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The Travel Test: Your First Vacation
Traveling to Italy tests the tenacity of the author's relationship.
by Kendall Morgan
We circled around and around the center of Rome trying to find either an Internet café or our hotel.
“It’s around here somewhere, let’s just keep looking,” he said, as I silently seethed.
Dumb luck led us to the Via di San Basilio and the Aleph. Lavish and slightly cheesy in that endearing Italian way, the Aleph’s décor is based on Dante’s Inferno, and everything—bar, restaurant, library, lobby—is a brilliant shade of red. The hell theme seemed very appropriate when we checked in and found a message from the fun folks at Alitalia questioning the change in our departure date. After another hour on the phone, we were told that neither it nor our missing tickets would be a problem. I suggested that we have the documents FedExed from Florence, but the airline assured the boyfriend this wouldn’t be necessary.
And so we set off to sightsee. Rome is a blend of the old and the new, with flashy, perma-tanned couples in Dolce & Gabbana inspecting the treasures of the Vatican. The streets smell like sautéed garlic and wine, and the pace of the city sweeps you from ancient monument to trendy restaurant.
Because a friend of mine spent six months in Rome working on Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic, I knew about a few off-the-beaten- path places of which the cast and crew had grown fond.
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1 Carlos // Jun 25, 2008 at 5:18 pm
Have anyone on this blog been to the Caribbean on an escorts resort in the DR? Or erotic vacations.
2 Little Italy // Feb 12, 2008 at 11:55 am
Love this. As a fellow writer who happens to be spending a year in Italy, I can vouch for the dear author’s authentic Italian experience. Brava. Now please send some of those love vibes back over the ocean, please…
3 Paris, City Of Fisticuffs? // Feb 12, 2008 at 9:58 am
[…] Isn’t arguing, debate anyways, in the French character? Like if you’re trying to invade Iraq aren’t they the first to say “au contraire, mon frer”? Sure, having a knock down, drag out at the Eiffel Tower is bad form, but would the French really be put off? “Ah, look at the Americans, with their Super Bowl and Dane Cook, how you say, adorable.” Well maybe they should rethink making things tough on us after bailing them out of WW2. Anyone? Dad? It’s weird, this is the first time that we’ve ever thought of National Lampoons: European Vacation and Ethan Hawke’s novella, The Hottest State, at the same time. There are parallels. This reminds us of one of our all-time favorite Tango articles about a little Euro vacation that goes in the wrong direction but ends up just right. […]
4 lola // Dec 1, 2006 at 12:39 pm
Great story! Felt like I was there with the writer and her “boyfriend.” I related to much of what happened as my “boyfriend” also took me to Rome last Feb. and it was without a doubt one of the best trips ever. It wasn’t the vacation…it was the experience of being with a wonderful person and learning more about him. I”m the artist and he is the doctor. What a combination! I”ll let you know when the wedding occurs —