I Thought This Was Supposed To Be a Vacation

I had that dream again last night. The only I have all the time when I am stressed or worrying about something. In the dream I am in college again and I don't know my class schedule. So, I am panicking and don't know where or when I'm supposed to go to class. It's awful. And of course, I usually wake up in the middle of the night and then go right back into the same dream when I fall asleep again. I hate that!

Well, folks, we are planning our honeymoon which is only 48 days away {We fly out on the 4th of July} and I am so excited, happy, anxious, that I am beyond words! So, it is truly a very exciting time and I am absolutely thrilled that we are even able to go on this amazing trip. But - planning it is stressful. I cannot imagine taking this trip right after planning a wedding - I would just be so overwhelmed.  Since Jake has been really busy lately with working full time and teaching a class at Seattle U, so I am taking the reins on planning our itinerary each day.

We are staying in Sorrento, Rome, Florence, Lake Como (!), and Venice. Our trip will be 14 days but I am taking 2.5 weeks off work! From Sorrento, we will be doing day trips to Capri (to see the Blue Grotto and the rest of the island) and Positano, Amalfi and Ravello. From Florence, we will take a day trip to Cinque Terre. We will be stopping in Milan (just to pick up our rental car) and we Jake will be driving to Lake Como. I am a little scared about that, but Jake isn't phased. Overall, I couldn't be more excited because going to Italy has been our dream for so long. When we first met, we made a list of all the places we wanted to travel to (I still have it somewhere on the back of a receipt). Neither of us has been to Europe so this is really going to be the trip of a lifetime. Katie from Ever After Honeymoons planned the trip for us and she has been an awesome resource for my million questions (more on that later). I believe she will plan other trips (not just honeymoons), so contact her if you are interested in her help. I highly recommend!

Italy | Via greenlikebathwater

But, when you have a limited amount of time in each place, it is tough to narrow down everything you want to see. There is just not enough time in the day. Also, Jake and my vacation styles are a little different. I want to get out, explore, see the art, and Jake is more of a relax, lay by the pool and read a book kind of guy. I think we will have plenty of  time to do that in Lake Como, but the other destinations will probably be packed with sightseeing. The other thing is that we can always skip something if we don't feel like it. As my wise friend Megan once said, it's better to plan the entire day and then subtract as opposed to wasting time to figure out where/what you want to do next and then missing out on seeing some of the really important things that you really wanted to do or see.

I have many spreadsheets {Yes, I am a dork with a budget} with our daily itineraries and cost estimates and the only city I have left to plan is Florence. Jake is in charge of planning Lake Como and our day in Cinque Terre, which shouldn't be too bad. Man, am I excited for the food and wine. I just booked our tickets for the Vatican Museum in Rome and that's when it really hit me for the first time -- this is really happening! It's kind of like wedding planning for months and then finally trying on the dress, it feels more real.  Here is my pinterest honeymoon board for more Italy inspiration.  I just saw this on MSN.com today - Top 20 Honeymoon Destinations and guess where #1 is???

Trevi Fountain | Rome, Italy