Rome Honeymoon – Day 5

Today was another early start and jam packed day of sightseeing with a 45 minute journey to today’s first activity. I had booked us tickets for the Colosseum for 10:30, again somewhere I was recommended to book skip the line tickets for. Rome really wasn't as busy this time of year as some of the photos I have seen so it wasn't really necessary as there was barely a queue anyway.

We got in and had a look around and walked around the whole Colosseum. In hindsight, I wish I had paid for a tour here as it gives you access to extra areas and we would have had a better idea of what we were looking at but it was still great to see all the same. I remember when I went to see the Statue of Liberty and was very underwhelmed, it looked tiny compared to what I expected. The Colosseum was not like that, it was huge and was exactly what I had hoped it would be.

Our ticket also included access to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill so afterwards we headed across the road here. There was quite a big queue for this and it was really warm and there wasn't any shade. An attendant came up to us and said we could skip the queue as I was pregnant, so she let me in a side gate and then James got to go to a shorter queue. It was a bit pointless really as I still had to then wait about 15 minutes in the blazing sun for James to get through. It would have been better if we had gone in together but it saved us a bit of time anyway. In here, it was really nice looking around at various ruins and climbing up high to get a great view over the city. By this point through we hadn't eaten or had anything to drink for hours so we were getting a bit tired.

We left the area and went to find food and found a place called Pizza Forum. I had risotto and James tried Gnocci for the first time. I think this place was a chain restaurant but it did the trick and we could finally have a drink and a sit down. 

I really wanted to visit the ‘mouth of truth’ or Bocca della Veritá so looking on the map this wasn’t too far from where we were. We hopped on a bus and found the church. There was a queue for a photo but we must have only waited about 15 minutes in total and it was shaded. You could pop a donation in the pot if you wanted, but essentially this attraction was free and it was fun to get a photo.

We still had some time to kill in the afternoon so we headed to the Baths of Caracalla. We only had about an hour here as they closed but it was quite cheap to get in and was good to see a proper Roman Bath set up.

This put us at about an hour from our apartment, so we made the journey back and got freshened up for dinner. James found a place on Tripadvisor called Tommi's Burger Joint so we thought we would give it a try. It was really good. Similar to Five Guys I would say. Service was fast and there was loads of different sauces and toppings you could add to your burger free of charge, Probably one of the best burgers I have had in a while and a great atmosphere too.

Rome Honeymoon – Day 3

After a busy first full day in Rome, today was about to get busier! I have always wanted to go to Pompeii but thought it was miles from Rome. When I found out you can do a day trip there, I had to get us some tickets. I am very thankful to everyone that donated to our honeymoon fund at the wedding, the generosity of our friends and family meant that we had a bit of extra money to book excursions and things that we could only dream of doing. Due to the time of year, this actually included a visit to Naples instead of Mt. Vesuvius, which suited me just fine as I don’t think I fancied a long climb/walk up a volcano!

A 7:30am start meant getting up early for us as the meeting point was about half an hour from our apartment on public transport. Luckily the buses and metro start really early so we didn’t have any problems planning out routes and I wrote down the names of all the stops we needed to take before we went. We left in plenty of time just in case there was cancellations or no bus came and we had to walk but we still managed to be late as the metro station was closed. We couldn't actually find the meeting point. We literally ran from the metro and still didn't know where we were going. Google maps was rubbish. James called the tour operator and the lady on the phone directed us to the office. We got in and showed our ticket. At this point we were 20 minutes late. They spoke in Italian to each other and looked at their watches concerned. Thankfully the bus was still waiting as another family was running late. We got dropped off at the coach and got on (it was packed as everyone was waiting for us) but I am so thankful we got on or I would have been devastated!

The tour began with a coach journey to Naples. We got to stop off at Naples Bay and it was beautiful. I would love to come back to Italy and stay this side one day. We then made our way to Pompeii, it took just over 3 hours. When we arrived in Pompeii we were treated to a pizza lunch before starting our tour. We then made our way to the ruins and another tour guide took over from there.

Pompeii was absolutely massive, you would need a whole day to properly look around the ruins here and I'd love to come back. It's very eerie seeing the ruins and then seeing Mt. Vesuvius leering over you in the background thinking it could technically erupt at any given moment. We had around 2 hours in Pompeii to explore with our guide. He really brought Pompeii to life, if we were here alone we wouldn't have really known what we were looking at but it was great to see what used to be shops, homes and even a brothel.

I found it fascinating that you could even see marks in the road where the chariots used to drive, over many years they have left lines in the road. It was great to see all this preserved history.

After a long day we headed back to our apartment, we grabbed a takeaway from a local place called Mama Eats and took it back to the apartment to eat. We then went to bed ready for another day.

Rome Honeymoon – Days 1 & 2

It’s been a while since I’ve done any form of travel post (or post at all for that matter -oops!) so I thought I would share some of the highlights from our recent Honeymoon to Rome. Neither of us had been to Italy before and we were both excited to explore. We got married in December and originally I wanted our honeymoon to be a ‘lay on a beach and do nothing’ kind of holiday, however my husband is better suited to having things to do. Looking at anywhere warm in December was proving difficult, most places across the equator were lovely and hot but either cost an absolute fortune or there was a risk of the Zika virus, no good for travelling when pregnant.

Photo by Dan Sunderland

Eventually we decided to go a few months later, to give ourselves something to look forward to. We chose Rome as we knew there would be plenty to do, on what is probably our last ever child free holiday together for a long time! I anticipated it would be cold, but it’s not the type of sunbathing holiday anyway so none of that mattered. As it happens, the weather was pretty good most days, lovely and sunny in the afternoons.

Our flight was on a Monday, so to save us time and stress I booked us in to a hotel at Gatwick for the Sunday night where we had a picnic in the room and got a nice early night. Breakfast was included the next day and after that we headed to our Purple Parking carpark and got a shuttle bus to the airport.

Our flight was lunch time, so we got some snacks/drinks for the flight and off we went! We arrived in Rome around 4pm. I hadn’t booked any transport to the hotel so hoped we would find a reputable taxi rank but being flustered when we got there with no clue where to go, we got in a taxi with a company that ended up costing nearly 3x the price it should have done. Lesson learned, we arrived safely at the apartment and to be fair to the taxi driver he did give us a tour and explain what we were seeing for the 45 minute journey.

Our apartment was one that I found on Airbnb and very reasonably priced. The location was near to Vatican City and also close to Metro and bus routes. When we arrived we got settled in before deciding to head to a nearby supermarket to get a few bits for the room. The good thing about having an Airbnb was that we had a kitchen area so we knew we could prepare some food at home which was a bonus, and a money saver. We stocked up on snacks and breakfast foods and then came back to the apartment to rest ahead of our first full day.

Day 2 we woke up early and got ourselves ready. I booked us in for a free tour at 9:20am and it was about a half an hour journey to the start point. I am pleased I booked this as it gave us a chance to familiarise ourselves with the location and we also got to learn a bit about the history of Rome. The tour was really good and lasted a good 2-3 hours. There was no obligation to tip at the end however we did because we thought it was fantastic and really well organised. We visited Spanish Square and Spanish Steps, Immaculate Conception Column, The house of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Saint Andrew Church, Bernini’s Angels, The famous “Galleria”, Column of Marcus Aurelius, Prime Ministers House, Temple of Hadrian, Pantheon, The Tomb of the Kings, Tomb of Raphael, Saint Ignatius Church, Andrea Pozzo’s Tromp l’oeil and finally the Trevi Fountain.

After the tour we decided to find somewhere for lunch. We ended up at McDonalds as the area we finished the tour in was a little bit busy and it was harder than we thought just to find somewhere for lunch. It's all very well finding a nice place for a slice of pizza but these places don't have any seating so it was sometimes easier to pop into a McDonalds just for a sit down.

After lunch we headed towards Castel Sant'Angelo. I had planned both bus routes and walking routes so we could play it by ear and see how I felt. Castel Sant'Angelo was right near to our apartment, so luckily for us afterwards it was easy to stagger back home and freshen up.

For dinner, we tried to find somewhere nearby on Tripadvisor. The 3 places we picked out we couldn't actually find - we found this a lot, the names had changed on some of them. We walked around and finally found a little pizza restaurant and sat outside under giant patio heaters. I really felt like I was on holiday and the pizza was great - first full day was a success.

A Week in Wales

Recently I went on a short week away with my Dad, Step Mum, Brother and his Girlfriend, Step Brother and his girlfriend and James. We went for a week in Wales, Amroth to be precise. I thought I would do a little blog post about all the things we got up to, however if you’re interested I also vlogged the holiday which I will also link below. The weather was amazing and the views were like nothing I have ever experienced in the UK before. Such a lovely place for somewhere that you can get to by car!

Day One
On the first full day in Wales, myself, James, Jack and Chloe got dropped off at a Pebble Beach in Newgale. My step mum then told us she would meet us in the next town, Solva in a couple of hours. We set off on our walk, little did I know it was more of a climb than a walk! Described as leisurely, as a non-walker usually I did find this a struggle at times with how steep some of the terrain was. The walk was approximately 5 and a half miles in total and it took us over 3 hours to complete. There really were some breath-taking views along the route and I got some lovely photos. Highlights of the walk included walking through a field full of cows! Not what we expected!

Day Two
Today we left early in the morning and headed to Tenby to get a boat across to Caldey Island, inhabited by monks. This little island had some shops, lighthouse and a church. There was a post office where you could get Caldey Island stamps, so I decided to send myself a post card as it worked out a similar price to do that than to buy one. I actually wrote it out to my cat in the end, and it arrived the next day! We had a lovely walk around to the lighthouse and saw some ponies on the way. My favourite part was visiting the chocolate factory where chocolate and fudge is made on site. The shop smelled delicious and I came away with a chocolate bar which I ate pretty much the same day. After our visit to the island, we headed back to the car and went to St Davids. This lovely little place had an amazing cathedral and plenty of places for afternoon tea. We had a scone, it wasn’t quite like a scone you would get at home mind you! More like a bread roll.

Day Three
Today we had a more leisurely day and headed to Tenby to do some shopping and explore in more detail. Tenby is a harbour town and seaside resort with the most amazing pastel coloured buildings. There are cobbled streets and many places to eat along the way. Tenby has plenty of gift shops and souvenir shops so I bought a few little bits from here. For dinner we went to The Amroth Arms, a local pub. Despite a mix up with our table due to having dogs with us, the food was pretty good.

Day Four
This day consisted of a visit to Heatherton World of Activities. Here you can buy tokens which then allow you to take part in different activities on site ranging from Go Karts to Archery. We started off with a visit to the Mini Golf. I really enjoyed it and scored 2 hole in ones! We then did some pistol shooting, archery and clay pigeon laser shooting. It was good fun and killed a few hours off. We took a packed lunch and arrived back late afternoon so decided to walk to Colby. This gorgeous area was right around the corner from where we were staying and the weather was so nice. We enjoyed a lovely walk before heading back to our accommodation for dinner.

Day Five
We went back to Tenby today to complete a treasure/adventure trail that my step mum had got for us. My brother and his girlfriend went off Kayaking whilst we did this lovely walk. Despite already going to Tenby, this walk took a couple of hours and we saw some places we hadn’t previously seen. We got lots of nice photos and managed to find out some history of the town. After we had finished our walk we met back up with the others and went to Penbroke Castle for the afternoon. I really enjoyed this castle, apart from the winding stairs up to the top of the tower, I hated coming down them! We went on a guided tour and found out that Henry VII was born here, it was really interesting. They also had the Pembrokeshire Falconry on display too.

Day Six
On our final day we decided to get some castle visits in so set off early to make the most of the day. We started out by visiting Carew Castle and Tidal Mill. The castle was great to look around, my favourite part being the room which was supposedly haunted by an ape! Most of the castle was in ruin but I did really enjoy looking around the different rooms and trying to imagine what they might have looked like hundreds of years ago. Included in the price of our ticket was a visit to the Tidal Mill, the only restored Tidal Mill in Wales and one of only 5 in the UK. There were a few floors to look around here filled with an audio tour and family friendly displays. It was also good that the dogs could come in with us too, although did struggle with the steps!

The next place we visited was Lamphey Bishop's Palace. When we arrived they were setting up for a wedding the next day. Not wanting to intrude, we skipped past the marquees and headed for the ruins and had a look around. The grounds were impressive. This was the treat of choice for medieval bishops seeking solace from everyday life. It was free to look around here so I am pleased we gave it a look on the way to our next location. We then stopped for lunch at Lamphey Hall Hotel which was delicious.

We then decided to check out St Govans Chapel which is on the side of a cliff. We walked down some steep steps to get here and it was really interesting seeing this building in such an odd place!

Finally we went to Manorbier Castle, where again they seemed to be setting up for another wedding. I was interested to find out that the castle has been used as a film location for “The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe” 1989 and “I Capture the Castle” 2001. I was most excited about looking in the crypt, however this was basically being used as storage for a wedding. There were no signs to say we couldn’t go in and personally if people were walking around my venue whilst I was setting up I wouldn’t be too happy! There was a whole fridge of prosecco on show! Anyway, we had another walk around the castle which was nice and I read through the guide book as I went along. Pembrokeshire Falconry were also showcasing some of their birds and for £1 you could hold one, so a couple of our group decided to have a go! That was fun!

We ended our day by heading to Saundersfoot for some Fish and Chips – yum!

All in all, I had an amazing holiday. Be sure to check out my vlogs for more stories and footage of all of the places mentioned above. Have you ever visited any of these places?

New York Day 5 - Philadelphia & The Rocky Steps

Day 5 in New York isn’t technically about New York as you may have guessed from the title. Today we decided that we would extend our trip a bit further afield and head to Philadelphia. I am sure there are loads of things to do here and we probably missed a huge chunk but mainly we wanted to run up the ‘Rocky’ steps and eat Philly Cheesesteaks. I also wanted to casually bump into my long term favourite band, CKY however this did not happen sadly. We looked into various modes of transport but the cheapest option coming in at just $20 each was to get a Greyhound bus which would take around 2 hours to get us there. We booked our tickets online the day before and were able to collect them from the bus station the next day.

We left nice and early and made our way via subway to the bus station. We printed our tickets, went to the correct gate and got in the queue which then led us straight onto the bus. The Greyhound bus was clean, warm and even had plug sockets and wifi to make the journey all the more enjoyable. The 2 hours went very fast, mainly because I fell asleep but we were in Philadelphia before we knew it. We got off the bus and started to walk towards the information centre. We passed a food market on the way which looked amazing from the outside, but I will go back to that. After roughly finding out where the Rocky steps were, we first decided to get tickets for a free tour near to the building that houses the Liberty Bell. The next available ticket was not until later on in the day so we took them and decided we would come back later for the tour.

It was time for lunch at this point so we made our way back to the food market called The Reading Terminal Market. There was so much available here from meats to cheeses to seafood all fresh and also baked goods from the oven. I could have easily eaten my way around if I was here for longer. We spotted a little place called By George! Which specialised in Pizza, Pasta and Cheesesteaks. The person in front of me ordered the most delicious looking lasagne and the portion sizes were immense. I am glad I do not live near here as I could see my diet getting out of hand very quickly. Me and James ordered a Cheesesteak meal which came with fries and then we had a drink too. We didn’t have long to wait and we then made our way to the seating area. I unwrapped my cheesesteak and it was absolutely filled to the brim with steak, cheese and onions. It smelled and looked amazing. I ate the whole thing and felt pretty stuffed afterwards but it was 100% well and truly worth it.

We then decided to head for Rocky but being full we did not want to move very quickly. We were on a bit of a time schedule so decided to get a taxi there and split the costs. This only took 10 minutes or so to get us there in the end. We could see the Rocky statue as we pulled up so we went and had a photo with that first. There weren’t too many people about.

We then went for the run up the steps. I did this whilst wearing grey joggers and playing the theme tune. I must admit I did get some strange looks but at the end of the day I thought who on earth is going to see me again, I may as well go all out! I’m not even a huge fan of the Rocky films but it was all about getting into character.

Once we had ran up the steps, there wasn’t a lot else to do. We walked back to where we originally got the bus and headed for our free tour. It was a quick tour and there were some facts to be learned and we found out about the declaration of independence. After the tour it was a quick dash back to our Greyhound bus and on we went back to New York. Once again, my vlog of the day can be seen below.

New York Day 1 - Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island & Ground Zero

I am sorry that I have been a bit AWOL recently however I have had a good reason and that is my holiday to New York! Seven of us headed off for seven days packed with fun and sightseeing to celebrate my mum’s 50th birthday. It was amazing but very tiring. I did so much that I thought it would be easier to split each day into a separate blog post so that if you are going to New York and want to do a few things whilst you are there then you can read my posts and see what landmarks are near to each other.

Day one was officially my mum's 50th birthday and we hopped on the local subway early on during the day for our first event which was to go up the Statue of Liberty. The subway was an absolute life saver for us. Tickets cost $32 for a weeks unlimited use and we certainly got our money’s worth. Who wants to sit in traffic in a yellow cab all day?! – not me! Not only is the subway famous, it is clean and warm and we always felt safe. Some of the stations even had NYPD officers manning them. There were times (during rush hour) where we were practically pressed up against the next person but it’s all part of the fun of being in the hustle and bustle of New York City! We headed to the last stop on the J train and walked the rest of the way down to Battery Park. We were very lucky to book our statue of liberty tickets 6 months in advance which meant we could go right up to the crown. This is not something that is offered on a standard ticket and must be booked, otherwise you may only be able to view from the pedestal. After a traumatic (for me) climb up the small spiral staircase of hell as I like to call it, we finally reached the top. It was so worth the climb and the views were absolutely amazing. The one thing I couldn't believe was how small the viewing area was, the head always looks so big but you could barely fit 10 people up there. It was basically a metal shell so was pretty hot and stuffy up there too despite it being about 1 degree outside and very windy. The head was actually moving slightly in the wind which was an odd experience. It was pretty cold however we could cope with it, we got a Statue Cruises boat over from Battery Park to the island and had some amazing views of the skyline on the way. I recommend sitting on the right hand side of the top deck if you want to get the best photos looking back to the skyline.

After we had climbed our way back down we had a look around the museum at the bottom of the statue. We then visited the gift shop and I bought some reasonably priced fridge magnets. We took a few selfies and photos with her lady liberty and we hopped back on the boat which then took us over to Ellis Island. This was the gateway for over 12 million immigrants and I was keen to look for my family name on the plaques. It was really interesting and there was a lot to read up on, you could spend a long time here. You could also get some amazing photos of the skyline here, and there was hardly anyone in sight blocking the views. I imagine in the summer this would be a lot busier.

After Ellis Island we got on another boat which took us back to Manhattan. We popped into a Subway for a quick lunch as it was the nearest place and already we had managed to rack up about 5 miles of walking. We then headed to Ground Zero. It was very peaceful here which was nice to see. It was the day after the London Westminster attacks and they had upped their security in the area. They even had a plaque in place dedicated to London. I didn't film or take many photos here out of respect but it was so bizarre being here, but felt very calm. I imagine it is a complete and utter contrast to the absolute chaos and devastation that happened  during 9/11. We visited the 9/11 museum which was one of the best experiences on the trip and I got to see so much and learn so much about 9/11. I would 100% recommend going to this museum if you are heading to ground zero.

After we visited the museum we went for dinner at Bills Bar and Burger which was just around the corner. We had cocktails, nachos and burgers. We then found a subway station and headed back to our apartment. I hated walking around Brooklyn at night, by the end I was used to it but it certainly took some time. When we arrived back there was a police car and an ambulance outside our apartment which scared me slightly but it was nothing to worry about in the end and there were no further incidents throughout the duration of our trip. 

I also daily vlogged and you can see day one here:

Thank you for reading!