My first trip to San Diego was this past December in 2018. I was there for three days on a work trip. Here I was thinking I was going to sunny San Diego… And it rained the first two days! And I mean RAINED, like pouring rain, streets flooding, water getting inside Uber cars. Honestly, though, I don’t even think the rain was that bad but sunny San Diego’s infrastructure is not built for rain. Thankfully I was prepared with umbrellas and rain boots!

When Travis and I spent a couple days in Venice, Italy this summer, I learned some things about the city. Usually, you only hear and read about the amazing things this city has to offer and nothing else. I’m going to tell you ten things about Venice that I learned that are not the typical sightseeing and restaurant recommendations. Keep in mind that this is from 2018. Venice was very different just ten years ago and it may be very different if you read this years from now.

After our cruise to the Greek islands, we weren’t ready to go home. So, we flew to Italy instead! Of course, our summer escape to Italy was planned ahead of time. It was really fun for one part of our big trip to end and the next part to begin.

During our cruise to the Greek islands this summer, Travis and I had a day trip to Turkey. Did you know that most of Turkey is actually in Asia? There’s only a small part of Turkey that’s in Europe. I had NO IDEA! Istanbul is split into Europe and Asia by the Bosphorus Strait. I had no idea that this is where part of the Europe/Asia border is until Travis and I went on our day trip to Turkey and we were told that we’re actually in Asia now! I thought this was really cool. Travis didn’t seem to care too much [insert confused emoji here]. Here are some educational maps to show you what I mean:

Anyway, back to our day trip.

The Greek islands are what dreams are made of. Travis and I had been dreaming of going to the Greek islands for a few years. We actually planned to go two years ago for our honeymoon, but due to a series of unfortunate events on that side of the world, we had to cancel the trip. We didn’t wait too long until we planned the next trip! This time we wanted to do a Silversea cruise to the Greek islands.

Continuing the post-graduation trip to Ireland and Scotland… Read the “Part One” post, if you haven’t already.

Many people ask me which country I liked better. If I had to pick a favorite between Ireland and Scotland, I think I would pick Scotland because it won me over just a little bit. I can’t pinpoint exactly why but my husband and I both feel the same way! Both countries were amazing but if we were to go back, we would go to Scotland.

After graduating from college, I took a trip to Ireland and Scotland with my husband (boyfriend at the time) and his family. Aside from moving across the world from Russia to the U.S., this post-graduation trip was the biggest trip I had ever been on back in 2013. I have never seen a more beautiful countryside or so many castles!

Whether you travel overseas a lot or this year will be your first trip, it’s always good to review the packing list essentials for an overseas trip. Personally, I’m very excited because tax season is over and that means I can finally start traveling this year! I have been looking at packing essentials that other people like and found that my list is very similar to most others. I will be adding a couple new things to my travel bag this year, which I will point out in this list.

This list contains links to products so, if you are interested, you can find exactly what I am mentioning in my packing list essentials.