Remember when travelling internationally was a thing before COVID?

This trip was a check off of my bucket list and a birthday trip for my mom. Let’s just say it was rough from start to finish, but we loved our adventure. Also, this trip was the first I didn’t journal at the time, so this is based on year-old memories and Facebook.

We got a redeye from Newark to Rome. We even managed to get fancy first class sits! When the flight attendant offers free mimosas, you say yes. We took off and I settled in for the next hour and a half until the Pilot announced we had to go back to Newark for an emergency landing. I heard it was maintenance issues with the bathroom? Seriously, this would only happen to us. I was super tired and cranky as we waited to re-board the plane. Thankfully, 5 hours later, we were on our way again. Side note: Being standby, we have to dress up. But being a long redeye flight, I wore a nice maxi dress with comfy leggings underneath which worked perfectly!

Day 1 in Rome: I found us an apartment through Airbnb right by the Trevi Fountain which ended up being a good location. We took the shuttle from the airport to the city to check in and change. We spent the day exploring the Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Piazza del Popolo. I architecture geeked out at the Pantheon. At the Spanish steps, we stopped at a café for tea and cookies. It was relaxing to sit and enjoy the air conditioning and wi-fi. From there, we continued to the Piazza for a view of the city at sunset. On the way back to our apartment, we went through the shopping section and got some fancy dresses.

Day 2 in Rome: I didn’t sleep at all during the night (thanks jetlag) so I was incredibly cranky for the day. We woke up at dawn for pictures at the Trevi fountain and Colosseum with no crowds (except influencers and models lol). I actually highly recommend this. Since your body is adjusting to the time change take advantage to see the sites before everyone else. We were able to get amazing pictures with no one in the background.

I didn’t know ahead of time, but the Pope speaks every Wednesday at the Vatican. This coincidentally worked with our schedule. From our apartment, we took the metro to Vatican City for the 9:30 message. I was tired, hungry, and overheated, but I found a spot in the shade where I could lean against a column and still listen. We also had a tour group scheduled after the service to see the museums and Sistine Chapel. It’s important to note that several of the church’s have a required dress code for modesty, so pack accordingly.

Happened to find the link to the message from the day we were there! http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/audiences/2019/documents/papa-francesco_20190828_udienza-generale.html

After the Vatican, we took the metro back to the Colosseum for the second time of the day. This time for a tour with all the other tourists. We did the basic walkthrough, but it would have been cool to explore the tunnels underneath. We called it a day after that because of heat and exhaustion. We ended up having dinner at a Italian restaurant walking distance from my apartment which had a live harpist, classy Italian food, and limoncello – which became a favorite of mine.

Day 3: We packed up our luggage and took the metro down to Pompeii. We left our bags at a locker while we explored the area. The city was so cool and I was definitely nerding out. We spent most of the day there before continuing down to Sorrento where we caught a ferry to Capri for the night. Capri is a gorgeous island, but I didn’t plan this as well as I should have. Our hotel was on the other side of the island in Anacapri, because I was trying to avoid overpaying at hotels, but we wasted so much time and energy going back a forth on the crazy roads that we should have just paid for the convenience. Anyway, when we arrived late that night, a taxi driver took pity on us and helped get us as close as he could then the hotel driver picked us up from there. Turns out there was a festival of some sort that closed the roads and made it harder on everyone.

Day 4: In the morning, I scheduled a private boat tour so we had to take the public bus back to where the ferry dropped us off. The tour was great and honestly the highlight of the trip. We showed up late so we missed Blue Grotto, but we got to spend the day on a private beach after the boat ride around the island. The beach had a restaurant so I enjoyed fresh seafood (it still had it’s head…ew) and more limoncello. I even took a nap on the beach chairs and got sunburned. There is a chairlift in Anacapri that offers amazing views, but we were stressed and spent the day enjoying our beach time. I think the water was technically the Gulf of Naples, but it’s close enough that I can claim it was the Mediterranean, right?

Day 5: We didn’t want to deal with the bus again so we paid for a taxi to drive us and our luggage down the hill. We took the ferry to Naples and immediately hopped on a train to Florence. Didn’t even stop for pizza! Also I love the European train system. It’s so easy. I found another apartment in the city through Airbnb to stay at. We freshened up before checking out Brunelleschi’s dome, Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore and the other amazing architecture. We were short on time so we did not see Michelangelo’s David, but we saw the postcards. That night was probably the best meal we had – and probably most embarrassing. I happened to find Buca Lapi on the map with no context, but it was so cool. The atmosphere and food was amazing. We drank too much and talked too loud.

Day 6: We took the another train to Pisa for Mom’s birthday! We put our luggage in a locker again since this was a quick day trip. We had a lot of fun taking photos with the tower. We even got to climb the tower and took pictures from the top. The steps were definitely hard to climb with the whole leaning thing. We toured Piazza dei Miracoli and the on site Cathedral. We didn’t fit dress code for this church so we had to wear provided ponchos. We took the train from Pisa to Rome, but we got stopped for 3 hours with no Wi-Fi. The employees didn’t speak English, so most of the passengers we just confused and angry with the delay.

Overall, I planned too much in a short time and there was a lot of travel time that could have been simplified. Instead of doing Rome, down to Naples, back up to Florence, then back down to Rome, I should have focused on one region. Rome and Amalfi Coast or Rome, Florence, and Tuscany. Eventually, I want to go back for Venice and Verona. There’s just too much to see! I’m glad we did what we did since that was our last big trip with international travel being shut down.