Category: Travel

26 August, 2012

Solace in Solo Travel

Since I the age of 14 I began traveling by myself, which of course left my parents feeling extremely anxious while I felt freer than ever! I would get on the plane, and head to debate camp for two weeks in different parts of the country. I relished the freedom to discover a new town, make new friends, and be in unfamiliar surroundings.

15 years later I’m doing the same thing! For two weeks or more out of every year I treat myself to a much needed adventure abroad. I know people wonder why I travel by myself, and some people even fear the thought of it. But I love it! There is nothing like the moment when you know you are all alone in a foreign land where you may or may not speak the language, that excites me. Every day there is new discovery to be made, and every day is filled with spontaneity.

Dining, walking, and exploring alone are such treats. There’s nothing I love more than eating a long meal alone. I sometimes pick the most romantic restaurant to relish the food in solitude, and to observe happy couples. Travel tip: dining alone is the surest way to get special treatment!

Traveling long distances gives me the opportunity to think, reflect, and learn more about myself. I can get stuck in certain bad habits of thinking when I’m at home busy running companies. The chance to be alone means in a foreign places means that I cannot take comfort in known habits, I have to discover new ways of managing myself and my mind. It also forces you to live! You have a few weeks or days to see a place, which means you’re out having experiences rather than sitting around on dwelling in endless and needless self talk.

The other reason I love solo travel is because it reinvigorates me. In my day-to-day life and career, I spend my time thinking creatively, being outgoing, and motivating others. This can become draining. Travel exposes me to new experiences and perspectives. Even just the element of taking a break from being surrounded by like minded people and behaviors helps me to think creatively when I’m back home.

I know there are many women out there who are lucky enough to have a partner or friend who is wiling to share in their adventures. Sharing is wonderful. I unfortunately, have yet to find such a person. Until then I take comfort in knowing that I do not have to cajole someone to go surfing with me, hiking 10 miles, or eating a plate of octopi! I can wake up each day and do the things I want.

Sure there are moments I get a little lonesome, but I’m pretty good at making friends. For those that are shy, all that it takes is a smile and a simple hello. I realize that as a petite girl I am the least threatening person one could come across. Of course that means you need to know your boundaries and have some level on intuition when gauging a situation and people. But fear can hold you back from meeting some amazing people and sharing experiences with them.

For all those who are wary of traveling by themselves, or come up with excuses like “I cannot afford a trip” try this simple exercise: pick one place that you would love to visit but you know no one would come with you or have time to visit. Book your ticket, a place to stay, and then don’t look back. Give yourself the present of being truly alone in a new place, and see what good and bad comes of it.

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28 January, 2012

Startup Scene in Europe

I’ve spent the past month working from Europe, spending most of my time in Paris and some in London. I know there are more cities such as ones in Germany and Israel that also have startup scenes will visit them soon! I thought I’d share my learnings from Paris and London, what founders care about, and even give a little commentary on what it would take for these scenes to grow.

Accessibility

There’s a common misconception that’s been perpetuated that there is a lack of innovation outside of the US. Entrepreneurs everywhere are passionate about what they are doing, even in Europe. For many the choice of location comes down to accessibility. Its not like an entrepreneur tell himself, “No I don’t want access to capital, developers, and the support structure of Silicon Valley.” Many startup founders would love to move to Silicon Valley and part of the high tech scene, but just don’t have the means to make it happen in part due to funds or immigration issues. The later being the biggest hurdle because many do take the time to visit and work in Silicon Valley.

Hence many have to change their goals and build a strong base first in their native country, then grow in the European market, and hope to eventually create a global company.

Copy Cats is the Pot Calling the Kettle Black

Startups in the US copy each other… Groupon clones anyone?! So I don’t think its fair to say European companies shouldn’t be copying US companies. Yes there is the issue of IP and trademarking. But leaving that aside, European consumers aren’t going to wait for US companies to think that the European market is large enough or worth selling to. People everywhere want products! As long as US companies have a provincial view that the European market is too small and not worth selling to, or that it takes a lot of effort to change a product to fit a culture and isn’t worth it because of the former point, then there will be a market opportunity for startups in Europe to create similar products.

Metric System vs. US System

Everyone cares about customer acquisition, conversion rates, customer lifetime value, and of course creating a profitable and thriving company. Happy to hear that Eric Ries plans to make a cameo in Europe because founders here love the lean startup movement, and are certainly applying the lessons to their startups.

Funding & Founders come in many flavors

There are serial entrepreneurs in the US and there are certainly many here as well. The Dashlane and Civiliz founders are prime examples. Due to their past success they have access to capital and have been able to raise a significant amount of money for their startups. However, the major disadvantage that first time founders in Europe have when it comes to fundraising is access to an Angel investor market (I have been spreading the word about Angel.co). Some are fortunate to come across Angels through connections or participating in a local incubator, but the rest still have to rely on bootstrapping their startups.

While there are many startup founders who bootstrap in the US, customer acquisition and traction are what drive the majority of startups who are successful at fundraising in the US. Monetization is an afterthought for most, please don’t argue I’ve noticed this trend in slide decks and pitches since 2005.

The priority of monetization is the major difference for early stage companies in Europe vs the US. In a large part because it is a criteria for most European investors to even invest in a startup.

This has some side effects of course like not being able to grow as quickly and thereby being seen as not having a “large vision”.

Limitations

There are of course the usual suspects when it comes to the rate of innovation such as the government laws around hiring practice and tax structures, oh and the whole currency and banking crisis, but its not stopping bright and hungry founders from starting companies!

What does limit innovation here is access to capital, talent, and the negative sentiment of failure. However, these sentiments are common in many US cities outside of Silicon Valley.

There are also some trends in product development such as Agile and User Experience Design that are nascent in Europe, but I think its just a matter of time.

Whole new meaning to LBS…

As a founder I’m pretty optimistic about the future for European startups and their founders. I think there presence will add a healthy dose of competition to many Silicon Valley startups. The scene and the support structure around it are also growing as evidenced by the presence of bloggers, incubators, developer communities, and conferences here. While there are hurdles those who are the hungriest will figure out ways to overcome them. I think the added competition will also cause founders everywhere to start thinking about how to create products and companies that can be adapted to fit a global market, at least for those who want to avoid the innovator’s dilemma

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1 February, 2010

For the New Kids on the Bay Area Block

I’ve been in the Bay Area for the past 5 years, and prior to that I moved here from India when I was two, so in sum I’ve lived here a little over 9 years (yes I’m counting childhood because I claim to be precocious). I’m not too savvy when it comes to SF, because lets face it I love the warmth and sunshine of the peninsula, and I don’t plan to leave anytime soon. Being dubbed as one of the most energetic and extroverted engineers you’ll meet I’ve managed to explore a lot in along the Bay. Here are some “scenes” to check out for all your newbies:

Startup Scene

For gals who want to learn more about startups and tech: Women 2.0

For gal and guy coders who want a place to work: Hacker Dojo

If you want to be a 408/650 coder try these out: Ruby Meetup, SDForum, Google Tech Users Group

Entrepreneurs who can’t get enough caffeine: Dana Street Roasting Company & Red Rock (Mountain View), Coupa Cafe (Palo Alto)

Entrepreneur networking: SVASE

Learn about Startups & Emerging Technology: Stanford VLAB

Yoga/Sports Scene

I love Bikram and this is my favorite studio in the Bay Area: Bikram Yoga San Jose

Competitive Skiing/Snowboarding: Snow Drifters

Food Scene

My favorite Italiano – Gambardella’s

My favorite India – The Mynt

My favorite Mexican – Fiesta Del Mar Too

My favorite Sushi – Joy

Cafe Scene

My favorite espresso bar – Caffe del Doge

All around cafe – Cafe Barrone

All around cafe – Los Gatos Roasting Company

Chocolate Scene

Chocolate tours and tasting - Charles Chocolates

Wine Scene

Wine & Jazz Bar – A Perfect Finish

Cozy Wine Bar – Wine Room

Beach Scene

Santa Cruz is fun, but Capitola is nicer.

Meeting Nice People Scene

Spanish Meetup

Coupa Cafe

Rose & Crown (Tuesday is trivia night)

Adventure Scene

If you want to fly: Trapezing

If you want to jump: Trampoline Dodgeball

Relaxation Scene

Watercourse Way

Day Spa

Music Scene

Music in the Park (summertime only)

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13 January, 2010

Charming Los Gatos

Tired of the peninsula and SF startup scene and eager to meet new clients in other parts of the Bay Area, I left rainy Palo Alto, and high-tailed it down 85-S and then 17-S to work in Los Gatos, and was pleasantly greeted by blue skies. Los Gatos downtown is a neighborhood that despite being in Silicon Valley isn’t too techie. I wonder where all the wealth there comes from? And wealthy indeed these people are (I took pains to parallel parking my little Honda Civic between a Mercedes SUV and Maserati).

They’re techiness is mixed: I walked into my favorite coffee shop there Los Gatos Roasting Company, and the woman took my order down by checking off a box on a sheet of paper and then ringing me up on a cash register. As I sat down to work though they had 5 free wifi networks just at LGRC, and I can’t even get one to work in downtown Palo Alto!

And for all the geeks out there is an Apple store, which is never too densely populated.

As I drove home after my meeting I realized Los Gatos had something unique: balance. And of course all the elements fit for a foodie femgineer: boutiques, Michelin rated restaurants, and lots of free wifi!

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25 December, 2009

A Femgineer’s Adventures in Italia: Part V – Ischia

Day 5:

Up to this point we had only headed east toward Amalfi and Salerno. Jason and I were curious what lie to the west of Positano. I pulled out my guidebook and read up on an island called Ischia, which is more than twice the size of Capri and to its west, and southeast of Napoli and northeast of Sorrento. Ischia has a smaller island off its coast called Procida. Unfortunately, the ferry schedule to and from Ischia only gave us 4 hours on Ishcia so we wouldn’t have time to explore Procida.

The major sites to see on Ischia were thermal pools. The island was filled with them. And there was a really large and famous beach Spiaggia Citara.

We climbed aboard the ferry and headed for Ischia, stopping at Capri briefly to let off some passengers. The ride to Ischia was empty, but we passed the time away taking pictures of coast of Sorrento and Napoli in the distance. We also spotted Procida as we got closer. It was a lush little island.

Once we arrived in Ischia I made the stupid mistake of thinking we could just walk everywhere like we had on Salerno. But Ischia was a large island, and the pathways were not pedestrian friendly. As we were getting our bearings an older Italian man named Pasquale approached Jason, and handed him a brochure for Poseidon Terme. It had 22 thermal pools ranging from 15 degrees to 40 degrees Celsius, and the surroundings were done in a tropical theme that looked more like Hawaii than Italy. We took at look at the brochure and were sold! It would be our one and only stop but we figured it would be the most memorable. We climbed into Pasquale’s open air van and headed for Poseidon Terme. Apparently Pasquale wasn’t aware of our time constraint and proceeded to guide us through Ischia. Jason set him straight and then he stopped showing us around and headed straight to our destination.

Pasquale insisted on picking us up in a few hours and returning us to catch our ferry at 4:20pm, he refused to accept our payment until then. What a sweet Italiano!

We entered the Poseidon Terme, it was even more interesting than we had imagined. All the signs were in German and Italian, no signs in English! The entire spa was done in a tropical theme with palm trees and beautiful tropical flowers everywhere. But we had to follow certain rules: first everyone must wear a bathing cap, second you can only go from a hot pool to a cold pool once or twice, and third don’t stay in the hottest or coldest pool for too long.

The first pool Jason and I walked into was around 36 degrees Celsius. It was warm and relaxing. All the Europeans around us seemed to be pretty chill. After the pool we spotted a stone chair that was set into a wall, and had water cascading down it like a waterfall, it was apparently their idea of massage chair. We took turns sitting in it. As the water beat down hard it relaxed all my muscles and relieved the neck pain I had experienced from our stiff bed in Casa Miulo.

We continued to explore. I saw a steam room at the top of the staircase and thought to myself, I’m a Bikram yogini surely this will be a cake walk. Fat chance! We entered the silent steam room and the hot air instantly engulfed us and filled our lungs. I could barely breathe, after 30 seconds I signaled to Jason to exit! Whew now that’s what I call hot!!

As we walked through the terme we came upon a large swimming pool that had a very green hue to it unlike the blue pools we were used to. Out of curiosity we climbed in, it was much cooler than the other pools. After it we continued to go through the different grades of pools 32, 34, 36, 38, and 40 degrees Celsius. I wanted to try the 15 degree pool. Jason was wary. I noticed a young girl sitting calmly in it and thought it could be that bad. We slowly walked into it and felt the chilliness of it penetrate our skin. I forced myself to endure it for a minute purely out of a sense of competition with the girl who was by now in a Zen-like state, crazy!

After exploring all the pools we walked out to the beach. It was idyllic, with a large mountainous cliff to its left and filled scantily clad Europeans, I felt a bit overdressed…

We finished up our afternoon at the terme and headed out to be greeted by Pasquale. Since we had a little time to spare Pasquale gave us a little tour of the township and we took some pictures around a famous Roman Catholic Church.

To Jason, Ischia was the highlight of our trip. I ranked it second to the previous day’s adventures sailing along the coast.

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25 December, 2009

A Femgineer’s Adventures in Italia: Part IV – Amalfi Coast

Day 4:

After our trip to Salerno we were jonesing for a boat and beach day. The heat of the coast was too much to bear without air conditioning and escaping to the water would be our only way of cooling ourselves off. So we went to one of the small huts at the Spiagga Grande to figure out, which boat adventure we wanted to take the next day. I wanted to save Capri for my birthday, and the Australian girl suggested that we go on the Amalfi Coast boat tour. We’d be on a boat all day swimming through grottos and then stop off for a special lunch. I was reluctant to fork over more money for lunch, but the sheila said it would be very special and worth it. We signed up.

The heat of the Positano awoke us the next day, we were eager to start our adventure. I had no expectations. I just imagined a day of swimming along the coast, but it would turn out to be one of the best days of our trip!

We boarded a small boat with four others, two men from NYC, and an older couple from Genoa. Our captain, a native of Positano, James, was a large blonde man, who claimed to be Italian despite his thick English accent. His father was Italian, and his mother English. He lived in Positano during the summers, and traveled for the rest of the year around Italy, and often to London. All in all he was a real character! I couldn’t wait to meet this man’s father, who would be our captain on our trip to Capri.

James and the six of us set sail for the Amalfi Coast. Traveling on a small speed boat was wonderful. The weather was magnificent, and we got a real sense of the cliffs as we road by them in a small speed boat. Our first stop was a small sea arch where James anchored. The water was very green and beautiful, I was a little reluctant to dive right in, but as the Amalfitian sun began to beat down on me, I dove right it! The water was cool and refreshing. Jason and I, and the others swam around the sea arch, and between several large boulders. I had never swam through such waters. The waves were strong and demanded a strong swimmer, thank goodness I had been on swim team all those years in highschool :p

Tired from swimming through the boulders we climbed up a giant rock and rested for awhile. Only to be splashed by the giant waves. We swam back to the boat, happy as a clam for our first experience swimming off the coast.

It was around 11am, and James headed toward the ice chest. He broke out a bottle of Prosecco. I love Prosecco, but the thought of drinking at 11am was foreign to me. Jason grabbed a glass, and I joined in, after all we were on vacation! We sat back and sipped our Prosecco as the boat took off again. Ahh this is the life I thought. ”Baller-style!” retorted Putorti.

Our next stop was a giant cave. James stopped off outside the cave. This time I was the first one of the boat. I began swimming as fast as I could with no sense of fear. I couldn’t wait to see what was in the cave. The cave was quite large, the water inside as shimmered a pretty green. There were shallow spots where you could stand on rocks. Jason and I felt like we were in an Indiana Jones movie, and of course he ended up with the scars to prove it!

I sat quietly in the cave taking it all in. I had never done anything this adventurous before in my life, but I was happy that I had taken the time out to do.

We had one more stop before lunch. Close to Amalfi Town, there were three large water falls that we could see in the distance. First swimming through a cave and now swimming under a water fall! Once again I was the first to disembark. As I approached the falls I felt the water getting colder. But it was still refreshing. The source of the falls were probably about 50 feet high. Despite the heat, the chilly water started to get to me and I headed back to the boat.

Hunger pangs started…I had come to Italy to eat! James set sail one more time for our lunch spot. We stopped in the middle of the water and were greeted by a man on a hydrofoil. We boarded the hydrofoil and in the distance saw a small restaurant perched on the a beach. The hydrofoil was a experience, its faster than a speed boat, but pretty bumpy, imagine a really fast raft.

We got to the beach, where people were swimming, sunbathing, and snorkeling. It was a pretty chill location, we strolled up to the restaurant, which was open air. We took our seats at a large table and awaited our soon-to-be large Italian feast!

First they brought out wine, and bruschetta. By this point in our trip we were pretty sedate from the Prosecco, but Jason insisted I have a glass of the white. I continued to indulge myself. Our first course was a pasta course, clams in linguine with a garlic sauce, yup! The next course was seafood, calamari and octopus. The final course was dessert, and my favorite Italian dessert: tiramisu! They brought it out with two liquors. One of the liquors was the traditional limoncello, which I wasn’t a huge fan of so I took a couple sips. But next to it was a dark chocolate liquor. The chocoholic in me couldn’t resist! As I sipped the cool and smooth liquor I was in heaven! It had the perfect balance of liquor and chocolate, I highly recommend it. Buzzing by this point, and still wanting to enjoy the full Italian lunch experience I topped the meal off with a rich cappuccino.

Stuffed from our large mid-day meal we climbed aboard the boat for one last swim before the end of our adventure. Jason proceeded to take pictures of the coast as I lay back and relaxed. The older Italian couple and I struck up a conversation. The husband spoke fluent English, but the wife only spoke Italian so he translated for her. Apparently, she wanted to know where I was from, and how old I was. Wow, Italians so inquisitive! I told them I was 26, vacationing with my boyfriend, and that we were both from California. What I had wanted to say was that I was a young Indian Princess galavanting through Italy, which is certainly how I felt!

Our final swimming spot was calm water, I suspected James had picked this spot because we were all too stuffed to really swim. I jumped in and enjoyed one last dip.

We headed back to Positano, our tummies stuffed, and our hearts full of the beauty and thrill of swimming and sailing along the Amalfi Coast!

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14 October, 2009

A Femgineer’s Adventures in Italia: Part III – Salerno

Day 3:

We awoke determined to not fall prey to jet lag. I had looked at the ferry schedule the night before, and decided that I wanted to take the earliest ferry to Salerno so that we would have plenty of time to sightsee, go to the beach, and make it back to the last ferry. I was also debating on whether I wanted to spend tomorrow in Amalfi town or sailing along the coast.

After packing the accouterments we needed for our day trip (sun block, hat, bathing suit, water, guidebook, kindle…) we headed down the stairs to the main spiagga. On the way down we stopped at Zagara, a bakery, wine bar, and cafe that sold fresh crostinis and other pastries. I’m not a big fan of pastries in the morning, but I was on vacation, and the sight of them in the store window made my mouth water. We picked up some crostinis, fruit, and water and headed down the stairs.

I purchased two ferry tickets, which are around 20 euros roundtrip per person. The price depends on how far you are going. Then Jason and I had some time to kill before the ferry arrived so we headed over to the tour boats to see what tours were available for tomorrow. I saw the Capri tour, but wanted to save that one for my birthday. There was a tour for Amalfi Coast. The girl behind the counter had a Australian accent, she described the tour as a swimming tour that would take us along the coast and stop at various caves, in which we could swim. Swimming in caves sign me up!! The boat would have a small group, and then in the middle of the day we would stop for lunch at a surprise spot. Jason and I thought it was a good deal, and signed up. It cost about 80 euros per person, lunch cost an addition 30 euros per person, but the girl convinced us that it was very much worth it. She reminded us to bring our swimming costumes and to meet up at the beach around 10 am tomorrow morning.

Our ferry arrived, and we boarded heading towards Salerno. This was our first boat ride and disembarkation from Positano. As we left Positano we saw how beautiful it was, and how all the houses had been built into the hillside. Our Casa Miulo was hidden from our view, but we could still see close to where it was located from the ferry.

The ferry moved pretty fast, and it was a great way to beat the heat and humidity of Positano. We went past Praiano, which was the smaller neighboring town immediately to the east of Positano. It too had small white homes, and building built into its hillside. Then we came to Amalfi, which was our first stop. There was a large church tower with a clock. Unlike Positano, Amalfi Town actually had a dock, which was pretty flat, and then the city rose past it.

The ferry’s next stop after Amalfi Town was Ravello, another city that was high up in the hillside. I had heard that Ravello was very beautiful, and had lots of hiking trails. So I added it to my list of possible day trips.

We arrived in Salerno, and got off the the ferry not knowing where to start off. My stomach started to grumble, naturally we headed towards the cafes. We stopped at a small pizzeria where one guy was making fresh and hot calzones. I had a calzone and Jason ordered a coke. The coke tasted like all non-American coke, very sweet and extra bubbly. The calzone was warm and the dough was delicious. After lunch I opened up to the map in my guidebook and spotted a shopping center and some historical sites nearby. We headed in the direction of shopping center.

The shopping center turned out to be a pedestrian park, filled with shops that were both American and European. It had everything from United Colors of Benetton and Prada to smaller Italian boutiques.

We walked through the pedestrian park and came across a gelato stand. Still hungry, I ordered a cafe flavored gelato and Jason had the lemon ice gelato, which was more like a sorbet. It was heavenly! We ate our gelato in the sweltering heat, which helped cool us off, and proceeded to get lost in a maze of quaint and very European-looking side streets. Jason took pictures of all the facades, and I kept walking in search of adventure. We came to a church, where a bride and groom had just gotten married and were taking pictures in. Being the wedding crashers that we are, we walked into the church’s courtyard, and tried our best to stay out of the wedding pictures. I admired the bride from afar, while Jason snapped more pictures of the church’s courtyard. The fountain in the center of the courtyard had been filled with large sunflowers native to Italy from Tuscany. It was a beautiful moment to witness true love commencing on a Monday afternoon, only in Italia!

After the church we strolled a little farther and came to a park entrance. The park was filled with lush palm trees and more exotic plants. We decided to rest our weary feet in the shady park, and sat by the park’s water fountain.

With only an hour left until the ferry we walked back towards the ferry and came across a beach called Free Beach. It wasn’t all that great, but the water was cooling so we stuck our feet in for awhile, and then headed back to the ferry.

When we arrived in Positano it was still too early for dinner so we headed to the beach to cool off. Then climbed the stairs to freshen up for dinner, then back down to the main spiagga for dinner.

We chose La Pergola a restaurant right next door to the famous Bucca di Bacco restaurant and hotel. It was an open air restaurant perfect for people watching. I wanted to be adventurous in my cuisine selection, so I ordered the sea bass, never having tried it before. Since it was still hot we ordered a cool white wine, native to the region, Costa di Amalfi, it tasted a lot like a pinot grigio. The sea bass arrived, filled with tiny bones, but it was still delicious, white and flakey and very well seasoned with herbs and lots of olive oil. We sat and enjoyed our dinner while people watching. The perfect end to a day filled with walking around exploring Salerno. and getting our first breathtaking views of the Amalfian Coastline!

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8 October, 2009

A Femgineer’s Adventures in Italia: Part II – Arriving on the Amalfi Coast

Day 1:

We arrived in Rome sleep deprived and overheated. We hadn’t bothered to check the forecast before leaving. I was sweating the moment I got off the plane, it was in the 90s. We quickly headed for the train station Roma Termini, which is about 30 minutes away from the airport. My Italian was rusty, but Jason’s was decent so he walked up to train ticket machine, and bought a ticket for our next destination Napoli (Naples).

We rode in second class, which is much cheaper than first, moderately comfortable and had air conditioning, which was the major perk. Riding on a train in Italy is like sharing a table at a restaurant with strangers, who don’t speak your language. Only the table is moving through the Italian country side and you’re waiting for your destination instead of a dish.

The train ride to Napoli was about an hour and half, with no stops. I was too tired to stay awake and see all the Italian countryside, but what I did see was beautiful. It was a sunny day, and the landscape between Roma and Napoli was filled with rolling hills and sparsely populated with little houses. As we approached Napoli the hills turned into mountains and you could see Mount Vesuvius from afar. I started talking to Jason about visiting Pompeii, because I heard it was a very interesting site, but we decided to hold off on planning for it, because it would require coming back to Napoli from Positano.

Once we arrived in Napoli, we were greeted by a very friendly driver from Positano, who escorted us to our comfy Mercedes taxi. The drive from Napoli to Positano was a little over an hour. There wasn’t much to see in Napoli. Once the air conditioning kicked in Jason and I dozed off. I was pleasantly awaken by the breathtaking views, and windy roads of Sorrento, which is about 30 minutes way from Positano. We stopped at a few places to snap some pictures. We kept driving through Sorrento, and once we left we were in a sort of dead zone for about 15 minutes that was sparsely inhabited. There were cliffs and a sparkling blue sea to our right, and to our left large hills. Then our driver announced that we were entering Positano and the start of the Amalfi Coast. It was amazing. You could see the entire town of Positano built up into the hillside and the sea directly below it. It looked like there was hardly any flat surfaces, and all the houses and hotels were perfectly perched on the hills. We kept driving down the narrow windy road, and made one final stop to admire Positano from afar.

Arriving at Casa Miulo, we climbed up the 10 steps to our little house, and was greeted by an older woman who lived in the house above ours. She hardly spoke any English, but somehow we managed to understand one another. I was reluctant to had over our passports to her, but nevertheless trusted her given the fact that she trusted us to stay in her guest house. We entered our cute loft style house that was pretty hot, turned on the one and only fan in our bedroom, and plopped ourselves down on the bed and fell fast asleep.

Waking up a few hours later, hungry, and slightly refreshed, we decided it was time to explore! We weren’t sure if we would stay awake long enough to make it down to the beach. Having no maps, GPS, or sense of direction except down the hillside, we decided that we’d eat dinner, and then venture out farther if we felt up to it. We found a cute pizzeria located a few streets down from our house. The pizza was amazing! Warm mozzarella topped on a soft crust. After devouring our dinner we walked around some more, and then decided we were awake enough to head to the beach. Our route down was a little circuitous but we found it by going down several flights of stairs. The beach was surrounded by lots of open air restaurants, an internet cafe, and boat rental and sailing tour stands. After scouting the place, we figured that we still needed a day to get over the jet lag, so we headed back up the stairs to Casa Miulo.

Day 2:

I awoke starving as usual. Jason was still tired, but willing to satisfy my hunger pangs. We walked across the street to the market, and was greeted by a very sweet middle-aged woman, “Epi”, who spoke English fluently. The market smelled like fresh baked bread, even though it had mostly packaged goods. We noticed there was a deli counter, and proceeded to order two sandwiches a caprese for me, and a mozzarella with melanzane (eggplant) for Jason. The sandwiches were enormous, and came on this round soft bread. The mozzarella was much more flavorful than any I had had back home, and the tomatoes were very juicy and ripe. I took a bite of Jason’s sandwich, and the eggplant had been marinated to perfection! I decided that the next time I went to the market, I was going to order the melazane sandwich.

After feasting on sandwiches for breakfast we slumped back into our slumber state. I awoke a few hours later and began reading on my Kindle, ”My Life in France”. By 2pm Casa Miulo was sweltering, an we decided it was time to cool off at the beach. We headed down to the main beach in Positano called Spiagga Grande, and rented two umbrella covered lounge chairs for the rest of the afternoon. They were pricey, but the shade was worth it to me. The beach was mostly populated by European couples, and a few Italian families. We entered the water from the pebbly beach, which was like walking on hot massage stones. The water was cool and refreshing.

After climbing up the stairs to shower we headed back down to the spiagga for dinner. All the restaurants were open air, bustling with people, and smelled of the delectable Italian food aromas; fresh baked bread, sweet tomatoes, and succulent seafood. Jason and I picked one of the open air restaurants and plopped ourselves down for a feast. I ordered linguine with clams, which is a very popular local dish. It is very light, flavored slightly with garlic, but mostly the clams bring out the flavor in the dish. We enjoyed a bottle of the Costa D’Amalfi, a local wine, with dinner. The red version is a little heavy for a warm summer night.

Heading back up to our villa after a little wine and a feast was difficult, but we managed to make it back safe and sound.

The next day would be Monday and the start of exploring the coastline. Jason remarked that he was no longer going to nap and that we should do a day trip somewhere. I pulled out my Frommer’s Amalfi Coast guide book, and looked up Salerno, it was the farthest east from Positano. The book mentioned it had a decent beach. I figured taking the ferry to the farthest point would give us a good look of eastern side of the Amalfi Coast, and we’d have an idea of where we’d want to go and explore on our trip.

Jason and I started to do a little planning, we wanted to go to Capri for my birthday and at some point visit the town of Amalfi. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to just go on a ferry or take a private tour. We decided we’d finalize our plans in the morning, and headed off to rest up for our first day of real adventure!

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13 September, 2009

A Femgineer’s Adventures in Italia: Part I – Trip Planning

I spent the last two weeks traveling to Italy, and when I got back there was a fervor amongst my friends and co-workers to know more about my trip, see pictures, and even start a travel blog! I’ve decided to do a series of posts to satisfy every one’s curiosity

Over three years ago I had dream to travel to Italy, stroll through the warm Tuscan countryside, visit the grandiose monuments in Rome, eat copious amounts of pasta and Italian pastries, and learn about the culture. Alas, my dream was put on hold for coding, and not until the beginning of this year did I revisit it. In March I started playing with the idea of living in Italy for a week. I wasn’t sure where I wanted to stay, but I knew that I wanted it to be close to the water. After listening to Beyonce & Jay-Z’s song “Upgrade U” and watching Diane Lane’s movie “Under the Tuscan Sun” I had a stroke of inspiration, and decided that I wanted to rent a villa on the Amalfi Coast in the town of Positano.

I sent out a mass emails to my closest friends, attaching breathtaking views of the coast line, and listing all the fun things to do there such as sailing, swimming in caves and taking Italian cooking classes. I was hoping that someone would want to join me, but with the recession looming, housing prices sinking, and the Euro gaining in value against the dollar my friends were worried about taking a vacation. Having no real financial obligations, and having a you only-live-once and its-easier-to travel-when-you’re-young philosophy, I scoffed at the recession, and even convinced my boyfriend, Jason, who hates long international coach-class flights, to come with me.

The first phase of planning was to find a place to stay. Booking a hotel was going to be too expensive, and we wanted to have a more authentic experience. I figured a villa would meet our needs, and starting looking for a reliable rental company. I figured we would be spending most of our time exploring the area or on the beach, so I tried to look for medium priced places that were comfortable, but also located close to restaurants and within walking distance of the beach. There were good reviews on the Summer in Italy site, but I couldn’t find any that I liked, I switched to using Ville in Italia. The place we ended up booking was a small loft apartment that was underneath a larger house, and located right across the street from an Italian market called Casa Miulo. Unfortunately, we didn’t bother to notice that there was no air conditioning, and unlike most Septembers in Positano this year’s was pretty hot. But we figured worse case we’d cool off in the Tyrrhenian Sea!

As I was making my plans and talking to people about my travels, everyone was surprised that I was only going for one week, and only to the beach. I started toying with the idea of spending another week in Rome and Florence. One friend even went as far as saying that I would be missing out on the entire Italian experience if I did not see Florence! I was still concerned about costs, hotels in Europe aren’t cheap, plus train fare to get to each of these cities. Jason had stayed with a family in Florence 5 years ago, and after a couple quick Facebook messages, they were more than happy to host us for a few days, we’d only need a hotel in Rome.

The next step was figuring out what to do in each location, and how to get around. First, I searched on TripAdvisor for how to get from Rome Fiumicino to Positano. Some people suggested taking the train from Rome to Naples, and then renting a car, but others were opposed to it because of the narrow windy roads. I figured we’d be sleep deprived, and wouldn’t do well on narrow windy roads. I had also read that Positano was pretty walkable, so there was no point in renting a car for our entire trip. Others suggested getting a car company to drive you from Naples to Positano; I looked up the rates and it was equivalent to my flight to Rome, nix that! The only other options were to take another train to Sorrento, the Circumvenusia, and then the SITA bus to Positano or a hydrofoil from Naples to Positano but they were unreliable. I picked the train and bus option; it would be more stops, but at least we could afford it. However, Jason discovered that we could book a car with our villa rental agency for a reasonable amount, we ultimately went with that option thinking it would be more relaxing after an already long flight and train ride.

Jason took care of booking our flights and the villa. Booking the villa took a little back and forth, but went pretty smoothly. There were no good deals on flights to Rome that didn’t take forever to get there, so Jason cashed in some miles and booked us two coach tickets on US Airways, not the greatest carrier, but it would do.

I didn’t have a lot of time to plan activities day by day, and I knew Jason would want to be more spontaneous, so I picked up copy of Frommer’s Amalfi Coast guidebook, and read a few chapters in it to figure out the best places to eat, how to various islands, and what the main attractions on the coast were. Wanting to make sure I didn’t get ripped off anywhere and to put together a budget ahead of time, I checked prices for boat rentals and sailing tours. And being a foodie femgineer, I made a list of all the restaurants I wanted to try in the area, with price ranges, and the days what day of the week they would be open.

I also wanted an Italian’s honest opinion so I contacted a friend of mine, who lives in Italy, and she gave me some great advice on things to do in Rome and Florence, and what to prepare for when traveling to Italy. For example, she recommended taking comfortable sandals to Positano, because the town is built into the cliff and there stairs to climb everywhere. And that Rome can be overwhelming, picking a few spots is the best option, and Romans enjoy summers al fresco.

Jason signed up for the iPhone international calling plan to keep up with his family, but I decided to wing it. Texting was only 50 cents; a quick and cheap way to communicate with friends back home. I knew my parents would be happy with a one minute call, and a page long email about my travels.

I was adamant about us only taking carry-ons because I hate losing luggage, and schlepping large suitcases on trains. I figured we could find a laundromat or hand wash our clothes. We packed lightly, only the essentials such as my new Kindle 2, which would undoubtedly come in handy on our various train rides. I had already read Eat, Pray, Love, and couldn’t find another Italian travel book so I settled for Julia Child’s My Life in France (research for my next trip) and Clean Code by Robert C. Martin (just in case I starting to miss coding ).

Off to Roma, Firenze e Positano!

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