Italy Through Photographs - Highlights of our three week Babymoon through Milan, Lake Como, Bologna, Rome, Venice, Florence, Tuscany, Pisa, Amalfi, Naples & Bergamo

In June this year, Farmboy and I headed to Italy for 21 days of {backpacking} adventure to celebrate our baby-moon (or rather, the celebrate our last few moments of life as we know we it before our little girl joins us in September). 

I will be writing travel guides for all of the places we visited, but it's going to take me a while. Along with our trip to India last year (eeeek I still have yet to finish the travel guides for that!) this was one of the most extensively planned trips we have ever done. This was all due to the fact that we had to have ALL our bookings (trains, planes, accommodation, buses etc) booked ahead of time in order to secure Farmboys Schengen Visa. I am lucky enough to hold dual citizenship and so have a British Passport, which makes traveling a breeze for me, but which unfortunately gives poor Farmboy no special treatment.

We stayed in AirBnb's for 90% of the trip, only staying in Hotels on the Amalfi coast when we couldn't find an AirBnb within our budget. We were backpacking (or rather, Farmboy was...I carried the camera bag and of course our little baby) and managed to survive 3 weeks living out of a 13kg bag.

I will be sharing more on what we packed (including what toiletries I packed) in another post. I also will write more on what traveling while being 6 months pregnant is like soon.

All in all, it was FAR easier than I had thought. Bonus...being able to skip all the queues at the airports!

Here is a breakdown of our 20 day trip:

Johannesburg > Istanbul, Turkey > Milan

Milan (1 night)

Milan > Bellagio, Lake Como (2 nights)

Bellagio > Milan > Venice (2 nights)

Venice > Bologna (1 night)

Bologna > Florence (1 night)

Florence > Todi, Tuscany/Umbira (3 nights)

Todi > Rome (3 nights)

Rome > Amalfi Coast (1 night in Ravello & 3 nights in Conca dei Marini)

Amalfi Coast > Naples (1 night)

Naples > Bergamo (1 night)

Bergamo > Milan > Istanbul, Turkey > Johannesburg

It's going to take some time before the travel guides are up, so in the mean time, here are a few of the photographic highlights of our trip.

We bought a second hand Fujifilm x100T especially for the trip, and had planned to only take that camera along but I ended up taking my Nikon D750 at the last minute. I'm so glad I did as it took me a while to figure out how the Fujifilm worked and to get used to it. So here are my photographs from both cameras.

Farmboy is working on a travel video too, which I'll link up here in this post when it's done.

Enjoy!

x

Here are some of my other Travel Guides for you to browse through in the mean time while I create the guides for Italy.

Enjoy!

Borneo Through Photographs

For the last summer holidays Farmboy and I headed to Borneo. Before researching for our trip I didn't know too much about the island (did you know that Borneo is actually the second largest island in the world and is made up of 3 countries; Malaysia, Indonesia & Brunei). Along our travels we had a wonderful taxi driver who spent the hour we had with him telling us tales of pirates, folklore and other stories relating to the history of the Island.

We spent time in 3 different cities in Malaysia Borneo and their surrounding towns, all of which were very different from each other. We explored the concrete jungle of Kuching, the rain forests and lake surrounding Bantang Ai National Park and scuba dived amongst the reefs of Mabul Island. It was one of the most diverse travel adventures we have had and I look forward to sharing more with you about this incredible place.

I will be doing a full travel guide soon, but in the mean time here are a few photographs from our trip. 

Enjoy x

Kuching & Semonghoh Nature Reserve

Bantang Ai Lake & Visit to a Traditional Longhouse

Jungle Trek around Bantang Ai Lake & Rasa Risa Orangatun Rehabilitation Centre in Kota Kinabalu

Floating Palace in Kota Kinabalu & Mabul Island, Sabah.

Highlights of Beautiful Bali

Farmboy and I have just got back from our summer holiday in Bali. One of the major perks of living in Korea is the opportunity to travel South East Asia, as places like Indonesia are easily accessible.

We were in Bali for 12 days and tried to see as much as could in the time we had. I will be posting a full travel guide soon, like I did with Vietnam (click here) but for now I'll leave with a visual feast of colour.

I traded in my trusty Nikon D300s a few months ago, for a Nikon D700, which I used to take these photographs. As I now shoot full frame, I have to invest in full frame lenses (and these do not come cheap!) Currently I have only a 50mm prime lens and this is what I used for the entire trip. No fancy zooms (I had to make do with my feet) and no wide angle shots. It can be a stressful process trying to find the 'perfect' lenses to take with you on holiday, and you often feel you need to have ALL the things to take perfect photographs. But, what I soon came to realise is that all you really need is a little patience and practice to train your eye to capture your subjects in new and interesting ways.

We loved our time in Bali, spending 4 days in Ubud, 5 days on the Gili Islands (3 days on Gili Meno & 2 days on Gili Trawangan) and then 3 final days in Ubud. We stayed in a variety of accomodation, from fancy villas overlooking rice paddies, to bamboo huts on the beach. What our time so memorable was the people we met throughout our stay. We had a wonderful host and tour guide for our first few days who taught us so much about the people and their way of life in Bali.

But more on that to come in another post.

For now, the photographs.

Enjoy!

Vietnam through Photographs

Farmboy and I escaped the cold of South Korea for the sun, sea and sand of Vietnam over Christmas time last year. Or that's what we thought we were doing when we booked our flights the months previous, but only a few weeks before leaving we were told it had been snowing up North in Sapa, right where we were headed.

In spite of the chilly weather we experienced in the North, the central regions were wonderfully warm and we even managed to get two swims in! Our pale forms were a bit of a sight, but with our smiles we blended right in with the other tourists. We are known for searching out the quieter parts of cities and countries, but we were unable to escape the crowds in Sapa and Hoi An. We didn't mind though, it's all part and parcel of traveling these days.

I will be posting more in depth information on our 12 day trip to Vietnam (Hanoi, Sapa, Halong Bay & Hoi An) but for now I leave you with some photographs from an epic trip to an incredible country. It was one of our most favourite trips so far (even being on par with our honeymoon to the Greek Islands) and we will most certainly be going back to HoiAn.

The food was amazing and incredible cheap, the public transport, or rather the transport that was most readily available (metered taxis) were a complete rip off and despite being one of the most budget friendly countries in South East Asia, it became our most expensive trip due to missing our flight home. Thankfully we teach English in Korea, and can just about afford to make that mistake once, and only once. Besides, we got to spend 12 hours at the airport with no money, 1 coke, 1 bowl of Pho noodles and the movie Frozen on Farmboys ipad with 13% battery life...what more could you want for your last day of holiday together.

Enjoy

x

Cambodia Through Photographs

When Farmboy and I were living in South Korea back in 2010, we headed over to Cambodia for the first of our holidays.

Here are a few photographs from our travels through an incredible country full history. They were mostly taken by Farmboy, I learned everything I know about photography from him.

We spent time in Siem Riep so we could see the Angkor Wat temples and ruins, took an over night bus to the coastal town of Sihnoukville and from there, a boat took us to paradise (aka Lazy Beach).

You can read a full in-depth post on the how's and the what's over here on our old travel blog. 

We were a little younger in these photographs, and we have learnt since learnt a little more about traveling and what to pack (most importantly a first aid kit for the bumps and scratches and tummy aches you will inevitably endure). 

If you have any questions about our trip, please feel free to pop me an email here.

x

The Philippines...looking back

While Farmboy and I were teaching English in South Korea in 2010, we spent the second of our holidays with Farmboy's brother and sister-in-law (who were teaching in Japan) in the Philippines. Here are some special photographs, taken by my wonderful husband. I learnt all I know about a camera from him.

We flew from Incheon & landed in Puerto Princessa. From there we took a 9 hour shuttle to El Nido where we spent 6 days, of which were spent on an Island hopping tour. At the time El Nido was incredibly small, with just one road of restaurants and cafes. It has since increased in size but I have heard that it is still a very special place to visit. You can now fly directly into El Nido saving you a very long and uncomfortable ride from Puerto Princessa. If you get to El Nido, make sure to hire a scooter and head of in search of Nacpan beach, a beautiful stretch of coastline.

For more info on our trip, including tips and other travel advice, click here to visit our ever so helpful (but rather old and slightly out dated) blog on life in South Korea >>> FarmboyandCityGirl.com

Enjoy

x