My dreamy Italian honeymoon ended up being a disaster trip

03.11.2023 - 03:05 / insider.com

It had always been my dream to visit Rome, but I'd never met the right person to go with — until I met my husband.

For our honeymoon, we planned an amazing Italian itinerary that included sampling the famous food and wine, seeing the Trevi Fountain, and exploring the Colosseum. 

It didn't quite go as planned. 

We found out I was pregnant a few weeks before the wedding. I was overjoyed but worried because we had a packed itinerary over the next few weeks.

The morning after our wedding, we hopped on a taxi to the train station, a train to the airport, and a plane from London to Rome with my overpacked suitcases. I was exhausted from socializing and dealing with morning sickness. 

After finally arriving at our hotel, romance was off the cards as all I wanted to do was sleep — growing a baby is pretty exhausting. My poor other half had to entertain himself until I woke from the mother of all naps, starving and hangry. 

With this being my first pregnancy, I was madly Googling and panicking about foods I wasn't supposed to eat as a pregnant person, from raw fish to unpasteurized cheese. 

So, instead of the lavish meals out savoring local Italian delicacies and wines we'd imagined, I hunted for fruit and vegetables. After eating, I just wanted to roll back to bed to rest. 

The next day, we mustered the energy to go sightseeing in Italy. It involved a lot of walking, which was challenging to do while battling nausea in an August heat wave.

Near the center of Rome, we were greeted by a group of what we assumed were friendly tour guides and taxi drivers offering their services. They were actually pickpockets, which are common in many major cities, and one stole my husband's laptop.

Spending half the day filing a police report was not the best start to the trip I'd envisioned all these years. 

But it would all be worth it once we stood in front of the famous Trevi Fountain. As we approached it, we were met with scaffolding.

The fountain was under repair. There was no water flowing, and metal posts obscured the view of it. 

We continued on to Sorrento, Positano, and Capri, which we'd explore in a rental car. I was excited for less walking and more relaxing while taking in the beautiful scenery.

Once we picked up our car, we drove through Rome to get our bags from the hotel and check out. Unfortunately, we didn't realize we'd gone through a Limited Traffic Zone, a restricted area common in older European cities that you need permission to drive through.

We received a hefty fine that we ignored because we thought it was a scam. The debt-collection letters that followed would prove it wasn't. 

I dreamed about visiting Italy for years, but I guess expectations can never quite live up to reality. 

To be fair, the trip