WoW 11: Bambino Takes on Italy
WoW: 11 Bambino Takes on Italy!
Reminiscing on our memories in Italy and hoping to capture our highlights (and lowlights) in this time capsule.
Backing up the story, we decided before we ever got pregnant that we would love to spend our future theoretical child’s Birthday in a new place every year. We have always found such value in experiences and thought it would be a way to keep a piece of “us” alive and spend some uninterrupted true quality time with our child to be making memories together.
Fast forward to May 2021 - Anderson was born! In true Starback fashion, even after sleepless nights and wild parenting whoa’s the first few months we decided to go ahead and start planning his first Birthday trip somewhere overseas. We landed on Italy. Tara had been to Italy, though only the Northern part. Mitch had never been. For the first time ever, Tara relinquished some of her superpower and love for planning all things travel… and we booked through the Costco Travel Site. We decided on a trip that spent half the time in Rome and half the time in Sorrento to get a taste for both city and coastal life. The process through Costco was great, super easy, and when I priced out what we booked if we would have done it on our own, we were saving THOUSANDS of dollars so I would highly recommend.
Fast forward to May, 2022 we left on our first whirlwind international adventure with a baby. We of course flew Delta. We tried to prepare as best we could for the flights but really didn’t know what to expect being in the air that long with a baby for the first time. We had one layover on the way there and ended up flying overnight for our long stretch. In theory, I thought Anderson would sleep all night but I forgot the boy LOVES sleeping on his belly and he couldn’t do that easily in my arms or in his car seat so he never quite got comfortable and as a result… never quite slept.
Roma
When we landed in Rome we were TIRED but overall the flights there weren’t too bad. We stayed at the Inn at the Roman Forum. It was a beautiful, old, centrally located Inn that boasted endless ancient Roman character. It was on top of an old Crypt which was super interesting to walk through. The one bad thing? Tara is convinced it was haunted and didn’t sleep well at all. Other than that, 10/10 we would recommend. The breakfast was made fresh each day, and over time they knew exactly what our bambino wanted and brought it out as we sat for breakfast.
Our days traveling with a baby in tow are much less jam packed with activities than they used to be. We have one focal point of the day that we hope isn’t tied to a specific timeframe so we can go with the flow. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. In Rome we were able to see the Colosseum, The Roman Forum, Palatine Hill and the Trevi Fountain (twice). The day we ventured through the Colosseum was toasty warm but we managed through. Tara wore Anderson as we walked through lots of ancient grounds and Anders may be one of the only babies who ever got his diaper changed inside of the Colosseum. Parents of the year or the worst parents ever? Not sure.
We also did a Roman Pasta cooking class at a Roman Man’s house named Massimo. We found it on the site “With Locals”, read lots of reviews, and sent our location to close friends and family before we ventured into Massimo’s house to see if we were going to learn to make epic food or get murdered. Luckily for us, we learned to make epic food. Massimo had learned to cook from the generations before him and graciously opened up his kitchen to us and a destructive baby as we cooked and sampled pasta all afternoon. We have been working hard to perfect our recipes since we’ve been home. Taste testers welcome!
Rome was a city where you could just spend days wandering the streets and not get bored. Everything was old and everything was beautiful. There were endless amazing restaurants and ancient churches on every corner. The streets were made of old cobblestones which made for interesting stroller rides but Anderson loved the added turbulence and started humming everytime we were walking around and cracked himself up at the sound of his own voice. The Italians lived up to their baby loving reputation and absolutely adored Anderson. He was the star of the show everywhere we went.
Sorrento
On Anderson’s Birthday we made the drive from Rome to Sorrento. Car’s and Anderson don’t really mix, but we survived. Tablets for the win (we try and only bust out the tablet in cars or on airplanes) We made it to our little boutique hotel right in the heart of Sorrento called the Maison Il Conservatorio. It is covered in painted blue ceramics and has a distant view of the Gulf of Naples. We spent a few days seaside at a few different beach clubs in Sorrento. The beaches are beautifully blue with clean waters but they aren’t sandy and for the most part, aren’t free. The ones that are, are more crowded and do not include umbrellas, which with a baby are a must! You take the steps down to the beach and there are a few different beach clubs where you can rent a spot for the day. We tried out both Leonelli’s Beach and Peter’s Beach. The rocky seaside wasn’t the most baby friendly spot to hangout, but we made the most of it. Anderson loves being outside and he also loves water - so that made up for it. The water was absolutely breathtaking.
There was the cutest little children’s park just a few minutes walk from where we were staying in Sorrento. We took Anders to play every day we were there. Though the kids didn’t speak the same language as him, they were all infatuated with the little Bambino. He had multiple little boys come up to entertain him and make him laugh. His hair was pet by at least 3 little Italian girls and one even planted a kiss on his cheek. It was pretty sweet. At times when Anderson would start to get cranky out and about, all he had to do was spot a Pigeon to entertain himself again. He became the Pigeon whisperer… they were following us everywhere we went.
We also spent a day in Positano on the Amalfi Coast. We walked up and down the painted streets and along the seaside. We drank Lemoncello and ate good Italian food. The views felt like we were in a dream, and I sure didn’t want to wake up.
Food.. the FOOD!
I think it goes without saying Italian food is one of the highlights of a trip to Italy. We were a bit bummed when we confirmed a few months before our trip that Anders serious allergies to Milk and Egg because those are some staples of Italian cooking. To top it all off we don’t speak Italian and had to explain his allergies everywhere we went. Nevertheless, we prevailed. Anderson found his passion for Pizza Marinara, which sounds incredibly lame, but in Italy they just do it right. All of their pizza dough was without milk or egg so it was a safe staple everywhere we went. Most fresh pasta has egg in it, so he didn’t get to eat pasta in most places. But we made due and he was happy nonetheless. Mom and Dad ate endless pasta. Our Favorite place of all was called AZZ! Italian Tavern in Sorrento. It was owned by the cutest family and we ate there twice because we just couldn’t stop drooling about how perfect our first meal was. We had a bottle of red wine every night and were in heaven. Our complimentary breakfast at our place in Sorrento was incredible too. It was a full array of homemade pastries, fresh fruit, Italian staples and all the Cappuccinos you could ever want.
Anderson adjusted really well to the time change in Italy. I think being so tired our first day and getting tons of sunshine helped him adjust quickly. We also always try to keep our pre-bedtime routine as close to how we do nights at home as well. Some baby gear staples we brought that we bring on pretty much every trip are; his travel Yogasleep Rohm sound machine, Guava Lotus travel crib (super light weight and comfy), Babyzen YOYO 2 Stroller (super compact - can fit in an overhead bin on a plane and took on the cobblestone streets well) and his Cosco Car Seat (not the comfiest, but definitely the lightest and super budget friendly).
Our flights home were a little more eventful, not in the way you hope. We ended up with 3 different legs and a few longer layovers. We also ended up sprinting(We literally ran for about 5 minutes straight) from one end of the France airport to the other to hit our flight back home, Anderson enjoyed this part, but not the flight. By the time we were home it had felt like we were traveling for 3 days (it was only 22 hours) but Tara’s arms were fully numb from holding Anderson and most of her body's skin had been pinched off. At that point and we were all delusionally sleepy. The trip we would do 10 times over, the flight home we would like to black out and never think of again.
All in all, it was a successful first trip abroad. It definitely had some tough moments with a teething baby and plans that needed to adjust to realistic expectations but we made some amazing memories together as a family that we will never forget.
Starworthy spots
Azz! Italian Tavern - Amazing food, get there early!
Parco di Villa Fiorentino, Corso Italia, 53, 80067 Sorrento NA, Ital - Childrens park and garden
Gadgets
Baby Zen YoYo
Happy Travels!
The Starback’s
WoW 9: Turks and Caicos Babymoonin’
This blog post will be more focused on beautiful spaces and documenting our last trip together as a couple than on some of the more wild adventures of the past. We went to Turks and Caicos with the goal to relax and rejuvenate with lots of time spent outside and not in front of computers after a long haul last 12 months packed with endless hours of screen time and zoom meetings.
Our agenda was slim, but we were grateful to leave our four walls and spend some time exploring a new country. The Turks and Caicos Islands are in the Atlantic Ocean and are considered a British Territory. If you don’t know where they are on a map, they can be found to the east of Cuba and just north of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. What makes Turks and Caicos so special? The crystal clear waters and super predictable climate.
Those of you who know us know we usually plan bucket list trips on a roadmap a few years out to ensure we can utilize our vacation time in a way to make it all happen (if only we had endless PTO!). When we had penciled in what our babymoon would be, we were planning on spending it in Greece. Well, we didn’t anticipate we would be expecting our first child during a global pandemic and sadly, Greece wouldn’t welcome us with open arms. Since travel is such an integral part of who we are and our relationship together, we were determined to be smart but still go somewhere new for our Babymoon. We were set on a warmer destination considering being pregnant, it was hard to plan a lot of more adventurous excursions and long hikes… beach time was perfect for this trip. We started to research warm places with the lowest rates of COVID infection and strictest COVID protocols to narrow down our list. We were looking for somewhere that may not be super simple to get to, but would be a safer option once we were there. Turks and Caicos fit the mold perfectly! Their COVID response has been strong since the beginning. A few things that Turks and Caicos did that went above and beyond some other options were; having great testing protocol’s to get onto and leave the island (no rapid tests were allowed due to greater error), an application and approval process through the government, mandatory COVID travel insurance, continued mask mandates and to top it all off… the staff of our resort were being tested DAILY!
Once we navigated the extra steps to get to Turks and Caicos, it was a breeze from there. We spent our days from sun up to sun down outside going from pool to beach to pool and repeat.. crawling back into our beds at the end of the night completely sun drunk in the best way. We did sunrise oceanside yoga a few mornings. We took beach walks. Mitch had his fair share of cocktails while Tara indulged in mocktails. We found good eats and took a few walks through the main town in Providenciales where we were staying. We biked on little beach cruisers. We read books next to breathtaking ocean views and we woke up to the view of the ocean from our room each morning. It was totally unlike most of our other trips with a non-existent agenda, but it was exactly what we needed at this season of life and for that we are so grateful.
We have no big travel tips or wild stories, however, wanted to share a collection of our photos as a time capsule to look back on as our last trip just us two before we welcome little Starbaby into the Wanderlust mix next month.
Happy Travels!
The Starback’s
WoW 7: Quick Escape to the Upstairs of Michigan
Mid-COVID Travel
Michigan, the only state that is two masses of land called one name and the peninsulas couldn't be more different. If you look at a map, The UP is connected to Wisconsin. So why isn’t it a part of Wisconsin? We’ll skip all the boring explanations and tell you that what it came down to was a political power dispute involving none other than Ohio. Maybe the hatred between Ohio and Michigan doesn’t stem only from a football rivalry…
Having spent most of our lives in Michigan, one would think, yeah they are from Michigan, cool what do you guys do… grow corn in the snow? But what most people don’t realize is how different and far away the Upper Peninsula is from Grand Rapids, Lansing, or Detroit. For reference, from Grand Rapids, we could get to Louisville, Kentucky quicker than we could get to Munising Michigan. You could nearly make it to Nashville in the same time it takes to get to some parts of the UP. We spent one full day getting to the UP for our slightly extended labor day weekend.
Sidebar and thoughts on the Upper Peninsula and life -
The UP is remote. Most people would be upset by the lack of cellular service, but if you prepare and have maps downloaded, some podcasts, and some tunes you'll be just fine. Not having that phone light up, vibrate, or ‘ping’ every 30 seconds is pretty glorious. If you really want all those notifications, you can have an orgasm worth once you get service again. Another reason this excited us is our recent obsession with Darin Olien and what he calls fatal conveniences. These are things that we think are necessary and helpful in modern-day life, but, in reality, are harming, poisoning, and slowly killing us. The fatal convenience that hit home was the harmful impact of EMFs. “They’re a continuous field produced by electrically charged objects like cell phones. EMF likes to travel around in a wave-like pattern, at the speed of light. This propagation is called “Electromagnetic Radiation.” EMFs can occur naturally from the sun, but the man-made EMFs are what can be harmful. Things like Cell Phones, Routers(wifi), Microwaves, etc, can cause these. There have been thousands of studies performed that show a direct correlation between health issues and manmade EMFs. Since the tech boom, more and more people have been sick more frequently, having constant headaches, and a decrease in sperm count (linked to a phone in your pants pocket) *DarinOlien.com, 9/1/2020. This trip and Darin Olien’s content helped us realize how much we use our technology, and how often we keep it close to our bodies. Constantly exposing ourselves to EMFs. Creating awareness about these modern-day issues is extremely important in determining how we move forward as a society. Check out ‘Down To Earth’ with Zac Efron and Darin Olien to open up your mind to how messed up the US is when it comes to food, water, and our environment, and really how great other countries are doing by keeping it simple. Furthermore, check out the ‘Darin Olien Podcast’ to hear more about fatal conveniences.
“Down to Earth” The first episode highlights Iceland’s efforts (and success) in combating their carbon foot print. In the future we will do a blog post on our epic trip to Iceland in 2018.
Back to our trip!
The UP is fabulous at making you appreciate food. This was probably one of the worst food and breakfast beverage trips we've ever taken. Not only were the options scarce, you never knew when something would be open. Even if Google said, yes they are open, the hours were not always accurate. Probably related to the reasons mentioned previously. Another note, Power is also not always a given. After completing the full Chapel Basin Loop we were looking forward to pigging out on some pizza. As we arrived, the ENTIRE town lost power, not just a few buildings or one half of the city, the ENTIRE city. We couldn't buy anything from anywhere. So instead of filling up on carbs on top of carbs, we were able to find an Ice cream shop little ways out of town that just so happened to be right next to our AirBnB still selling scoops. One thing I will quickly note is how friendly people are. We ate at a place called Taco Primo that was relatively good, and the waitress was running around the whole time making sure everyone was comfortable, and people had what they needed. Our AirBnb hostess was very friendly and acted the same way when we had to reach out to her for help with something. She even scooped our ice cream! While the food left more to be desired, the Yoopers do know how to drink. Their beer is excellent, but also like everything else, sort of hard to find. We ventured an hour further into the UP to a town that actually felt like a city called Marquette, this is the home of Northern Michigan University, and more notably(depending on your priorities) Blackrocks Brewery and Ore dock Brewery.
Cant go wrong with a Superior beer
The UP is beautiful. That is partially due to its lack of roads, power lines, buildings, and an ungodly amount of McDonald’s every few miles. I don't think we had ever been further away from society. As you drive on a dirt road, you can stare into a sea of trees with seemingly no end. Looking into the Hiawatha forest is mind-blowing. It is a truly untouched nature.
Everyone must take the time to sit and watch the leaves turn.
Hiking and Trails
One of the biggest chunks of the UPs beauty is the hiking, trails, and the lakeshore. There are HELLA hikes. In our short time in the UP we hit up a mini hike up Sugarloaf Mountain in Marquette and the longer Chapel Basin Loop, saw kitch-iti-kipi, and drove the coast of lake superior. The Chapel Loop is sort of all of the pictured rock hikes wrapped in one. Its a 10.5-mile loop and every view we saw got better and better as the hike went on. Most hikes, you climb all the way to the top or to one specific view in nature, and then you’re done. With the loop, it seemed like it never ended. Forest trails, Mosquito Falls, Mosquito Beach, The Pictured Rocks Shoreline, Chapel Rock, Chapel Beach and Chapel falls, it was just one epic loop of scenery that was well worth the time and miles. This trail is HIGHLY recommended. While the trail was ~10.5 miles, we ended up walking a total of ~13 because of how busy it was. We parked ~1.5 miles out from the start of the trail… Get-There-Early. Though there was a large number of visitors when we were there, the trail is so spread out it didn’t feel over populated. Most people that were parked at the trail head were headed just to the Chapel Falls portion and were not there to do the entire loop. After this hike, as you could imagine, we required sustenance. This is where we ran into the pizza dilemma mentioned above. Good times. Good times.
Sugarloaf Mountain was a much quicker hike, 30 minutes or less, with great views. At the top, we could overlook the forest and the Lake Superior shoreline. Definitely a must-see due to the little time it takes to complete and how close it is to Blackrocks Brewery.
Kitchi-iti-kipi was such a natural wonder. You walk on to this giant wooden boat with a square cut out of the middle to view the water, Then, the part we did not anticipate, someone (any passenger) has to use a pulley system to get you out to the middle of Michigans largest natural freshwater spring, and back. Our first attempt to view this was paired with a roughly 3 hour wait. Due to no person monitoring time spent on the boat, people want to take in the views and aren’t in a rush to bring the boat back to shore. We decided coming back when it wasn’t a holiday weekend was a better choice so we left and came back on our way home. The 2nd time was the charm, we walked right on the boat first thing in the morning and were able to enjoy the spring as long as we wanted. It was breathtaking. It feels like you are in an aquarium with how easily you can see into the depths of the teal water. The fish swimming around are massive and could be seen from all around the spring. The spring is lined with beautiful trees and it just felt like time was moving slower.
Our quick labor day trip to the upstairs of Michigan was relaxing, slow, and remote and we loved it. We will definitely return.
Lets wander where the wifi is weak
We’ve ended our last few blogs with Happy Travels (Someday!) and maybe this time we can more appropriately say SAFE Travels, whatever that may look like for you these days. Get out and explore! Even if its your own backyard.
Food and Breweries
Ice Cream - Right next to our AirBnB
Our AirBnb
Citations
https://darinolien.com/should-you-be-worried-about-emf-exposure-from-your-cell-phone/
WoW 6: Top 5 Tips for Surviving a Long Flight
With the current pandemic and wanting to make sure we are doing our part in keeping the world a safe and healthy place, our travel plans have been put on pause. We did not go to Arizona in May and just this week our plans to head to England in September were cancelled. We are hopeful that the world will continue to make progress in the fight to keep everyone safe and healthy and maybe, just maybe, we can still head to Germany & Austria come December.
In the meantime, while we are “grounded” (well, sort of.. see pictures above) we are working on finding new ways to sit around the house….and wanted to share some tips and tricks for surviving a long flight. If you’ve ever been on a flight that has gone above the 6 hour mark, you have to know it is truly a physical and mental test. Though we would love to dramatically compare it to completing a marathon, it may not be quite that extreme. Nonetheless, it is a special experience that can leave you feeling on top of the world when you land at your destination or could leave you feeling anxious and ridden with pain.
Our cat discovering how comfy it can be to sit in-between pillows instead of on top of them
At this point we can confidently say we have cumulatively been on over 125 planes in our lives. Some were tiny puddle jumpers and some were marathon rides and we feel like every time we get on a plane we are a little more prepared than the last time. So what are some of the tips to surviving those long hauls by controlling the things that are within your control?
Compression Socks are not an optional accessory. Seriously, if you haven’t tried them you need to sprint to amazon right now and buy a pair before you get on your next flight. We were skeptics for a long time and felt that compression socks would leave us feeling more uncomfortable/warm/tight than the benefit would outweigh. Boy were we wrong! After flying on back to back to back to back planes to get to Thailand and home we’re pretty sure they were the only thing that kept feeling in our feet, blood circulating throughout our bodies and our legs feeling fresh enough to carry us around when we would descend. Not only do they make the experience exponentially more comfortable, they truly can be a safety thing too. Being sedentary for too long (which isn’t much of an option when your middle seat on a 15 hour plane ride) can cause blood clots in your legs. Don’t risk it. Just buy them. Your legs will thank you, we promise. Here’s a link to the one’s we love!
Our Favorite Compression Socks - Amazon
Pack your toothbrush in your carry on - There is something about having fresh teeth that helps keep you feel alive on a long flight. Whether it be waking up from cat naps and feeling like you have an infinite loop of morning breath, or trying to brush away all the check mix you have snacked on. The times we haven’t had our tooth brush right in our carry on to freshen up mid flight have really made the experience less enjoyable!
Have healthy or “normal” snacks on hand for you. Don’t get us wrong, we can eat airplane Cheeze-It’s all day with the best of them. We have found that on some flights we just start to feel kind of sick, usually, from eating and drinking things we normally don’t eat and/or not having food readily available to us at the times we would normally eat. Make sure you think about packing some normal to you, back up snacks to have handy on the flight. No one wants to be Hangry ever, especially on a long haul flight. If you start to feel a little ‘off’ a lot of times a healthy snack will put you back on track. Extra points if it takes a while to eat… sometimes you just need something to keep you busy and pass time. Snacks that take a while to consume we have found are our friends. Who says they don’t count as a plane activity?
Pack your carry on strategically. If you put any and everything that you can possibly fit into your carry on because your *terrified* you could lose your luggage and want as much on you as possible, we feel ya! The problem is, a lot of the things you pack, won’t be used on the plane and end up getting in the way when your wedged into a tiny space trying to find the pair of headphones or granola bar that fell to the bottom of your bag underneath all of the nonsense. Think about layering your carry on. Set out the stuff you are hoping to fit into your bag and then sort it into 3 piles
Things you are putting in that you won’t use until you get to your final destination such as extra clothes, camera’s, confirmations for booked activities you may have printed out and brought along, etc.
Things you may use ONCE during the duration of your flight. “Back up items”.
The things you will regularly be reaching for such as your headphones, a book, or your go to snack.
Once you have the three piles, layer your carry on like a lasagna! The things that fell into part 1 go on the bottom, 2 goes in the middle and 3 on top. It will save you extra time and discomfort rummaging through your bag while in a tiny space and keep the things you want conveniently at the top for you to quickly grab.
Comfy clothes are key. We feel like this one should be a no brainer but we are consistently baffled by people’s choice of clothing on a long plane ride. The amount of times we’ve seen high heels, trend over comfort or lord forbid buttons on the waistline of your pants blows our minds! When you are gearing up for a long flight, we would always choose comfort over fashion. If you can marry the two, better yet ;). We suggest you find the clothes you own that have the softest fabric, easiest fit and no areas that would cut into you. Though a slight discomfort may seem minimal when you're standing around or wearing them normally, when you're trapped on a flight sitting in the same spot for hours the smallest discomforts you may have barely noticed before will become the annoyance you can’t take off your mind. Always opt for comfort! You can change into your favorite outfit when you land.
These are some of our favorites we have made part of our flight process over the years. We would love to hear from you! What are some of your tried and true tips to help you thrive on a long flight?
Happy Travels (Someday!)
The Starback’s