5 Ways To Manage Stress

image by Kelly Cappelli

It's been a week since the election - how stressed out are you?

Everywhere I go it seems that people are majorly stressed out. Trump fans are mad that the haters be hating, Trump haters are stressed out that he even got elected let alone that he is going to take office.

The world is stressed out that God only knows what will happen, and today I even heard Trump voters stressing out that he is putting Steve Bannon, the white supremacist in the White House.

I have been super stressed out that this has happened to my adopted country, meanwhile a massive earthquake hit my home country, which has me beyond stressed out.

Add to the mix working the past 44 days straight, AND having a major flood in my home and frankly it has been a stressful few weeks.

The thing about stress though is that it doesn't achieve anything. Well, nothing positive anyway. The trick is to find ways to manage your stress so that it doesn't manage you.

 5 Ways To Manage Stress

1. Do Yoga

Even if you just do a few sun salutations each day, yoga is a fantastic way to manage stress. The focus on your breath, the stretching, the flow from position to position make yoga the ultimate stress buster.

If you can't get to class just roll out your yoga mat and do some sun salutations with a you tube yoga guru.

Don't have a yoga mat? Check out Manduka.com for all kinds of yoga wear and yoga supplies. I'm ordering a new 5mm Eko mat and a new bolster to replace those that got lost in the flood.

2. Take a walk outdoors.

Fresh air and nature are wonderful stress relievers. A long walk with no distractions, just you and Mother Nature, is food for the soul.

3. Sit and reflect by water.

Looking out over the ocean or watching the waves are instant stress busters.

Watch, breathe, repeat.

4. Meditate.

If you can still your mind meditation is an amazing stress-buster. It calms you, helps you focus, helps you sleep better. Most of the super successful people that I work with in my real life (makeup artist) meditate for 10 to 20 minutes per day. I figure I can find 10 minutes somewhere each day so I just downloaded an app called Headspace that offers 10 minute meditations, but there are plenty of meditations available on You Tube.

5. Get off social media

Social media can be fun, but it can also be a huge source of anxiety. Whether that anxiety comes from comparing your life to others and feeling inadequate (remember no-one's life is as good as it seems on Facebook!) or whether its people being contentious and going all attack-dog over issues (hello Trump) the dark side of social media can be very dark.

Give yourself a two or three day total break from all social media, and then when you go back don't look at any social media in the first 30 minutes after you wake up or the last hour before you go to sleep

9 Things You Need To Do Before You Go To Italy this Summer

Summer will be here before you know it and if you are planning on traveling to Italy this year during the sunshine months there are several things that you can be doing right now to get prepared. Today we look at nine of them.

9 Things You Need To do Before You Go To Italy This Summer

1. Buy Travel Insurance.

I cannot stress this strongly enough.
Buy. Travel. Insurance.

Take a look at the Most Popular Trip Insurance plans Allianz has to offer.

It's not expensive and it will protect you from missed or cancelled flights, lost luggage, and medical problems, including flying you home with a nurse if need be. If you get sick and can't travel it will help you recoup your losses.
I get mine through Allianz, but shop around and see what works best for you.

Check out the Top Ten reasons why people buy Travel Insurance and see if it is right for you.

2. Get Your International Drivers License 

If you get he chance to drive in Italy it's super good fun!
If you are on a bus tour or a cruise you probably won't have time to do any driving, but if you are roaming on your own or having some extra days at the end of your tour, make sure you have an international drivers license. (You can pick them up at AAA)

Read about renting cars in Italy here

3. Book Your Intercity Trains Now.

The train system in Italy is amazing. Its super efficient, quick and inexpensive. (Why don't we have that here??)

checking out the handsome conductor on the Rome to Florence fast train

The local trains are super cheap and you just buy your ticket from the dude at the ticket office (or the ticket machine), but the high speed intercity trains can cost a fortune if you buy tickets on the day at the station. I use RailEurope.com and buy all my intercity train trips online well ahead of time. 
I've just finished buying all the intercity train tickets for the 2016 Corinna B's World Glam Italia Tours. By buying tickets ahead of time we are able to travel first class for the same price as economy.
Which means more money for shopping!

4. Book tickets To Museums, Colosseums, and Day Tours.

Don't waste 3 hours of your vacation standing in line waiting for tickets to get into the Uffizi Gallery or the Colosseum, book your tickets online before you leave home.
If you are planning on taking a day trip somewhere book it now before it gets sold out.

5. Google Where You Are Going.

View of Giardini Naxos from the Greek Theater in Taormina, Sicily

Don't just rely on your tour guide to tell you everything - do a little research yourself. You may find that there is something you would die to see in the next town over, or that you will be close to a famous winery or art museum that you would love to go to.
Italian towns and villages have their own market day each week. With a little knowledge up your sleeve you can plan day trips around market days so that you don't miss them.


There are always music festivals, festivals celebrating the local saints, parades - all kinds of fantastic events that it would be a shame to miss, so research the towns you are going to, and also look at other towns and villages nearby.

6. Read Reviews On TripAdvisor

TripAdvisor is your best friend when traveling. From reviews on where to eat, to where to stay, to whats good to do in the city, town or village you are going to, there is a wealth of information, all submitted by other travelers.

I have found so many incredible places to go, things to do and absolutely killer places to eat in Italy from reading reviews on TripAdvisor.
Don't Miss Out! See Today's Top Hotel Deals at TripAdvisor
I'm on there as Corinna B's World, and as much as possible I try to leave reviews too.
You can book flights on TripAdvisor and find places to stay.
It's brilliant!

       

7. Learn Some Simple Things To Say

Wherever you are traveling in the world you should always learn a few basic things to say including hello, goodbye, please, thank you, where is the... , how much does this cost, etc.
Making an effort and being polite will both get you a long way in a foreign country.

8. Make Sure Your Passport Is Current

You still have ample time to get your passport renewed or to get a passport. But you don't have much time.

9. Learn The Food, Regionally

Learn the wines too.
There isn't just one "Italian Food". The cuisine changes regionally.
in my experience it is very different to most American-Italian food.
Do some research on the foods of the places you are going so that you don't miss out on something fantastic that is specific to a place you are traveling to.
Eat Panforte in Tuscany, especially in Siena. Eat cicchetti and drink a spritz in Venice,  you have to try baba' in Naples, and of course eat pizza and drink their amazing coffee (read more about Naples here). Drink Limoncello when you are on the Amalfi Coast - every place in Italy has something special!

Destination Wedding, Amalfi Coast

Have you ever thought about having a destination wedding on the Amalfi Coast?

I was on the Amalfi Coast for a few days in December, working on new details for my upcoming Glam Italia Tours. 
My friend Adriano de Falco is a tour guide for the Amalfi Coast and Cilento. 

walking along the path to Arechi Castle

While we were scouting excursions for my upcoming Glam Italia tours, Adriano took me up to the incredible Castello di Arechi, or Arechi Castle, an 8th century castle that sits up on the hill, keeping watch over the beautiful coastal town of Salerno.

8th Century Arechi castle

While he was showing me around this amazing old castle, Adriano was telling me fascinating stories about it's history, what happened there 1400 years ago and why it was built. 

inside the castle walls

Arechi castle

At one point we walked out onto a terrace with staggeringly beautiful views of the bay that stretched all the way to Cilento, and that also looked out over the hills and the trees. 

a couple of seconds of cloud cover

A cloud passed over the early morning December sun for just a moment, then everything exploded back into color again.

Adriano pointing out something in Cilento from the terrace of Arechi Castle

While he was telling me about places we could take my travelers in Cilento, Adriano casually mentioned that this was the terrace that they used for weddings.

Wait - what???

Adriano knows me as a travel writer and private tour guide, so he didn't know about the makeup artist side of my life, let alone the makeup artist who does weddings!

I asked Adriano to send me photos from a wedding held here

wedding receptio at Arechi Castle

Vivimi senza paura....

the view from a wedding reception at Arechi Castle

wedding reception at Arechi Castle in Salerno

Now back to my photos...

I can't even tell you how many brides over the years have told me that they would love a European destination wedding or a wedding in a castle, or a wedding on the Amalfi Coast, but the cost was too prohibitive.

I guess you just have to know where to look!
If you check the price sheet for so much as a cup of coffee for a wedding at the other end of the Amalfi Coast in Positano, you will probably fall over. But at the southern end of the coast in Salerno, its a whole different world. 

Amalfi Coast Road view from the castle

Salerno is totally affordable. And its beautiful, and there is an 8th century castle on the hill with views to die for and gorgeous terraces to have your wedding or wedding reception on.

view of Salerno stretching all the way to Cilento from Arechi Castle

look to the right and all you see are mountains

inside the castle grounds

My wedding photographer friends would just love to shoot a wedding at Arechi Castle! There are so many fantastic spots to photograph.
There are also tons of places to hide out when you need a break from the action.

a hidden corner inside the castle grounds where you can sneak off and take a break

And if you're not getting married wouldn't it be a blast to have your birthday party or some other event here???

view of the coastline from Salerno to Cilento, from the Arechi Castle walls

walking back to the parking lot

Find out more about Salerno here in a post I wrote about the Glam Italia 2 Tour

If you are planning a trip to the Amalfi Coast, or will be in Italy and want to pop down there for a couple of days, contact Adriano for apartment rentals and bed and breakfasts. Adriano runs the Bed and Breakfast Association in Salerno, so if his apartments are full he has incredible contacts for all the others, plus he can advise you on which parts of town to stay in.

His other business is running daily excursions throughout the Amalfi Coast and Cilento. He will be taking the travelers on my next Amalfi Coast Glam Tour on all kinds of fantastic day trips, as well as taking us all on the incredible Pathway Of The Gods walking trail. (Read about it here: 10 Things To Do On The Amalfi Coast)

For information on the Arechi Castle, booking events at Arechi Castle, day trips on the Amalfi Coast and Vacation Rentals/Bed and Breakfasts in Salerno contact Adriano di Falco here: Casa Vacanze Il Duomo Apartments and Excursions

Arechi Castle is in Salerno, at the south end of the Amalfi Coast. You can fly into any major Italian airport and get a fast train directly to Salerno.
Salerno is 40 minutes from Naples by train.
Find flights to Italy here:

     

      

Discover The Ancient Greek temples Of Paestum

One of the (many) things that keeps me coming back to Italy the never ending supply of historical surprises waiting around each and every corner.
Everyone knows about the Colosseum, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Grand Canal in Venice. I love all the big, well known postcard famous sights, and will always go back to them, but I find pure magic in the lesser known, less visited 'secret' places that I stumble upon every time I'm there.

This year I took my Corinna B's World Glam Italia Tour to several of my secret Italian places, one of which was the magnificent Paestum, located an hour south of Salerno, south of the Amalfi Coast.

Paestum is the Roman name for a small, ancient Greek city in Campania, formerly known as Poseidonia (back when southern Italy was known as Magna Grecia in the 8th thru 5th centuries BC). 

Temple Hera II, Paestum

Paestum is the home of 3 of the best preserved Greek temples in the world. (The other 8 best preserved Greek temples are not found in Greece, but in Sicily's Valley of the Temples, near Agrigento.)

The experience of visiting Paestum is just staggering. 
In the middle of nowhere, as you drive through the countryside past farms that make bufalo mozzarella, suddenly these three giant temples rise up majestically out of the landscape, completely taking your breath away.

Hera I, Paestum

They are huge. They are magnificent. They are ancient. And they are unspoiled. 
Built 2500 - 2600 years ago, before even the Parthenon, this is really ancient Greek. The scale of these temples, the force with which they rise up out of the earth and the absolute beauty of them just leaves you at a loss for words. 
Goethe said it was like a strike of lightening hitting his mind.

Roman road built circa 300 BC, with roman apartment buildings on the right, and temples on the left

You really feel like you are standing in a vanished, ancient city. 

remains of Roman  apartment buildings in Paestum

Paestum is a little remote, and unlike Pompeii which is surrounded by shops and vendors and tourism as well as neighborhoods where locals live, here there is almost nothing. And no one. Just you, the breeze coming off the ocean and a mere handful of other tourists.

The Greeks were always in search of perfection and ideal beauty, and they liked to build their temples and ampitheaters with beauty in mind and with gorgeous views, especially over water.

Grouped closely together, the first temple is Hera I, built for the goddess of fertility and wife of Zeus, circa 550 BC.
Hera I is also known as The Basilica. has perfect geometric doubling with 9 columns at each end and 18 along each side, giving it a very horizontal feel. It has massive heavy columns that have no feet, instead rising up from the stylobate and ending in a simple geometric capital. To support the weight of the roof the columns bulge in the middle and taper at the top.

Hera I, The Basilica, Paestum

It was built from local stone and then stucco'd, but the stucco is long since gone. This temple is massive, yet in spite of it's size retains a gracious femininity and equanimity.

Hera I, Paestum

The middle temple is known as Hera II, and was built circa 460 BC.
With 6 columns along each end and 14 columns along each side, Hera II feels like an exercise in perfect balance. Standing beside Hera I she by comparison feels very vertical and slender. The 6 column figuration in front means you can walk through the middle, making her feel more symmetrical.

Hera II, Paestum

It is thought that Hera II would have had a terracotta roof, and she appears to have had a second story, or perhaps some form of platform that sat over top of the ground floor.
Both Hera I and Hera II face the ocean. You can imagine how magnificent they must have looked standing side by side, gleaming white in the hot Campania sunshine as they watched over the blue sea from the front and the fertile pastureland from the back.

inside Hera II

The Temple of Athena, also known as the temple of Ceres, built in 500 BC. This is actually the first temple you see as you drive into town. It sits a little higher and away from the other two temples, which stand side by side.

Ceres/Athena Temple in Paestum

Interestingly this temple has Doric columns on the outside and Ionic columns on the inside.
In front of the temple is an alter where sacrifices took place.
Greek temples were houses to the Gods, where statues were stored. Ceremonies and worship took place at the alter outside of the temple.


In Paestum Hera was not only the Goddess of fertility, but also of childbirth. 

Hera's fertility pool, Paestum

An elaborate pool was built for Hera where women who were trying to conceive could bathe and sit, but also where women would come to ask Hera for an easy childbirth.


When the Romans took over the area in the 3rd century BC they didn't destroy the temples, and they didn't just move down the road a ways to build their new city out of sight of them, instead they renamed Poseidonia to Paestum and built a city around it's temples.

ancient Roman roads in the city of Paestum, beside the temples

This adds another layer of magic, as you can walk through the wide streets of this roman town and into apartment complexes that border the temples. 

mosaic floors more than 2300 years old, in Roman apartments in Paestum

Who knew that the Romans built apartment buildings? I didn't.
There are still mosaic floors intact, and enough of the structure of the ruins remain so that you can figure out where the front door was, what the view was, where the various rooms were positioned.

mosaic floors at the entryway to a Roman apartment, circa 300 BC

inside another Roman apartment

There is a small museum opposite the temples, where you can see the oldest surviving wall paintings from ancient Greece, which makes them also the oldest surviving wall paintings in all of western art.
In 1968 the excavation of a tomb in Paestum unearthed paintings dated to around 480 BC.

art was a celebration of the love amongst men

This ancient Greek world was a homo-erotic world. If you were going to be in love it would be with another man. Men were for love, women were for procreation.

the ceiling of the tomb

Paestum is one of the most spectacular places I have ever been.

And it's one of those treasures that no one seems to know about. We were there on a free Sunday, and I had been worried that it would be overflowing with tourists taking advantage of the zero ticket price, but in all the hours that we were there exploring there would not have even been 100 people total. Probably not even 50. It felt as though we had this giant, spectacular slice of history all to ourselves.

If you do take the time to visit Paestum I definitely recommend visiting Pompeii first, as it will give you a fantastic understanding of how Roman homes were laid out, and this will add another dimension to the already incredible Paestum experience. 
If you are staying on the Amalfi Coast it is well worth giving up a half day or a day and taking the train to Paestum. It's a long drive from Positano or Sorrento, but by car from Salerno it only takes one hour.
I am amazed that there is such a mad tourist crush in nearby Capri, sometimes you can barely walk down the street in Positano there are so many people, and yet there is virtually no one visiting Paestum.

Paestum is not actually on the Amalfi Coast, but for most people traveling in the region, the Amalfi Coast is the closest geographical reference that they will be familiar with. 

All photos taken with my iPhone remain my property. Please do not re-use without my written permission.