After our stay in Boston, Andrew, baby O and I drove out to Rockport for a few days at the shore. Andrew used to visit Cape Ann as a kid, so coming back to this area was a nostalgic trip down memory lane for him. Where we stayed: We rented a home right in historic Bearskin Neck at the heart of Rockport. This two-bedroom cottage has views of the ocean from the second floor and …
Boston
For Memorial Day weekend, Andrew, baby O and I traveled to Boston for 4 nights followed by 4 nights in Rockport. (I’ll share more about Rockport in a separate post.) I went to Boston once with my family in high school when I was touring colleges, but it was a one-night stay, so I had never really experienced the city. I have to say, I really loved it! New England vibes, plenty of seafood, easily …
My Favorite Books of 2018
Hi, it’s May of 2019 and I’m just now sharing my favorite books from 2018…whoops! Look, I’ve been busy. I had a baby. That’s my excuse for everything now. But here are the books I loved last year. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee Pachinko begins in a small fishing village in Korea in the early 1900s, where Sunja in seduced by a Japanese business man and finds herself pregnant. A traveling minister saves her family from …
My Favorite Book on Pregnancy and Motherhood: “Like a Mother”
I didn’t consider myself a person who would like reading parenting and pregnancy books. But the concept of Like a Mother: A Feminist Journey Through the Science and Culture of Pregnancy caught my attention. Author Angela Garbes is a journalist who found herself questioning much of the conventional—and often contradictory—wisdom doled out about pregnancy and postpartum care, so she decided to investigate the latest studies and speak to both researchers and mothers around the world on the …
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Matera, Italy
For our last stop on our babymoon to Italy, we visited the city of Matera in the Basilicata region of Southern Italy. Matera is about a 4-hour drive from Positano, and I chose to add it to our itinerary based on its unique beauty and history. Matera is a city of limestone caves, or sassi, first excavated and inhabited in the Paleolithic period. Today, those caves have been transformed into restaurants, hotels, apartments, shops, and museums, …
Amalfi, Italy
Andrew and I spent two days in Positano on the Amalfi Coast during our babymoon in 2018. During our time there, we took a quick day trip to the nearby town of Amalfi. We hopped on the high-speed ferry and arrived in Amalfi about 30 minutes later. Taking the ferry is a great (and affordable!) way to see the Amalfi Coast in all its beauty. Once we arrived in Amalfi, we visited the duomo, the …
Positano, Italy
Our second stop on our Italian babymoon was Positano. Located on Italy’s famous Amalfi Coast, Positano is a gorgeous seaside town perched on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean. We spent two nights in this colorful, vibrant city and it was probably our favorite part of the trip. Before our trip, I spent a lot of time trying to decide which town on the Amalfi Coast we should stay in, from popular Positano or Amalfi to …
Pompeii & Herculaneum, Italy
One of the first destinations we chose to include in our babymoon was Pompeii. Believe it or not, my husband’s go-to for travel advice is his dentist, who often shares stories from his travels during their appointments, including treks into the rainforests of Belize or adventures to the Antarctic. One of his recommendations was to visit Pompeii, but also Herculaneum, a nearby and lesser-known town that was also decimated by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius …
Naples, Italy
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. …
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. …
Caitlin Kenney Smith 