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. …
What I’m Clicking: May
A few of my favorite articles from over the past few months: Looking for your next read? Did you catch all these in 2017? 100 Notable Books of 2017 NPR’s 2017 Book Concierge (300+ titles with easily searchable tabs) Visiting Antarctica at 21 Weeks Pregnant – This woman is my role model. 101 Dishes That Changed America – A sweeping history of iconic American foods. From Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs to Chicago deep dish pizza, …
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 …
