Author: The Impatient Traveler

Connecticut born & Texas raised, I am constantly doing. I strive to experience every opportunity presented to me in life. Traveling is my favorite hobby but, between trips, I explore everything Dallas has to offer both culturally and culinarily.
View of the coast in Miraflores, Lima Peru

Lima, Peru – Day 1

by The Impatient Traveler, posted in Lima, Peru

I am not typically an early morning person, but on trips, the excitement and need to experience as much as possible gets me up bright and early. By 8 am, we were up and getting our needed nourishment for the day at the breakfast buffet. The hotel had these bright pink sausages that looked very strange but tasted delicious – I am never shy about trying something new and potentially tasty!

As our city tour did not start until after lunch, we decided to walk down to cliffs overlooking the beach. It was quite the journey getting down the stairs from the cliffs to the rocky coastline, but totally worth it. My mom wanted to “test the water temp” and needed my dad’s help traversing the rocks to get to the ocean. Unfortunately for my philanthropic father, my mom accidentally pulled him in the wrong direction and straight into an on coming wave that completely soaked through his sneakers! His sloshing sneakers marked the way back up the stairway to the coast trail lined with sculptures, amazing views, and gorgeous foliage.

The 70 degree, sunny day seemed to prompt everyone with the same “lets walk the coast” idea as us. It was packed! There were slack liners, dog walkers, hang gliders, work-outers, and all other types on the trails with us. We people-watched our way to this great outdoor shopping plaza overlooking the coast that housed our lunch destination – a resultant called Mangos. Not only is the patio view from Mangos out of this world, but the ceviche … the ceviche!! I felt like we were in food heaven “cheers”-ing with our pisco sours. If you visit Miraflores, you have to go to Mangos!

After one of the best meals I have ever had, we met our tour guide, and hopped on the van for our downtown adventure. The buildings in downtown Lima are heavily influenced by the French and Italian and are extremely ornate. Our van dropped us off at the Church of St. Francis for a walk-through. The church is packed with gorgeous, old murals that have both Spanish and Peruvian influence. It was fascinating to learn how the styles of the various cultures merged into the art hanging before us. We were also escorted below the church to the maze of a crypts that held over 25K bodies! Slightly creepy but still amazing to see.

A few blocks down from the church is the main square and Government Palace of Peru. We walked around the square, taking in all of the sights, until the sun set and our van picked us up.

We freshened up at the hotel and headed back to the Cat Park to look at the local art and find a spot for dinner. We ended up at a place called Alfresco based on the hotel’s recommendation – another winner! I had a fabulous sea bass in a shrimp and coconut sauce, while Ryan and my sister had delicious curries. We did have some food envy though when the table next to ours got their branzino… until our apple crumble ice-cream desert arrived! So yummy!

Thankfully, we were able to walk off our big dinner on the way home. In fact, based on my FitBit, we walked over 8.83 miles touring Lima. What a fabulous first full day to the trip!

At the top of Hidden Peak, Snowbird, Utah

Booking Ski Trips 101

by The Impatient Traveler, posted in Snowbird, Utah, Tips & Tricks

When your travel buddy has 4.5 days of vacation left for the year, it’s basically a crime not to take advantage of them. For that reason, I suggested that we embark on a ski adventure. It took some elbow grease to get the idea set into motion, but one hour on the couch and a great deal on New Year’s travel later, we had a 4 night stay booked at a highly reviewed resort called the Cliff Lodge in Snowbird, Utah!

You know the saying “hindsight is 20/20”? Well that really applies to this trip. Immediately after booking, I clicked into the mountain reviews. They were extremely positive but I started noticing that very advanced skiers were the ones writing the reviews and they were raving about how fantastically challenging the mountain was. That is fine and good but Ryan, my travel buddy boyfriend, was a first time skier and I hadn’t thought to look up things like “best places for first time skiing”. (Duh…) I was basically having an “OMG, what did we do?!” moment on the couch approximately two minutes after booking! After researching more about the amazing ski school at Snowbird and learning that about 30% of the runs are green, I felt better about our decision, considering it was basically non-refundable.

Snowbird Mountain Trail Map

Unfortunately, I then had another thought. “What about the nightlife / other activities outside of skiing?”. Ryan and I planned a 4 day stay over New Years Eve and I wasn’t sure exactly how many days we would actually ski. What if Ryan didn’t like it or one of us got hurt? Snowbird had a spa but outside of that and snowshoeing, it didn’t seem as though there was much else to do for an entire day. Also, while its only 30 minutes to Salt Lake City or an hour to Gorgoza Park for snow tubing, the cost of transport to those places was a few hundred dollars – a big limiting factor. Again, our trip was booked so we couldn’t change the reservation, but this still made me nervous.

Fortunately for us, the Snowbird trails ended up being completely amazing and we were able to find plenty of slopes to fit our skill levels. Ryan’s ski class went exceedingly well and he picked it up like a pro! As you will read in the next round of Snowbird posts, we ended up skiing for 3 of the 4 days, but were also able to find things to do at the resort to fill our time off of the slopes.

Things to consider when booking a ski / snowboarding trip:

  • Proximity of the slopes to the airport – depending on where you choose, the slopes can be hours away, meaning lots of travel time through potentially snowy roads. Utah has a bunch of options within an hour drive of the SLC airport which is why we picked Utah in the first place.
  • Cost of lift tickets and gear rentals – prices vary from place to place so do some research before you book if you are on a budget.
  • Local area nightlife – each ski town has its own personality and size. Some places, like Snowbird, are pretty isolated so you stay on the premise. Other places, like Park City, have a much bigger “scene” with lots of options.
  • Non-ski activity offerings – consider the length of your stay vs. the days you will actually be on the slopes and if all of your party wants to ski / snowboard the entire trip.
  • Ease and cost of travel to other places – if you do want to explore other areas for skiing / snowboarding or for other activities, look up how far the distance between the areas is and call and ask local transport (your hotel will have this information) for costing. Snowbird’s slopes actually have a ski-in, ski-out connection to the neighboring Alta Ski slopes, so for $30 more a day, you have the option to ski either range. An awesome perk for a longer ski trip.

Skis on the lift - Snowbird, Utah

The view from atop a bridge in Venice, Italy

Venice, Italy

by The Impatient Traveler, posted in Italy, Venice, Italy

Woke up early to my new friend Kaitlyn’s booming laugh. I tried tagging myself in one of her Instagram posts the previous night but accidentally tagged a guy from Hong Kong with a similar user name! He left a very confused comment on her photo and we couldn’t get over it. Oops!

After a very carb-heavy buffet breakfast, we hopped onto the bus heading to the boat yard. The boat ride to Venice was one long, amazing view and I was in sensory overload due to our arrival at the floating city. Tour guides in Italy have to be certified for each place they specialize in, so we acquired a very tall, Venice specific guide who walked us along the coast towards St. Mark’s Basilica.

The square where the Basilica stands is intrinsically gorgeous. Apparently, the entire square floods during heavy rain and the people who live there use planks to get around above the water! As for Basilica itself – I can’t event begin to describe its magnificence (I promise that is not a copout description!). It is covered in 24 carat gold leaf glass murals that portray the various books of the bible. I felt so small inside the Basilica and my neck started to ache from looking up at the art on the ceiling for almost the entirety of the tour.

Inside St. Mark's Basilica

After the Basilica tour, we walked through the narrow streets to the famous Murano Glass Factory which makes Venetian glass. Over thirty years ago, my mother visited this very factory and bought a red and gold wine glass set that we use every Christmas. Needless to say, I was ecstatic to retrace her steps and go to this family famed place. Once we climbed up the old, narrow, wooden steps to the artisans workshop, we watched one of the glass masters make a beautiful glass horse and then toured the gift shop (of course!). I even saw the same glasses my mother owns!

Post glass tour, we had a mandatory gelato break, and then we headed for the gondolas. Our gondola captain was singing Italian hits like a drunken bird throughout our ride and said “spaghetti” when we told him to say “cheese” for the camera! He was great. You could basically describe all of the gondola guys as having the “Jersey Shore Guido” look. Overall, it was a very relaxing and fun experience floating through the canals of Venice.

Canals in Venice, Italy
With our “gondola guy”
Santa Maria della Salute church

About an hour of cruising later, we navigated through the maze-like streets of Venice to a restaurant with wifi for lunch. Plus-side to Italy’s tourist area restaurants – lots of them provide free wifi if you eat there. Down-side to Italy’s restaurants – the waiters get very irritated if you ask for tap water. The tap water is perfectly drinkable, but they always want to charge for bottled, so they will tell you they don’t have tap when they do.

After lunch and an agitated waiter later, we did some street vendor shopping and I acquired a beautiful painting of Venice from a local university art professor. It was bursting with color so I had to have it as a souvenir.

We eventually made our way back to Dario (our overall tour guide) and hopped back on the boat to out hotel. Since our dinner experience at the previous night’s restaurant was so excellent, we returned with an even bigger group for some pizza. One of the girls tried the black squid ink pasta and her mouth turned black! We ate and then hurried back to the hotel to subsequently zonk out.

Venice travel tips:

  • Bring a hat and sun screen. All of the outside walking under the sun will catch up to you.
  • Ask for tap water at the restaurants. Why pay for bottled when the tap is just as good?
  • Go to the glass factories for a demonstration. Not only is it an amazing art to watch, but the demonstration is a worth while break off of your feet during a full day of touring.
  • Haggle the street vendors when buying souvenirs. Most of the prices are very negotiable if you are not in an actual shop.

Getting to Venice, Italy

by The Impatient Traveler, posted in Italy, Venice, Italy

After two days with our 43 people tour group, little sub-groups started forming. I became good friends with two other girls from Texas and one from Miami, all of whom decided to room together in our hotel outside of Venice!

We arrived in the late afternoon to an adorable hotel right on the beach. It was a little chilly on the coast so we grabbed sweaters and headed to the beach before sunset. Despite the cold, some of the girls ran into the ocean. I dipped my toes in and immediately got goose bumps and respect for those crazies who were in up to their necks! We got a little crazy with pictures instead..

Silliness on the beach in Italy

The sun started setting so we took off on an adventure through the little town to find a place to eat. We found a quaint little family run place with home-made wine and tortellinis – my favorite combination! A few other girls joined our group, totaling 10 in all, basically filling the entire restaurant! Even with all of the other girls, our “core four” group ended up having a very deep and fulfilling conversation about our lives. It’s amazing how people from all different backgrounds can become so united in such a short period of time.

After such intense conversation, and a little more vino, we decided to lighten the mood with some 1€ go kart races on the way back to the hotel. I ended up on the “cop kart” and chased everyone down. It was silly but was one of the most fun nights of my entire life!

Go Karting in Venice, Italy

After a few laps around the track, we met the rest of the tour group back at the hotel for a night-cap and then bed to rest of for our day in Venice!

 

Statue in Miraflores, Lima Peru

Lima, Peru – Packing List

by The Impatient Traveler, posted in Packing Guides, Packing Lists, Peru, Tips & Tricks

The below packing guide is for Lima, Peru in the summer months. We went to Lima in May when the avg. temperature is 75° F. Multiply the clothing suggestions by the number of days you are staying in Lima.

A few things to note when spending time in Lima:

  • You will be walking a lot so comfortable shoes, sun protection, and hydration are very important.
  • The beaches are pretty but very rocky so, if you decide you do want to get in the water, wear water shoes.
  • The weather is warm so, with all that walking, it gets hot. Bring layers for the temperature drops at night, but lighter clothing will work during the day.
  • The views are beautiful so don’t forget a camera to document!
Lima Peru Packing List
Lima, Peru Packing List