THE AMALFI COAST! I’ve spent the last two years admiring this place on the internet and finally, we have arrived and we are ready to spend the next week doing absolutely nothing. I never was a person that wanted to just relax on vacation but after the hustle in Ireland we were ready to just chill.

We flew from Dublin to Naples late so that we could have more time to spend in Ireland, but because of that when we landed in Naples it was too late to catch any bus to Amalfi and we had to take a taxi. The taxi driver tried to take complete advantage of us but I saw it coming and refused to pay the amount that he wanted to charge us—be mindful and careful of that, they will almost always try to take advantage of you. Either way, we made it and we are so excited!

Our Airbnb was beautiful, it was about two miles from town and had a balcony that overlooked the ocean, we enjoyed coffee and breakfast out there every morning. It was one of the main things we were looking forward to about our trip here, sitting on the balcony. If you plan a trip to the Amalfi Coast, you have to get a room with a balcony that overlooks the ocean—you have to.

I read that Italy would be warm in October but I didn’t expect it to be as hot as it actually was, 70 degrees in Italy isn’t what 70 degrees in Minnesota feels like—it feels about 20 degrees warmer. I’m not complaining but neither of us really brought clothing for it to be that warm. We made it work though, Dylan pretty much just wore the same t-shirt every day and I rotated between two dresses haha.

I’ve always read that gelato on a hot day is just what you need, so I mean, when in Italy and when you’re dying of a heat stroke, grab a gelato. They have little shops for it on every corner and surprisingly, it’s actually pretty cheap. I had never had gelato before so this was my first time… wowwwwIT’SSOGOOD. Even Dylan loved it and he’s not a huge fan of anything sweet.

On our second day in Amalfi we decided to take the bus to Naples to explore the Pompeii Ruins. If you’re afraid of heights or if driving right on the edge of a cliff is something that bothers you, I recommend you grab an aisle seat and maybe a sedative. The roads are no joke, I’m usually not bothered by things like that but all I could think is “one wrong move and we’re dead” the whole time. We didn’t die though, we made it safely to Naples and back.

Pompeii is crazy, it’s huge and you could walk it for hours exploring each building and ruin. If you’re really into history you have to go see it, you could weave in and out of the ruins all day, you also get to see that the Hollywood movies lied to you—I won’t spoil what they lied about I’ll let you see if you can find it, but when you do comment and let me know! This was one of our wedding presents that people were able to donate to and we are so happy that we got enough donations to actually visit it. It’s a once in a lifetime experience. One piece of advice though, don’t buy your tickets online for this one—they overcharged me by four euros! I know it’s only four euros but still, how irritating.

One other thing that was on my Amalfi Coast bucket list was Positano. We all have read that Positano is the crème de la crème of the Amalfi Coast so obviously it was on my list of to-do’s. We took the fairy for this adventure, the fairy is so cheap and it has the best view, plus you get a nice breeze when you’re on it making the weather feel perfect. When we got to Positano it was gorgeous, the colorful views were just like the famous photos we had seen, I was giddy.

When we got there the first thing that I noticed was that the beach wasn’t sandy, it was rocky. It was so weird. As with most of the things that we did in Italy, Positano wasn’t much different, we just spent a lot of time walking around and taking in all the views.

We stopped for lunch at a little restaurant on the beach where I had some pasta, duh, but we ran into another couple from the US. Really, it’s not a surprise when you run into someone else from the US while on vacation, but what stuck out to me was the really long conversation we had with them, it was kind of an eye opener.

They were retired, married for 20+ years, a few grown children, finally getting out and traveling. We were just starting our careers, just married, no kids, and traveling. They asked us how we could afford to travel to this place at such a young age and especially right after our wedding. When I started talking to them about Norwegian Airlines and Airbnb they were blown away. They asked how we knew if Airbnb was safe and I was explaining to them that I am just really careful when reading reviews and researching areas. I could tell they had money but they were still so interested in all of my thrifty travel hacks. They also told us they were planning on giving all of their kids $5000 to take a trip anywhere they’d like (hi, please adopt me) and they asked us if that would be enough—I told them that if they traveled like we do, $5000 would cover their entire trip.

It’s still so crazy to me that so many people are missing out on the opportunity to see the world because they’re living in a bubble where travel is too expensive and they’re not aware of all the things you can do to save money and actually go. Or there’s people who save up for their whole lives to take a trip when they didn’t have to save up so much, the couple even admitted that they didn’t care how fancy the hotel was because it’s literally just a place that you go back to sleep at night. Either way, I’m happy we ran into them, it made me see things differently and I feel like we taught them something.

Positano was beautiful but at the end of the day we both preferred Amalfi. It had more options and more things to do, plus the shops seemed like they had better quality items. We spent the next couple days just relaxing. Enjoying coffee on the balcony, drinks by the ocean, and some of the most delicious pasta I’d ever eaten. This was the perfect second half of our honeymoon and I would absolutely love to go back. Even Dylan, the “I hate the beach, I hate the heat” guy loved our time here.

So, to recap, my tips for traveling to Italy are: If you’re looking for some fine Italian Leather, I would definitely recommend purchasing it in Amalfi. I couldn’t find better quality things in any other place we visited. When you order a “coffee” in Italy, they’ll deliver a straight shot of espresso to you. They drink their coffee strong, small, and without any sweetener. I forgot this often. Gelato is life. Be cautious of pick-pockets, they’re real, but don’t let them ruin your time, just be aware. 70 degree weather feels like 100 degree weather—to us Minnesotans at least. Go. If you’ve been thinking about it—GO! It’s worth it, so so so worth it.