Tandem Travel Tales: Cinque Terre

Riomaggiore Harvest Festival 2018

ON TO THE ITALIAN RIVIERA

Cinque Terre is one of those places that has started to boom with tourism in recent years. If you’ve ever looked at Instagram travel photos, chances are you’ve seen more than one photo of Cinque Terre. Unique in its composition, Cinque Terre is comprised of five small fishing villages dotting the cliff-filled coastline of the Italian Riviera. Considered a gem amongst most tourists, the crowds and infrastructure here reflect the hype.

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Tandem Travel Tales: Florence

WELCOME TO FIRENZE

Oh, Florence. Coming from Rome where there are plenty of tourists, but also bountiful space, Florence confronted us with situational claustrophobia. We were hopeful that the end of September was just late enough in the season that we could dodge crowds and squeak our way into some of the famous sights. In retrospect, we severely underestimated the amount of preplanning that needed to happen in order to ease the tension of the crowds and navigate Florence smoothly. However, if we were to do it again, the only thing I would change would be the not-so-forgiving stomach bug.

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Tandem Travel Tales: Rome, Take 3

ROME: THE FOOD

If you research the world’s best cuisine, Italy is often considered #1 or #2. The quality of ingredients allows for the city to be full of variety and pride. This is why we’re dedicating a whole post to our favorite food and drink. We had high hopes for delicious food experiences, but we weren’t expecting to find new and interesting bites around every corner.

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Tandem Travel Tales: Rome, Part 2

THE BAD AND THE UGLY

With as much as we’d like to glorify every day of our lives on the road, we wouldn’t be telling the truth. So we’ll get right into it with this one. Maybe you read the last post about all of the wonderful experiences we were able to have in Rome. Unfortunately, we didn’t begin our Roman adventure with sunshine and rainbows. We instead started off with… BED BUGS! Yep, those delightful little fear-mongering, filthy, blood-sucking pests. 

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Tandem Travel Tales: Rome, Take 1

ROME: THE COLLECTIVE

Brevity is impossible when describing Rome. It is a city full of life, excitement, diversity, and history. While we had an extremely testing experience right out of the gates, we quickly fell in love with Rome and made it a point to visit three separate times during our month in Italy. To top it all off, we were able to align ourselves with my grandma, Mikee, who came to visit us for her first trip to Italy.

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Tandem Travel Tales: Couchsurfing Trieste, Italy

Charcuterie @travelingintandem

WELCOME TO ITALY

Trieste is a story of a sobering and difficult time during our travels. Unfortunately, our experience and mood during our three-day stay was dominated by our accommodations. Let this, as it was for us, be more of an informative tale of how Couchsurfing can sometimes not be awesome. Needless to say, it will come with very few pictures.

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Tandem Travel Tales: The Harbor

WHAT IS WORK EXCHANGE?

Prior to leaving for this trip Steve and I spent a lot of time explaining the concept of work exchange and how we planned to participate along the way. Our initial goals were to learn new skills, give back, engage intimately with others in their personal space, and offset the cost of our travels. Having completed our first work exchange at The Harbor, we were able to experience so much more than we ever expected.

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Tandem Travel Tales: Gothenburg, Sweden

GÖTEBORG

Gothenburg is second in size and population to Stockholm and offers a variety of activities and attractions. The city is nestled on the southwestern edge of the country at the mouth of the Göta älv River which feeds into the North Sea. Offering a variety of public transit ferries, trains, and busses, Gothenburg is easy to navigate by foot. Both Brittany and I appreciate these options because they give a better feel for the city than travel by car.
As seems to be the case with many of our travels, we were fortunate enough to coincidentally overlap our visit with the annual Culturefest and EuroPride. There were venues throughout the city offering an expanse of performances along with pop-up shops and multi-cultural dining options.

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Tandem Travel Tips: Reykjavik, Iceland

ICELAND? WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?

Hi there and thanks for waiting for our first official on-the-road post on Iceland. So far we’ve traveled through Iceland, Sweden, Poland, and we just landed in Budapest. The travels have been incredible, we’ve made friends along the way, and we’re a little exhausted. So bear with me while we start formulating our thoughts and compressing our ideas. We’re also still learning to do this as a team, so while both Steve and I execute and write well, we do so very differently which has been something we’ve been working through along the way.
For those we’ve spoken with and those we haven’t, our goal here is to not only document our trip to keep friends and family updated but to also give you insight on how this trip is possible. This includes budget, time, resources for travel, work exchange advice, packing details, planning, information on Couchsurfing, and really honest insight into our lives. We’re expecting highs and lows and we’re ready to be transparent. So, that being said, onto Iceland.

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Tandem Travel Tips: Bloomington, Indiana

BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA

Bloomington, Indiana was home before starting our adventure. It has always been my home and Brittany joined after undergrad.
Our little oasis in Indiana is home to Indiana University and the heart of Hoosier Country. In this town, we are all spoiled by the amenities and industry that surround such a junction. For being a town of nearly one hundred thousand folks, there is a bounty of arts, restaurants, and recreational parks. As a long-time resident, I am excited to share some of our favorite places to visit in my hometown.

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