ALASTAIR + LALEINIA

We really went big for our birthday celebrations this year. How could we not when both our birthdays were situated with weekends and breaks! Alastair had midterms and also a few days off for the holidays, so we took the opportunity to go on a trip. Alastair decided to rent a camper van and for us to go on a road trip. I have always wanted to go to Cinque Terre, so it was dream come true to go there for my birthday! It's about 9 hours away, so it was quite the drive. On Friday, we left after Alastair had finals and had to run some errands. Alastair had to see the dermatologist to get some moles checked. It was a bit nerve-wracking watching him check each mole (Alastair has a lot!) and to finally know that everything is fine! After the checkup, Alastair took Emre to pick up the van while I finished packing. About an hour later, we were ready to go! They got me these massive golden balloons, it was so sweet! Alastair closed the door of the van to reveal a massive, provocative ...

It's nice visiting Rome, but it was more of a "Barcelona appreciation day" for us. Rome is like a dirtier version of Barcelona, but that's just our opinion. However, I did enjoy our stay in Perugia. The Italian countryside is where it's at, not so much the bigger cities. Sure, you get the ruins and the history in Rome, but Italy is much more enjoyable in the quiet little towns. It just feels more authentic! So I found my place- Lake Como is my jam! I absolutely loved it! The only thing I knew about the place was that George Clooney had a multi-million dollar home alongside the lake. I would if I had the money, it is gorgeous! We stayed in a not so fancy airbnb, which was pretty cold. We just bought our food at the market, mainly bread and snacks, nothing fancy.  Alastair wanted to get to a point where we could hike, but Google maps couldn't get us to that point. We ended up driving a little less than an hour away, to a small town at the edge of th...

We arrived in Rome and left as soon as possible. San Marino is a few hours away and we wanted to take the opportunity to cross another country off the list. We got turned around a lot, ate McDonald's, and listened to some Italian music. It was late, but we eventually made it to Perugia. We woke up to a lovely Italian breakfast and we were the only ones staying there. The staff was super nice and Emre loved all the cats walking around the property. There was a huge cricket that Alastair found and we set it down on the ground. The cat we were playing with pounced and ate it whole. We felt so bad for the little bug, didn't mean for that to happen! After breakfast, we made our way to San Marino. We skipped the tolls and drove in the countryside, it was gorgeous! Made me a little carsick but the views were worth it! We ate some pizza at a restaurant and walked around the city. Just lots of walking and taking pictures. There wasn't much to tour but the views were wo...

I'm thinking back on this part of the trip, kind of amazed that we actually pulled this off. We passed through eight countries in three days, driving over 1,300 miles. Kind of wild, very rushed, very worth it! The goal was just to pass through as many countries as possible, seeing what we could from the car. We started in Milan and drive through Mt. Blanc. We stopped in Geneva, Switzerland for the night, before heading through Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, Slovenia, and doing in Pula, Croatia for the night. We then went back to Milan to watch AC Milan vs. Sampdoria, surrounded by the ultras. The highlights of the trip were the following: Gorillas visit Connor We decided we would go and visit Connor on his mission in Geneva. I didn't want him to be the guy who's brother visited him, so we decided to go in disguise and not tell him we were going to be there. In the after Halloween sales we bought gorilla suits for $5 each. My dad got his address so ...