When in Italy | Annual Friends Trip

WARNING: Brace yourself, 2 days in Rome, 4 days in Sorrento – this is VERY informational and LONG! But I promise it’s worth it.

Ciao! Another year, another Annual friends/family trip with my best frands! (And this time, my husband came along so it was double the fun!) If you haven’t done so already, check out last year’s trip to Barcelona, Spain.

So, I have way too much information that I’m pretty sure my best friends are going to hit me in the DM saying “you forgot this” so I’m telling yall (besties) now, I already know! LOL! I’m going to try to outline this by different sections and give you all the best information in case you plan to visit Italy. (Which you absolutely should be booking as you’re reading this because it is a MUST!)

Booking/Planning:

I’m not going to get much into this, but I will give a few tips. Google Flights is a great place to look for/book airfare. You can see how much prices are and set an alert to be notified when prices have dropped/gone up for the dates you’re looking to go. Tip: The best days to book are Tuesdays. Lodging: We stayed in a few different Airbnb’s – these in my opinion are perfect. (Especially when traveling with a larger group.) Communicate with the host and READ REVIEWS! Finding an Airbnb that’s close to public transportation is ideal! We were able to walk to our Airbnb from nearby train stations which was wonderful! Here’s the surprising part: We paid LESS than $700 per person for airfare AND lodging!

Airport Shenanigans:

Joel and I had to drop off baby girl to her Grandma, so we drove to Jersey and flew out from NYC with my best friends. (Flying from the airports in NYC – if you’re in the East Coast/close to NYC is usually cheaper) After making it through security and getting to our gate, first thing was first, pumping for mama! I used the Mamava private pumping/breastfeeding room for the first time and it was a pretty cool experience. At first, I was nervous, but it was actually spacious AND had a mirror. So, of course I had to take a picture.

Once I was finished pumping we only had about 30 minutes before we would board so we grabbed a snack and hopped on the first plane! Fast forward to after we got off our connected flight and back on to the flight that would be taking us to Italy. The plane had several empty seats, so we were able to finesse sitting together. After free beer, wine, dinner, breakfast, and snacks in between, 9 hours later we were landing in Rome, Italy! Sidebar: We flew on American Airlines.

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1^st Day in Rome:

After getting our bags and making our way to acquista un biglietto per Roma termini (purchase a ticket to Roma Termini – the main train station in Rome that you can use to get to Naples and travel north to Florence, Venice, Milan, etc) we were on our way to the Airbnb!

Make sure you validate your train ticket!

Our Airbnb was about a 15 to 20-minute walk from the train station. We were so hype once we arrived at the Airbnb and was ready to get dress and start our day. We showered, grabbed a quick bite from the store near us and was on our way! By this time, it was about 3pm-ish. Since we were only staying in Rome for one night, we decided to “go hard or go home” and explore everything we could. We took the metro and went to the Colosseum area to walk around.

Tip: If you know you’ll be utilizing the metro throughout the day, purchase a $7, 24-hour pass. It was definitely worth it because we were able to use it on the train and local buses! We didn’t go inside of the Colosseum because there was a long wait but the view from outside was just as great! From the Colosseum, we hopped back on the train and went to the Roman district of Campo Marzio where we were able to see the Spanish Steps and Fontana della Barcaccia.

Hours of traveling and being out all day, we were exhausted. But, some of us (myself included) wasn’t ready to end our night. So, me and a few of my best friends purchased a bottle of wine and walked around the streets of Rome playing music until we came across a karaoke bar. (Karaoke is our THING!) We walked in excited and out about 5 minutes later once we found out the mic was broken. Lol! WOMP! The next day we were off to Sorrento!

Traveling to Sorrento:

Of course, we woke up late and missed check out, so we ended up leaving later than we expected around 12/12:30pm-ish. We walked back to Roma Termini to purchase train tickets to Naples. I would advise getting up an out earlier than we did because our travel day in total ended up being about 9 hours since we had to wait for a few hours to get on the train to Napoli Centrale.

Tip: Something we learned was that there is an express train and “regular” train. Obviously the shorter the trip, the higher the ticket price. We decided to take the Trenitalia (not the express train lol) for about $13 (rounding up) that got us there in a little under 3 hours. Don’t forget to validate your train ticket!

There were people who work for the express train that will try to help you to purchase an express ticket (and by all means purchase if you please!) but you don’t HAVE to. There are other self-service kiosks that allows you to purchase cheaper tickets. Another thing to look out for is people who are “trying to help” that don’t work at the train station. This happened to us a few times. So many people were trying to give us advice and “show us the way” but we realized later that they did not work there and it was a bit sketchy.  Anywho, moving along. We arrived at Napoli Centrale station and took the local train (Circumvesuviana – the blue line) to Sorrento. (Sorrento was the last stop)

Tip: When you at Napoli Centrale station traveling to Sorrento, this is where you have to PAY ATTENTION to your surroundings! Put your phone up, make sure your purses/bags are secured, don’t leave anything open. Basically, be on your Ps and Qs because there were so many pick pocketers. They even have signs telling you to watch out for them. Basically, hide ya kids. Hide ya wives. This train ride was another hour or so and finally, we were in Sorrento.

Again, the train was about a 10-minute walk from the Airbnb we stayed in.

Sorrento/Amalfi/Positano:

Staying in Sorrento was probably one of the best decisions we made on this trip. It was definitely my favorite! Our Airbnb was walking distance from shopping areas, restaurants, and bars. I’m trying to make this post as short as possible, so I’ll just list a few things we did. (All food will be in a separate category) We walked around and did some shopping. We got souvenirs, my best friends went a little leather crazy and got themselves Italian leather book bags, purses, and wallets. But why go to Italy and not get any Italian leather?

You ever see something you want and talk yourself out of getting it just to later think “Why TF didn’t I get that”? Now you have to wait until you go back to Italy (whenever that is) to try to find it again or something better? I’m obviously talking about myself. But! I’m in luck, because I’m going back in a few months. LOL! I saw the cutest leather book bag that I wanted but I couldn’t decide if my laptop would fit in it sooo, I left it there. Now I’m thinking “who tf cares if your laptop would’ve fit?” It was a book bag from Italy! WOMP.

Anywho, one of my favorite nights was when we went to the karaoke bar. Earlier that night one of my best friends and I needed some fresh air. (And just to get a way because we get a little moody lol) So, we decided to go find a market that was open to get a few things for the house. (AKA alcohol lol) During our walk we found what looked and sounded like a karaoke bar and was HYPE. (Like I said before, karaoke is our THING – we literally haven’t been anywhere together without doing karaoke lol) We went into the bar and spoke with the bartenders about how it worked. They told us we can sing whatever we want and how ever many songs we wanted to for free! All we had to do was buy drinks. (Music to our ears lol)

We went back and played a few games while taking shots and drinking wine. (Felt like we were back in college) We walked back down to the karaoke spot (at this point it was about 2 hours later and almost 2am lol) and the bartenders were getting into the car to leave. We were SICK. Especially because it was pouring raining and we had no idea what we would do next. About 2 minutes later, the bartender turned around and said “yall want to go in?” and opened the bar up for us. We were in Italy and a bar opened just for us? We spent the rest of the night buying drinks and singing our hearts out. LOL! Literally, a night to remember!

A few other things we did in Sorrento was went to Shot Bar. We found The Shot bar after eating dinner at Meating because they were a few doors down from one another. There was a crowd of black women who were from the U.S and of course, when you’re out of the states and see your people #blackstraveltoo you get hype! We went into the bar and completely took over playing tunes from Back that Ass up to Act Up by City Girls. (My friends put me on to City Girls the entire trip and honestly… I still don’t know any lyrics #momlife lol) We got a few drinks and stayed for a few and then the girls left the City Boys (this is what my husband and male best friends were calling themselves the entire trip lol) to hang out.

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The following day we reserved a private driver to spend the day visiting Positano, Amalfi, and a few other towns along the Amalfi Coast. A MUST do! We spent about 8 hours riding through and seeing different towns, did more shopping – my best friends got some leather shoes made from Stefania Shoes, ate lots of Gelato – I had my favorite in Amalfi (it was a raspberry cheesecake flavor), ate lunch at a restaurant called Locanda Costa Diva that sat close to the coast with an amazing view. Aside from our driver almost leaving my best friends because they were taking too long lol, it was indescribable!

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Last Day in Rome:

Once we got back to Rome and checked into our last Airbnb, we wanted to spend the day exploring (and shopping) more since we had to leave pretty early the following day. We took a local bus to the shopping area and found this leather store called Cartoleria Pantheon (yes, I know, we did a lot of leather things in Italy lol) where I got Joel a wallet with his initials monogrammed in it. We walked around and got a few more souvenirs and of course, more gelato, and more food! Lol! We ended our night with a toast (a great one!) and girls night dinner before we prepared for our travels in the morning!

Food:

In Italy we learned that there are two course meals where you choose the pasta (or anything from the 1^st course menu) and then you pick something from the second course which is usually some kind of meat. Honestly, I felt like I was always still hungry in Italy. But that’s probably because I was only getting one meal at a time and the portions were a little smaller. (Americans – always looking for a big plate of food smh lol) So, I recommend getting both! Below, I’ll share a few restaurants we went to eat.

• The Golden River Pub (Sorrento): They don’t have a website, but you can find pictures of their food online. Our first night in Sorrento Joel and I tried this place. They are known for their burgers, but I got fish and chips and he got eggplant parm. They both were delicious! We brought the rest of our friends back and ate here the last night in Sorrento as well.

• Meating (Sorrento): A FAV! A steakhouse in Sorrento that we LOVED! (Nobody ordered steak lol) We visited this restaurant twice as well. A few of our favorite dishes were the clams and spaghetti, cheese ravioli, and the spaghetti and meatballs. If you save room for dessert, they have awesome cheesecake!

• Osteria delle Commari (Rome): We ate this restaurant after taking a few shots at a snack bar near. (We had to kill time before they reopened at 6pm lol) I had ravioli and it was delicious – highly recommended! This was our first official dinner on the trip!

• Kebab (Sorrento): Your choice of a pita or a plate, you can order falafel, chicken, or steak (or mix the two) and it is served with veggies and two different sauces. Their “Classic” is tzatziki sauce and chili. Of course, I added some of the garlic sauce too! This wasn’t my absolute favorite place, but I would probably have eaten here again if we stayed a little longer. The owner was extremely sweet!

• Pizzeria Da Franco (Sorrento): Another FAV! My best friends went here one morning (about 3am?) and ordered pizza and sandwiches. I tasted one the next morning and we HAD to go back. Anywhere we go we act a fool so of course when we went back a guy that worked there called my best friend by her first name. LOL! The love was real! This is the place that made me fall in love with Italian tomatoes. There ain’t nothing else like them! Not up for debate! This is the perfect late night/after a night of going out spot to grab a hot sandwich or a whole pizza!

• Pizzeria Del Presidente (Naples): The best pizza we had in Italy! We tried our first limoncello and meloncello here. We learned that neither of the two is our thing but who comes to Italy and NOT try one? LOL! The pizza though? A1! Definitely recommended. I can’t remember the names of everyone’s pizza, but I do remember one was made with pesto sauce and it was delicious!

• Gelateria Della Palma (Rome): We found this gelato place that was across from the leather store where I got Joel’s wallet from. It had 150 different flavors and so hard to choose from. Literally gelato heaven!

• Buona Forchetta (Rome): We spent our last night in Rome and this restaurant was a quick 5-minute walk. I don’t remember anyone else loving their food, but I actually enjoyed mine. I ordered a caprese salad, seafood pasta, and ate some of the house salad my BF ordered. Now, this night, I was extremely full! Lol!

Naples:

Last but not least! We spent a few hours in Naples. (This is when we ate at Pizzeria Del Presidente) I would say you can’t go to Italy without visiting Naples butttt maybe just for a few hours. We didn’t go too far from the area where the train let us off. So, I can’t speak on all of Naples, but I would recommend you figuring out exactly what you want to do/see before you get there. It wasn’t a place we wanted to walk around/spend too much time in. We went for pizza and gelato and that was enough for us!

Wow, this is a lot. There was way more moments and views that I wouldn’t be able to explain so, you just have to go and see for yourself! Italy hands down was beautiful, and I cannot wait to go back! If you are one of my best friends reading this post, please please, please comment anything that I missed! (That is relevant)

I hope you all not only read the post but visit! I ended up recording a lot of the trip so I’ll most likely make a vlog (eventually) once I get my Youtube channel together. So, look out for that in the near future as well!

If you have any questions, ask away! As always, like, comment, and subscribe!