Adventures In Italy
A Journey Through
Wine, Culture, & Cuisine
October 2024
Our adventure begins with the goal of experiencing Europe as a family: to explore something far away, inspiring, and life-changing together! In the past few years my family has been yearning to get out of town and explore new places, new potential homes, and escape the desert heat of Las Vegas.
Pressing start to Adventure
My parents have been the inspiration of much of our destinations. As I tried to organize our trip, we started out with a quick game to see where mom and dad’s top three ideal destinations would be in Europe, with secret answers. The results:
First: Italy (all?)
Second: Amsterdam (Netherlands)
Third: Lisbon (Portugal) vs Paris (France)
I was very surprise by their mutual decision of Amsterdam! I ambitiously began with the first two countries to see if it was possible to plan but due to the amount time and cost to finagle two countries in this trip would be more than I could budget so we decided to have quality time in Italy, with a chance to see London. And I mean chance…
Sequence of Events
Flight to Heathrow
London
Milan
Lago Maggiore
Rest in Milano
Torino
Final Days in Milan
Nap time in Heathrow
Home
Borromeo Islands:
Isola Bella - in the home of Count Carlo III Boromeo and Isabella D’Adda
Quintessentially the most beautiful room I have ever entered and walked around! The architecture is surreal and incomparable!
A snapshot of our food selection!
The Big Reveal
Consolidation
Came a long way, with a lifetime's worth of failures and successes. Years of experiments, learning, and overcoming.
Today, I'm totally stoked to announce the merger of all these expressions:
@2Knivez
@Sip.Studies
@Beverage.AI
@321Hypeman
Merged Into One
Sip Studies, moving forward, will be the home of all these experiences:
Hype & Adventure
Innovation & Technology
Flavors & Culture
Discovery & Reflections
Artificial Intelligence
We've worked hard at building
Sippy
Our Beverage AI designed to help you learn, engage and teach all beverages and pairings!
Test it out, break it apart, tell us what you'd like to see and how it can get better.
Most importantly,
TRY IT!
#SipStudies #BigReveal #FlavorCulture #AdventuresBegin #FoodAndDrink
Travel Blog
Traveling is one of the most important life lessons and joys in my life
Traveling
It is one of the most important life lessons and joys in my life. From the first time I ventured away from home to hang out with friends, to the first time I left the country into lands unknown - it is a yearning for the unknown, to learn from others in a community you've never known about, we're friends and family could be acquired in the love of new acquaintances.
Planning
One of the most crucial things that I've done when it comes to traveling is the planning I take a head of my adventures. I've never regretted the numerous hours I have spent planning a big trip because it has led to millions of memories, many successes, and the yearning to succeed in new ways!
From planning a weekend trip to a month-long Adventure, one of the most important things I've ever used in my planning is my bag. It's something that becomes your mobile HQ, your organizational system, and your signature when people are looking for you. For me I prefer to pack a backpack, that has a travel liner inside of it where I can hook it to anything but stay organized so I can quickly pack and unpack.
🔗 Link 🔗
Purchasing
The next biggest challenge in all of this is the purchasing of your trip. I like to set a budget, ideally around $1,000 - $2,000 a person. Then I like to plan the following in order:
Plane Tickets
Hotel or Airbnb
Transportation
Tickets to Events
These days I look at scheduling a minimum of three or four days per city that I'm in. I find that despite how fun it is to galavant around the country of choice, I'm starting to enjoy more the deeper explorations of the towns that I visit so I can truly find the best experiences possible. Don't get me wrong, sometimes the best way to see a country is doing a good old-fashioned march every day from dawn to dusk to see as much as possible. But I've done my fair share so my style has changed.
Boarding
Admittedly some people have a hard time flying, but this is something that I found to enjoy each and every little moment. From the scurrying of people on mobile walkways, to the elbowing of others furiously while boarding their plane as if they got a significant advantage.
I found that slow and steady wins this race, where during my last trip I was traveling with my parents using a wheelchair with my mother and I found that we had the most excellent experience boarding all our planes with incredibly courteous stewardess and polite fellow travelers. It goes to show that sometimes it really does pay to stop and smell the roses.
This is usually where I am very judicious about getting the cheapest seat, strategically placed where I can still recline or get a small stretch in between long trips. The savings on these few hours pays off by giving me the chance to upset those expenses with better lodging or cool experiences.
Exploration
Once I have touched down on my destination airport, I like to get a lay of the land starting with the airport navigation and then area around my hotel or Airbnb. I find that there is great comfort when one knows how to navigate the most crucial parts of the trip, the airport. Usually this feels like a turnstile one way in or one way out, but I found that with a few spare moments of navigating, I can plan my escape the moment I land so that way I have a good grasp on my timing required before departure.
When I have checked in to my hotel or Airbnb I usually find great joy in the local suggestions that I might find from the staff or host. These little details tend to pay off greatly as it says a good amount of time and creates great clarity when in the fog of war or travel.
Blogging
I tend to find that I enjoy taking thousands of photos more than writing about my trips. But as the SEO gods of the internet demand my verbiage, I will keep you all posted on these adventures of mine and with sprinkled amounts of delightful photos!
In September of 2024 I had the great honor of taking my parents to Italy for their first international trip together with me! This was probably the longest trip they've ever taken together so it was quite the challenge but with great rewards! Please stay tuned to check out all the fun 🙏🎉❤️
My parents at Lago Maggiore