Lake People, Part Two

 Hello!

The Summer of 2022, the Cunningham family front loaded our vacation time in the first month or so! Our friends, the Smith family, had a reason to go to Italy in early June, so we planned a trip with them. I will say, it was hectic at times and a tight schedule, but I wouldn't change a thing! BUT maybe it made me nostalgic for the relaxing beach vacays a little bit ;)

We departed early June for London and spend a day there touring and trying to get un-jet-lagged if that's even possible. We rode the London Eye and witnessed lots of the festivities for Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee which wasn't really our primary focus but made for good people watching. 

Kids on London Eye

Family @Big Ben - Why do I always close my eyes! 😂

Early the next AM, we went to Gatwick airport for our flight to Milan BUT, little did we know, our Wizz Air flight had been cancelled and there was no airline support to rectify the situation. Our group had booked this neat condo near Bellagio right on Lake Como and we were kind of stuck for awhile. Like all travel adventures, this was resolved after lots of time, sweat and credit card plastic when we got on a flight to Venice. From there we rented cars and made it to our condo only about 7 hours behind original schedule. Everyone was hungry so we even got there in time for dinner and before the restaurants closed. YAY!

Our place in Lake Como was perfect for our families and we had such a great time.

Go Jump in a Lake!

They're NOT FIGHTING! WOW!

The place we stayed in was right on the lake and was so beautiful. The lake seemed to have a mind of its own and would be calm one minute and choppy the next. One day we went shopping in Bellagio which was so cool! Here's a pic of the kids hanging out at Hotel Bellagio where we got a snack after a full day of shopping :)

One of the days we rented a boat and cruised Como. Wow! I think some of the most amazing real estate in the world is on that lake! And almost every view is like a scene from a movie (literally it is in movies because it's insanely photogenic).

Always a great time to be on the water!

The Cunningham family only made it back to the airport to catch our flight because of some wizardry from Mr. Smith who got us a car when all of our other arrangements had fallen through (thx Justin!). 

The biggest issue with being in Italy (and also London) during that time was a lack of infrastructure to support the tourism industry. Right and left, train operators, taxi drivers, airline attendants, you name it, were going on strike. I know post-COVID is a weird place and it frankly makes me want to stay a bit closer to home just to ensure we don't get stuck somewhere.

So after we made it back to the states, we stopped over in NYC and spent the night there so we could do a little sight-seeing as well. It was a good teaser to what will be a longer trip to the city someday, probably during the holidays.

Love, Claire

PS literally the day we got back from Italy, the US dropped mandatory COVID testing for international travelers to re-enter the US. This bodes well for future travel though we don't have anything planned!