April has been a heck of a month, being messy yet exciting in the way that only life can be. It’s made me think of this time last year, when I was in Rome with my sister, eating our body weight in pasta every day. It’s given me a renewed commitment to reaching FI to never again go through what this month has given me. I’m focusing on the positives so don’t let’s skip right past the details and go straight to remininscing about Rome.
We were definitely being high-key tourists here, mostly going to all the typical tourist spots and not mingling with the locals as much. We had a splendid time and 5 days was definitely too short. If I were to go back to Italy again I would love to go to Florence and Venice as friends have recommended.
This is going to be a few of my favourite photos from the trip with a short reflection on the bottom. It’s a popular enough place that you can find better guides than me online. I would suggest you just go there yourself and experience these places in person 😉
I’m a vegetarian when I’m not eating meat. 
Everywhere looked beautiful. 
We shopped at the local market everyday to buy our breakfast and lunches for the day. 
When you do tourist things you’re gonna bump into other tourists. 
Random cool door I really liked. 
Just random pieces of art hidden in every corner. 
This guy knows what’s important in life. 
I took about 20 photos of this. 
The architecture was stunning EVERYWHERE.
Reflection
Walking through Rome you see a lot of contrast. It used to be one of the world’s richest cities and still holds a lot of that heritage. However, I also witnessed a lot of poverty–often one street over from all the glitz and glamour. It made me really cognisant of my privileges as a visitor. I only enjoy the great things about it and any parts I don’t like I can just leave. This is true for any location I visit, I have the privilege of walking away.
No matter where I go, I find that people are the same. They are friendly, hard-working, and pursuing happiness in their own ways. Oddly enough, this realization has made me happier with staycations. But I also recognize I can only arrive at this place because I’ve already had the privilege of doing a lot of travelling.
At the end of the day, there’s no one right way to travel. You can do the quick tourist trips, or slow travel for months at a time, or just visit the next town over.
Enjoy the photos, and use them as inspiration if you want to go to Rome. But don’t worry if you don’t want to/are unable to go. Travel is not a cure-all for life’s problems. Life is worth living because of the people I get to share it with, and you can do that right at home.
I’m a little surprised that there’s no picture of the Coliseum. When I went to Rome many years ago, I was fascinated with the Coliseum (well no wonder, I’m an engineer after all). Rome is an amazing city with so much history, glad to hear that you enjoyed your stay there.
Hey there, fellow Canadian! I was surprised as well when I was reviewing my photos actually. I took mainly pictures of food and buildings so my priorities were clearly biased haha. Maybe I was feeling anti-tourist after all. Even as packed and sweaty as the places were, you’re right that it’s simply an amazing architectural feat. Next time I’ll go during winter though lol.
Thanks for dropping by!