to nap off jet lag and have lunch with the locals.
• Flight to Rome (2 hours). 
• Arrive late at night and cab it to Hilton Rome Airport.
• Wake up and cab it to Roma Termini (central train station).
• Take train Trenatalia to Naples.
• Cab it to port Molo Beverello.
• Fast ferry over to Isle of Capri.
• Take hotel shuttle to Hotel Carmencita. This sounds like a lot of traveling, but only took half a day.
• Spent three wonderful days in Capri.
• Shuttle back to port Marina Grande.
• Fast ferry to Naples.
• Train to Rome, but this time took Italo (with wifi) to Roma Tiburtina (much more laid back than Termini.) Again about half day of traveling.
• Stayed three chaotic, wonderful days at Relais Navonna 71 on Piazza Navonna.
• Flight to London Heathrow late in evening so stayed overnight at Double Tree Westminster.
• A few hours to slink around London.
• Cab it to Heathrow airport (Again they hate me).
• Fly to Chicago (eight hours?).
• Fly to Dallas (2.5 hours).

This vacation was the Yin and Yang of trips. Yin was the hectic running around trying to catch up with 25-year old archaeologists as they run you through the ruins. We were on our feet for hours at a time. As Nick said "My dogs are hurting". Yang was the most beautiful relaxing water and beaches of Capri. The people were friendly in Italy, but even more friendly in England....except Heathrow where they hate me.