Day 0-1 Florence

Gelato!! ♥️

June 21-22, 2023: First, I want to start by saying you have to go into any trip of this magnitude knowing that things are going to go wrong. As a result, we agreed as a couple that we would not stress and use our problem solving skills to overcome any challenges. Well, we faced on on Day 0 before we even left for the trip. A tropic weather system was heading toward Atlanta and we started getting advisories that our layover flight between Fort Myers and New York could be delayed or canceled. Not wanting to risk missing our flight from New York to Milan, we decided to change to non-stop flight from Tampa to JFK, which meant we had to quick make a hotel reservation and get ourselves to Tampa so we could fly out the next morning at 7:00AM. It all worked out in the end, but was a little stressful start to our trip.

After an almost 7 hour layover in New York, at a little after 4:30pm we took off for Milan. We arrived at 7:00am and after taking a shuttle bus to the Milan Centrale Train Station, we boarded a train bound for our first city in our 57-day trip….Florence, Italy…the birthplace of the Renaissance. We rented an Airbnb from some amazing hosts who we had corresponded with several time prior to arrival. To say that we were blown away with our beautiful accommodations would be an understatement. We are staying in a flat that was build in the 1300s, 476 years before the United States became a country. It has so much character and charm. We simply love it and it is centrally located in the Oltrarno district just a short walk from Ponte Vecchio, a historic bridge spanning the Arno River.

Even though we has been up for over 30 hours, after unpacking, we decided to head out and get the lay of the land. We stopped for our first (of many) gelatos, and apertivo and some pasta. Now we are back at our home away from home exhausted and ready for some much needed sleep, but I couldn’t let my head hit the pillow before I wrote this post. There is so much anticipation for all that is ahead of us over the next two months. We can’t wait to dive in and immerse ourselves in these cultures. Since I did the majority of the planning, I have asked Jimm to give me a rating for the day out of 5 stars based on a logistics and fun factor. Let’s see how I do :)

Rating for the Day: ****