Ciao Readers!

Hello LiB Readers! The editors are back from our week-long trip to Italy, and though we are sad to have our glorious vaycay days behind us, I think it's safe to say that we're also super glad to be back home. Sorry for our lack of updates thus far, we've been jet lagged and bogged down with catch-up work. But what a trip it was! Though there are a ton of things we didn't get to do, it was still amazing to be out of the country and someplace new.

Here are some highlights and lowlights of our trip, for whenever you get a chance to go to Italy.

The Bad:
* When planning your vacation to Rome, be sure to check the Vatican City schedule on their website. They close a couple of days per month. The one day we left to do all the sightseeing in Rome was the one day they were closed. It was also a religious holiday called Ascension Thursday, but whatever. So we went to Rome and saw nothing Rome is known for- no Vatican City, no Sistine Chapel (this breaks my heart, Michaelangelo!!!), no St. Peter's. I'm still sad about this.

* Try not to rely on one person to do the waking up for you. We all overslept, and missed our check-in for the flight back home by 10 minutes. 10 minutes!!! This resulted us in running all over the Rome airport for wifii to book another flight home, and us losing lots of $$ to buy a ticket back. Oh, not to mention the flight we booked had us stuck in Frankfurt, Germany for 8 hours. In the middle of the night. It was literally the most painful travel experience ever.

* Hotel Aphrodite in Rome is the worst hotel ever. Overpriced and apparently not into customer service. We had to pay cash the first night cause their credit card machine wasn't working, and to top it off we had to get our own change cause they didn't have change. For our second and third night stay the credit card machine was working, but they wouldn't let us split and pay our bill 5 ways cause they would have to pay more taxes if they let us do that. WHAT. And instead of hearing out our complaints they were just like, "Every hotel is just like us!" WRONG. Our hotel in Florence let us split our bill, you assfaces. JUST SAY NO TO HOTEL APHRODITE.

But the good, oh the good:
* The weather! Italy is perfect in May. PERFECT. 70+ degrees weather, hot but not humid, sunny. I miss it, especially on crappy windy and rainy days like today.

* Hotel Globus, Florence. Best, staff, ever. Super friendly, super helpful. For some reason one of our rooms REEKED. But did we complain? No. Do you know why? Cause we loved them so much. They're so nice and helpful. Our friend Christina lost her phone in Florence and they did so much to help us find it. AMAZING. Make sure to have the cappuccino when having the continental breakfast!

* Florence in general. Everything was good, but I especially loved seeing Michaelangelo's David at Galleria dell' Accademia (he is perfect), as well as my girl crush Venus (Botticelli's The Birth of Venus) at the Uffuzi. Also, the Boboli Gardens is a must. Love.

* Food. Gelato at Vivoli in Florence (the rice flavor is YUMMY), pizza at Naples, kebabs, pasta, the espresso, TOMATOES. God, the tomatoes are good. Also hit up the supermarket for snacks. Ringos are like yummy cookie sandwiches, Magnums are delish ice cream bars, I'm obsessed with grissinis/breadsticks, and of course, grazie Italia for NUTELLA!

* Capri. The island of Capri is so lovely, even if its swarming with tourists. I think the most fascinating part of the whole thing was how narrow the roads are, and how adept the drivers are at squeezing past each other. Take a taxi/bus up to the top, Anacapri, and take the cablecar ride up to the tippy top of the island for a grandiose view. Amazing.

* Friends. It's such a blessing to have embarked on this trip with good friends. We laughed a lot, we shared a lot, we lived a lot. It was amazing. Whether you go across the world or across the country, go on a trip with friends. :)