In November of 2017, we vacationed in Italy! We got to see the south near the Amalfi Coast and Rome, and we certainly had a memorable trip. Read on to hear about our highlights!
A couple of things you should know about our trip to Italy before we get into our itinerary and photos:
- At this point I was around 6 weeks pregnant. We found out about 10 days before leaving!
- …And I was very, very exhausted. A lot of people talk about the nausea of the first trimester and I had heard that you get tired, but I thought, “I was a teacher once — I know all about being tired!” Friends, it’s not the same. Pregnancy is different for all women, but for me, as long as I had a snack every 2-3 hours, nausea wasn’t an issue. The exhaustion, though, it hit me hard. Usually when we travel, we try to quickly change our internal clocks to match the new time zone, but in Italy, I didn’t even try. I slept as long as I wanted and our days were cut fairly short, but I’m not sure I could have handled anything else!
- Ian, to make sure he still got to live it up, would go out early in the morning to take in “the culture,” as he called it. This meant drinking three espressos at the local coffeeshop and then bringing me home some toast, because…
- …y’all, I could not handle the pizza or pasta anymore. I know this sounds crazy because I LOVE Italian food, but when it’s all you get to eat and you’re craving very plain, very unflavored things (e.g. toast), heavy pastas with all of that sauce and all of that cheese… I still get a little queasy thinking about it. I hope that sometime in the near future I’ll crave cacio e pepe but, for now, I’m so sad that I can’t stomach Italian food anymore!
- To top off the stress of adjusting to all of the things hormones were doing to my body, our airline lost my bag! Even though we packed only carry-ons, our last flight made us gate-check the bags. While Ian’s showed up in Rome, mine did not. The thing that made us saddest was not knowing if we would ever see our One-A-Day marriage journal, which has almost five years of memories, in it again! Plus, while we didn’t mention this earlier, from the day we found out we were pregnant, we also kept a One-A-Day baby journal, also in my bag! Luckily we got it back on day 3 of our trip, but let’s just say that that didn’t make for the best start to our trip. (Side note: On the way back home, one of our flights tried to make us gate-check our bags again. We sneakily took them on the plane anyway. And guess what — they fit in the overhead compartments. Imagine that!)
Days 1-4: Sorrento, Pompeii, & the Amalfi Coast
After dealing with lost baggage, renting a car, and driving into Sorrento, we arrived fairly late in the evening. We ate some pizza and went straight to sleep, tired after a full day of traveling. The next day, we spent our time just walking around Sorrento. Our favorite little discoveries:
- The citrus growing everywhere! This made us so happy! Plus, when I was feeling nauseous, a few whiffs definitely helped!
- The coast at sunset — it was so beautiful and we were glad to end our walk there!
- A little citrus grove with a limoncello stand. Ian tried all of the various flavors and I photographed citrus!
- The little olive trees growing everywhere. It was fall in Italy as well and the juxtaposition between the minty green leaves and the trees with leaves that were red, orange, and yellow was just so lovely!
The photo above on the left is the view from our room’s balcony…and those were some oranges that grew in the parking lot behind the hotel!
On day 2, we decided to go to Pompeii. I was a little bit of a Latin nerd in middle and high school, so seeing this in person was surreal. The mosaic tiles, stepping stones, and art from thousands of years ago was amazing. Afterwards, we drove up Mt. Vesuvius and then ended the day catching an amazing sunset as we drove home.
On day 3, we decided to drive the windy roads of the Amalfi Coast. Well, Ian drove because we had a manual car. To say this was scary is an understatement! When you’re driving in the mountains of North Carolina, I feel like if you accidentally drive off the road, there will be trees that keep your car from going too far. But on the Amalfi Coast, there’s nothing but cliffs and water below!
We made stops along the way to buy fruit, photograph the view, and take in that amazingly glittery water. In Positano, we stopped for a snack and checked out local linen shops, which they’re known for! Because we got an especially late start that day, we stayed until nightfall and made the treacherous drive back home in the dark!
On day 4, we made a drive to Naples, but quickly turned back because all we wanted to do was stay in Sorrento before heading to Rome!
Days 5-7: Rome
We took Rome even more slowly than when we were in the south of Italy! The city seemed so big and busy, but we saw a lot of it by both bus and foot. Highlights from our time in Rome include:
- Visiting the Trevi Fountain and making a wish for the baby!
- Seeing even more olives and oranges all over the city
- Taking a drive outside of the city to see the aqueducts
- Getting take-out Chinese food because I literally couldn’t imagine eating another meal of pasta or pizza!
Overall, we had a great time in Italy! These photos were captured mostly on film with a few digitals mixed in, and there was no shortage of beauty to photograph. We hope one day to return and show baby where his/her parents spent time away from everything loving on him/her soon after learning about him/her…just after I can stomach Italian food again!
Want to see more Radian adventures? Head here! Or, if you’re ready for us to travel to your event or session, start by sending us a quick message!
