You know when you book yourself a flight and then you’re prompted to pick your seat? I don’t know about you, but for me this is a daunting task! If you’re like me, you take one look at this airplane seating chart and you think to yourself, well if I sit at the absolute front of the plane I’ll get the most leg room and I’ll be first off of the plane!

Being first off the plane might be great and all, but remember that most parents with infants snag seats right up front too so that they can use the baby trays that are attached to the walls. Believe me, I experienced a six hour scream fest of a flight on my way from Boston to Dublin back in April of 2008 due to a baby sitting across from me. Not cool! Continue Story… »

What a View! - Ischia, Italy - (2008)
ALL PHOTOS WERE TAKEN BY (R.Gargiulo), UNLESS CREDITED OTHERWISE!
© 2008 Pause The Moment

I’m sure many of you have been wondering what I’ve been up to lately and why you haven’t heard any news about me heading off on another crazy journey through Europe for weeks, even months on end. Well, after 3 jam-packed months of travel to over 38 cities and 14 countries with more than 7 flights, 10 trains, 5 ferries, and 2 bus rides… it’s time for some rest and relaxation!

I’m so relaxed that my aunt and uncle are actually worried about me. They are constantly worried that I’m bored, or even depressed due to the lack of sunshine in Dublin lately. I think it might also have to do with that this has probably been the longest period of time that I’ve been in their house since I arrived in Dublin back in April. I basically dropped my bags here and took of across Europe only coming back for a couple of days here and there. It’s been so convenient to have a home base here in Dublin and honestly, I couldn’t be more appreciative. Continue Story… »

Remember the emails you used to receive that looked like this?

Well as of recently I realized that my email subscribers and loyal visitors (you) have not been receiving the email updates! Realizing that that’s a major issue I’ve been working hard to try to figure out why they just simply stopped sending out.

I just came across a fix and I have implemented a new subscription system that seems to work now, so if you would like to receive PauseTheMoment Updates then please re-subscribe by entering your email address in the text box on the right hand side of the website under “Stay Informed” and follow the directions. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Thanks!

This month marks 23 years since I officially tried my first Guinness! Or, if you count shoving your hand into the head of a Guinness and licking it off of your hands then I guess that works too.

About a year ago I was rummaging through the trillions of photos that my mother has lying around in shoe boxes in our house and I came across this photograph, and what a great one it is!

My First Guinness! @ Guinness Brewery - Dublin, Ireland - (July 1985)
PHOTO TAKEN BY (P.Gargiulo)
© 2008 Pause The Moment

Castillo de Santa Barbara - Alicante, Spain - (2008)
ALL PHOTOS WERE TAKEN BY (R.Gargiulo), UNLESS CREDITED OTHERWISE!
© 2008 Pause The Moment

All that we wished for this morning was that it wouldn’t be raining. It had been raining buckets all night and it even kept Liz up at times, that’s how hard it was coming down. Me? A tornado could have picked up the house and threw it down the street and I’d still be snoozing so I definitely didn’t hear any rain last night.

We headed downstairs and had some breakfast and as we were eating the skies completely opened up to blus skies, something Ireland hasn’t seen in a while now. It’s been raining, and raining, and raining here. When it hasn’t been raining, it’s been really overcast during the day. Depressing, right?

As soon as the skies opened up, it woke us right up! We finished up our breakfast and headed upstairs to get dressed so that we could take advantage of this great weather. Continue Story… »

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Day 4:

We got our lazy bodies out of bed this morning and decided that we would head to the Castillo de Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara Castle), for real this time! While Liz was getting dressed and ready, I ran down to the Alicante Tourist Information Center to grab a Santa Barbara Castle bus schedule.

When I arrived back at the hotel Liz was all set and ready to go so we walked down the esplanade until we reached the bus stop. It was about 30 C. (86 F.) at this point, and slowly getting hotter. We knew that today would be a hot one especially that we were going to climb to the top of the castle that overlooks the whole city! We were pretty much just making our way closer to the sun, instead of getting out of it.

The bus arrived on time to pick us up and it took us right to the top of the castle. I visited the Santa Barbara Castle back in the beginning of May and I was amazed by the views. Liz felt the same way as soon as she stepped off of the bus. Even seeing it for a second time didn’t bore me.

Continue Story… »

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Day 2:

This morning we headed off around 11:00AM to Playa del Postiguet, the beach that lies right across from our hotel. Liz has been feigning for some sun and I just wanted to jump around in the clear blue water. The views from the beach are pretty incredible as you can see in the second photo below.

If you’re wondering what that mountain looking thing is in the background, that is Santa Barbara Castle (Castillo de Santa Barbara). If you’ve seen my photo album of Alicante, Spain you’ll notice that I took some pretty amazing photos from the top of that castle during my last visit to Alicante. Continue Story… »

Yep, back to Alicante, Spain! If you’ve been keeping up to date with my travels since I began my euro trip back in April you should remember Alicante quite well. Alicante is not only the first place that I have ever CouchSurfed, but it was also the first country that I visited in Europe not counting Ireland of course! Not only did I enjoy the meeting a bunch of great people in Alicante but I also fell in love with the atmosphere and the amazing scenery that surrounds this beautiful coastal city.

Last night Liz headed off to take a “nap” at around 8:30PM and didn’t wake until about 11:30. She woke up, packed really quick and then fell back asleep again. I think the weekend in Galway really beat her up. I ended up getting some writing done for my website while I watched the EuroCup Final football match between Spain and Germany. Once Spain came out victorious I headed upstairs to pack some things before getting some much needed rest. If we were only heading to Spain one day earlier, we could have been involved in the chaos that went down after Spain won the match! Continue Story… »