Andrew and I started our weeklong babymoon to Italy with two nights in Naples. When doing my research before the trip, I read a lot of negative articles about Naples—literally if you Google “Naples, Italy,” the second article to come up is entitled “Why No One Wants to Travel to Naples.” The main complaints were that the city has issues with trash collection, has mafia connections that contributed to crime, and that pickpockets are common. …
Category: Travel
Traveling at 26 Weeks Pregnant
Andrew and I decided to take a weeklong babymoon to Italy this April. I’m going to write separate posts about each of the destinations we visited—Naples, Pompeii & Herculaneum, Positano and Matera—but first I wanted to share a little bit about our decision on when to go, and also my fears and worries beforehand and how things panned out in real life. I want to preface this by saying this is just my personal experience. …
Turtle Inn, Belize
We took a five-day trip to Belize to celebrate my dad’s wedding in early 2017. The wedding was held at Turtle Inn in Placencia, an intimate resort owned by Francis Ford Coppola. All of the wedding guests stayed in beachside cottages looking out onto the Pacific Ocean. We enjoyed tropical cocktails at the beachside bar, borrowed snorkeling equipment to explore the reefs right off their beach, and loved our private and spacious thatched cottage with …
Cusco, Peru
In 2012, Andrew and I traveled to Peru to hike the Inca Trail. Before starting the 4-day, 3-night hike to Machu Picchu, we spent a few days in Cusco to help acclimatize to the elevation. Cusco is situated 11,152 feet above sea level, so altitude sickness is common. Andrew was mostly fine, but I did feel short of breath and lightheaded for the first few days. We drank coca tea and stocked up on candies and …
Why We Ban Social Media on Our Vacations
Very early in our relationship, Andrew and I made a suggestion to one another: What if we banned social media while we were on vacation? No checking Facebook, no posting on Instagram, no checking emails. We wanted to spend as little time as possible looking at our phones and as much time connecting with one another and exploring the place we were visiting. The result is amazingly freeing. Some people have described doing this as …
The Inca Trail, Peru
In 2012, Andrew and I traveled to Peru to hike the Inca Trail, a 4-day, 3-night hike to Machu Picchu that takes you up and down mountain trails and to many pristine and otherwise inaccessible Incan sites along the way. We flew into Lima, then hopped a short flight to Cusco, where we stayed for a few days to help acclimatize to the altitude. Cusco is situated 11,152 feet above sea level, so altitude sickness is …
My Favorite New York City Museums
New York has an absolute wealth of museums to visit. In my 10 years living in New York, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time in many of them, so I thought this might be a good place to share some of my favorites, as well as a few I think you should skip. The Met What to see: No trip to New York is complete without a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. …
A Bachelorette in Snowshoe, WV
This January, we celebrated my friend Lexy’s bachelorette weekend at the Snowshoe ski resortin West Virginia. We rented an adorable cabin in the Treetops section of the resort. The cabin was absolutely perfect, with rustic ski decor, cute bunk rooms, and a cozy fireplace. Our first night there, we made dinner together, had a lingerie shower, and played a ton of bachelorette games created by my talented friend Jae. She delivered the most impressive game …
Bar Harbor, Maine
Andrew and I first vacationed in Maine in 2013 and fell in love with this beautiful island. We’ve been back every year since and feel like Mt. Desert Island is our home away from home now. We even got married there. Here are a few of our recommendations for things to do (and for more ideas, check out Our Acadia). Where to Stay The Asticou Inn Andrew and I love the Asticou Inn—we got married …
Salzburg, Austria
Our last stop on our 2015 Europe trip was Salzburg, Austria. We had a bit of trouble leaving Venice as we could not find an operational station to buy tickets for the public ferry. After multiple attempts, we decided to try buying one on the boat and were successful. Our 5-hour drive to Salzburg took us through 27 tunnels. Our first stop in Salzburg was the Mirabell Gardens, which are filled with fantastic sculptures, from …
Caitlin Kenney Smith 