Travel | Rome, Italy: 24 Rainy Hours That Started It All

Rome in the rain is still Rome—but it will test your plan fast. We land on a tight timeline and decide to do the thing anyway: squeeze a lifetime of wonder into about 24 hours, fueled by jet lag, stubborn optimism, and a lot of espresso.

In this episode, I walk through how this Italy birthday and anniversary trip came together at the last minute—using credit card points and travel portals to book flights, boutique hotels, and a Vatican tour. I also share what didn’t match the booking promises, what a Jubilee year changes inside Vatican City, and the small tweaks that would have made the day smoother. If you’ve ever searched “Vatican tour skip the line” and felt overwhelmed, this will help you know what to look for (and what to ask before you book).

Then we get to the fun part—stumbling into Sant’Eustachio Caffè near the Pantheon and getting our first real taste of Roman coffee culture, followed by a Michelin-star dinner that felt more like art than a meal. The next morning, we hop on a tuk-tuk tour for a quick pass through the Colosseum, ancient ruins, and a few surprises we didn’t expect.

And then, my favorite moment from Rome: the Orange Garden, a quiet little viewpoint with a perspective trick that stops you in your tracks—and a sax player who somehow shows up at exactly the right moment to play Happy Birthday. One of those “God wink” kind of moments you couldn’t plan if you tried.

If you’re planning a Rome itinerary, dreaming about Italy travel, or just love stories that mix the practical with the meaningful, this one’s for you.

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If you'd like links and more details on this leg of the trip, visit my blog at www.astoriedtable.com. 

Hosts:  Amy Kathleen Smith | Insta @astoriedtable | www.astoriedtable.com 

Edited by:  Ben Hill* | http://benhillsound.com/ | https://www.linkedin.com/in/benhillsound/

*starting with episode 60

Transcript

Welcome To The Story Table

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Life happens at the table, like in those rare family dinners when everyone's actually home, or when you finally get to go and catch up with your friends. We don't get enough of those. Those moments that we all wish would happen more often. But that's the feel that I want here. That place where you get to finally shift out of survival mode. So what do we talk about here? Nothing, everything, you know, the kind of nothing that turns into everything good. Sometimes it'll be just us here, and sometimes a friend will join. Welcome to a story table. I'm Amy Kathleen, and I'm so glad you're here. Which I cannot wait to tell y'all about. And I want to share that with y'all in a way that might inspire you for the trip that you want to take, or just maybe help you keep dreaming to the one that you'll take one day. And I really hope that like the things that I learned in planning this last-minute trip, we really did plan this trip so last minute because we just couldn't land on what exactly we were going to do for this big birthday, big anniversary. So in this episode, we're going to talk about the very first stint in this trip, which is in Rome. And there's just some cool things that happened and people that we met and just places that we went that I thought you might like to hear about. Okay, just a little bit of backstory on us, just so you understand the context of this. So my birthday is on St. Patrick's Day. It is the best day for a birthday. It has always been so much fun. And for me, it was such a cool day because I was also born on my dad's birthday, which I love. Okay, so what Smith and I did when we were planning for our wedding. Well, we did not have a long engagement. Um, I think we were engaged for maybe six months. We just were kind of ready to start our lives. We had already been dating for a long time, and um we were looking at dates that the venue we chose would be open, and it ended up that the one that was open was March 18th. So the way that we celebrate this time of year is kind of in a big way. So we have my birthday on March 17th, and then our anniversary is on the 18th. So back to back. Now uh he was warned from the beginning that if you forget one, you've likely forgotten both. And one of those is a holiday that everyone likes to celebrate. So you'd really be in a bad place if that ever happened. So lucky for him, that has never happened. He's never forgotten our anniversary. Well, this year we did a big anniversary and a big anniversary gift. We did finally decide to go to Italy. It's something we've talked about for a really long time. And um we wanted to try to experience as much as we can. And I'm not gonna give you the entire idea around like the reason we went all around Italy. We'll kind of unfold that as we kind of go through all of it. But uh, I did have a great friend and it was actually a teacher from my son's school that helped us plan this. She and her husband were part of the Air Force, and they lived over in Germany for a while. And so by living over there, they went to Italy quite a bit. I think they actually were stationed in Italy for a bit. But she gave me um so so many really great tips on how to plan this trip out that really helped me get this done last minute. So huge shout out to Miss Burke, to her husband for their service to our country and their service to me and helping me uh plan this through their expensive experience of living over there. I had to give her a big plug because I'm likely gonna reference her a few times in this because that's just how uh my conversations usually go. I'm always filling you in on the people in and around my life. So we knew that whenever we got into Rome, we weren't gonna spend a lot of time there and that we were gonna have to be really smart with it. And we knew that we would be tired, but we thought we'll just, you know, we'll push through. And we did. But it was basically like a 24 hours in Rome type situation. And we did pack it in. And I did so much research on everything that we did, and you're gonna hear more about each of those things again as they unfold. But when we got into Rome, I was real excited because we were able to get a tour of the Vatican and I was really hoping to get, you know, the Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica. And I don't, for those of you who are Catholic, and for those of you who are just uh familiar with this, last year was a year of Jubilee. So it was a very busy time there in Vatican City. Now, what I did when I booked this trip is I booked a lot of it through our credit card travel portal. And I was able to use points for a lot of those and just check rates and everything, and I learned a lot there. I'll share with you in a second. And then some of them I used my friend who is a travel agent and she helped me navigate other parts, and you'll definitely hear more about her later too. But in these travel portals, here's something that I did not know even exists. So, of course, you can get flights and you can find hotels and even like stays, which were cool. I didn't expect that. I didn't expect, um, I think I was using between like Chase and maybe Capital One. I'm not sure. I don't know if you care about that, but I'm just gonna let you know. Um, but in those, I thought it would just be hotels, but it wasn't. It was like small boutique hotels and um and even some kind of like Airbnb verbo type places as well. Well, and looking in those, I also saw where there's experiences. Maybe you've seen this before, but it it was new to me. And I was like, goodness, all right. Well, let me look. What do I want to do? Okay, well, I want a tour of the Vatican, y'all. If you were to Google how to get a tour of the Vatican, I mean, that's so it's there's so many options. There's so it's so much. But go because I would imagine Googling would be even harder because I just went through the travel portal because I was like, well, surely it's vetted, you know, these are these are vetted people. And I did do a good amount of research. Again, all my research is basically from YouTube. That's where I check out everything. I watch videos. Um, and it's usually something I do in passing as I'm, you know, folding laundry or cleaning or what just different stuff, you know, and stuff that you don't even have to really watch. You can just listen to these travel tips and ideas. And uh, and so anyway, I'd found enough about the Vatican and the kind of tour I wanted to have because of the dates that I was going, how much time I wanted to spend there, and booking it through this travel portal. I was like, great. Well, there were so many different guarantees and uh even like a pick us up at the hotel situation. Um, and it all looked really, really good. And it was okay. It wasn't the best. And I think it's just because the Vatican, especially in a year of Jubilee, there was so much going on that I don't know, something got lost in translation. I'm just gonna leave it at that. And it wasn't a bad experience. I won't say that, but it was very different and unexpected. So in booking a tour like this to the Vatican, you'll see things out there, especially that say, you know, beat the line, which if you go there without a tour, like there's a line out of the wazoo. It's crazy. And so we did get that option, which was great. If you have a tour booked, you do get to kind of skip the line and go on ahead. Um, was the place that offered the tour easy to find? It was not. Did they pick us up at the hotel? They did not. We did get have to get a taxi to get over there an Uber or something, and that wasn't a huge deal. But trying to get dropped off at the right place, it was because it was just a bit confusing, even for the Uber driver. And we had to end up going in the rain back and forth between two different travel businesses because they couldn't find our reservation and there just seemed to be some issue, but eventually it did get worked out. It wasn't a huge ordeal, but it was kind of a weird way to start the trip. In the end, it worked out because we were able to experience the Vatican and we were able to see uh the museum and just see everything that was there. And we only had so much time available, but I still feel like it was worth it. It was really neat to see in person. We got to see the Sistine Chapel. We did not get to go into St. Peter's Basilica because all the videos and all the websites that told me about if you take this tour through the museum, you can get to go in the certain gate into the basilica. Well, because of um the year of Jubilee and everything going on, that had actually been closed. So that didn't work out. But overall, it was a fine experience. Um, there was a lot of rain, and that was uh a large part of the beginning of their trip. So it just was a little bit of a rocky start, but it was still like to say that we have gone there and we got to see these beautiful things, it was great. And I would absolutely encourage others to do it. Just be wary of how you book those tours. Um, I thought I had done a lot of research, but um clearly it's a little still shaky, I think. But overall, I would still encourage people to to go there. Um, I think it's a place that people would naturally want to go for so many reasons. Okay, so jet lag, it's totally a thing. I'm sure you know that. You've probably experienced it too. But we found this little uh coffee place. But I remember the driver that we had from the airport to the hotel telling us that there was this most fantastic place to get a cappuccino right around the corner from our hotel and uh and that it was the best. Like he kept iterating that it was the best. Well, you know, you can find coffee shops on every corner in so many places here in the US. Well, in Italy, there they're even more, even more. And so the likelihood of us finding this one little special one I thought was unlikely. But funny thing, we actually found it. And then as I was getting ready for this podcast, I wanted to just look into it and say, huh, well, I wonder if those things I heard about it are actually true. Let me look. Y'all, they were true, they were totally true. Okay, just to give you a little bit of context here. We're staying at the Pantheon iconic Rome Hotel. And obviously it's right next to, like within just like throw a rock and you're gonna hit the Pantheon. So the place that we found, the coffee place, we literally just pulled up on Google Maps, like the closest one. Because at this point, we're dragging and we need a shot of coffee, espresso, something. And the name of the place is St. Istachio Cafe. And I'm sure I'm destroying that and I'm gonna apologize. But I had heard that it was so great. And so when I looked into it, it said that it was voted by the New York Times and the Washington Post as the world's best coffee. Okay, how many times has has anywhere been called the world's best coffee? So I was really kind of curious like how much of this is real or not. And I was curious also if there were more locations and if we just happened on one of them. But it is an actual like single historic coffee bar and it's located at like the Piazza de San Ustagio, Ustachio. I keep thinking about like pistachio when I say this, but ustachio. Um and while they like have an online shop where you can buy everything, they only operate this one iconic original location, and it was established way back in 1938. And I did hear one guy say, like, the same people don't own it. Right now, it has uh changed over. But anyway, it's still there in the same place. Now, here's two really cool things I found out. Y'all geeked out a little bit on this, so I hope that you'll uh find this funny too. Have any of you ever drank from a Nespresso machine? Um, a Nespresso cappuccino machine. They're a home cappuccino machine system. My sister had one and I fell in love with it. So I actually got one many years ago. Okay, so here's the bit of information that I found. And I did check around, and it seems like there's you know enough substantial evidence out there that this is actually true. But if you've ever used Nespresso, they also have a capsule system, kind of like a K cup or Curic. And they're smaller and it's espresso. And what I found out is the originator of the Nespresso system actually got his inspiration from this particular cafe from watching the barista just repeatedly pump the lever to create a really thick, thick cream. And he had identified that it was like the key to perfecting that highly aerated espresso, and it inspired the whole Nespresso pod system. And I thought this was so cool. Like this was an actual place. So, how crazy that for someone who has loved a Nespresso machine and an espresso coffee so much, and I've shared it with so many people who had walked through my door because it just makes this tiny little frothy cup. And every person that has had it. And I've had friends who are like, nope, I don't really like coffee. I don't think I'm gonna like it. And I was like, look, I'll I'm gonna make you one. And if you take a sip and you really don't like it, you can toss it, or I'll drink it. Like, either way, I'm good. So I would love for you to try it. They usually do. Do you know what? Like 9.9 out of 10 were like, can I have another one? They're that good. They're just so it's really good. It sounds crazy, but it is. So it's just crazy that I happened upon the place where apparently this um, this iconic piece of history was made. Now, the other thing that I had heard but could not confirm is that the owner of Starbucks, uh, his name is Howard Schultz. He is said to go there every year to brainstorm about how to make Starbucks better. Now, like I said, I didn't find anything confirming that, but you know, it could be true, I guess. And that's kind of fun. Okay, so at this point, it's been a pretty full day. The way it kind of worked with our flight is we flew out at 7 p.m. and we landed in Rome at about 7 a.m. And from that morning, we finally get out and get to the hotel. Then we go to the Vatican, we get our you know, shot of espresso. Um, the place, by the way, oh, I did forget to tell you this. Um, Smith would be upset if I did not share this. So it's a tiny, tiny little coffee shop. And when you go in, it's a very like hustle and bustle, you know, you don't sit in, you don't even sit inside. The tables are outside. And if it's raining, which it was, uh maybe that's why we kind of got in. But um, it's usually has a line wrapped around the building, and um, but it's tiny. And there are so many people, Italians like working behind of course there are Italians working there.

unknown 14:07

Anyway.

Our First Michelin Star Dinner

Tuk Tuk Highlights Before Florence

Orange Garden Illusion And A Sax Song

Direct Flights Are Worth Checking

Next Episode Tease And Goodbye

SPEAKER_00 14:08

Now the counter space that they were working in, I'm gonna give it about 18 to 20 inches deep. Y'all, it was not, I mean, them passing each other. I was thinking, how on earth? Because it was just, you know, Europe, everything is so much smaller and compact. And this coffee shop was just kind of lodged in this little building and the working space. I'm like, they must really love their job. They must really love their job, but they take it very seriously, and they do because whenever you order it, there's a certain way you order, there's a place that you go and have it. And if you do choose to stand there at the bar and drink your espresso, you're not gonna linger. You're gonna drink it and you're gonna move your cup there and you're gonna move on. So it was kind of uh uh an interesting experience, but it was so funny to see like how little space they had to work in and how efficient they were. It's kind of crazy. So we get that uh espresso hit and then we go back to the hotel and get ready for our dinner. And y'all, this was mine and Michael's very first ever Michelin star-rated meal. Um, I I love experiencing food. I just I wouldn't say I'm a foodie because it's not like I have a ton of knowledge about food, but I really love to eat and I really love to eat good food. So I love all these, like going to dinner is more of an experience for me. And this was right up my alley. It was so much fun. Okay, like I mentioned, we stayed at the Pantheon Iconic Rome Hotel, and right next door to it was the was the restaurant that we went to, and it was called Adelio by Aprida, if I'm pronouncing that correctly. Now, um apparently I think maybe Adelio is a butterfly because it was very like butterfly themed, but it was beautiful. And when you walked in, there weren't very many tables at all. And we were one of the first seatings they had that night, and it was really interesting to kind of see how people kind of moved in and out because it's one of those places where it has a very set menu. Like you can either choose one tasting menu or the other. And it was a process that we weren't familiar with, so it was really interesting to kind of tiptoe through and make sure you're not looking like an American idiot sitting there not having a clue about how to eat a nice Michelin-rated dinner. So I think we fared okay though. Okay, so I'm gonna give you a few details about this. I'm not gonna go on and on about it, but um it I will tell you it started out the first of 12 servings. 12. It was a 12-course meal, which is crazy. And they're all little bites, so it's not like having a big plate of pasta, you know, uh in different ways 12 times. It's all tiny little bites, but they do, they're very filling bites, by the way. But the first one was so interesting. It looked like a little dinner roll, like a just a little bitty, like just yeast roll, but it was the lightest roll ever, and it had this little dusting sprinkling of this red stuff on top. And I'm thinking, this isn't look very Michelin to me. This looks like a dinner roll. You pull it apart and it pulls apart like a donut, like that featheriness that just kind of like a warm donut pulls apart. Now it's not sweet at all. Of all things, this little dinner roll-looking piece of bread tasted like pizza. There was nothing but bread and this red dusting. It was it was the first of many experiences that whole dinner and everything had a presentation quality to it. So everything came in little plates and little had little decoratives, not decorative spoons, but these certain little spoons they would bring out. And um, you would have some things that would smoke and some things that would flame. And it was the coolest experience. But some of the things that we had over these 12 courses. So we had the roll with the pizza tasting roll, we had um a dish with quail eggs, uh, one with tuna, one with the most delicate uh tortellini. And they poured this really amazing little broth over it. That was like so good. And then, oh, one of the neatest ones was that it was a tiny little bowl, a serving of risotto. It was green, and they came out and they topped it with a little spoonful of Parmesan cheese. I believe it was Parmesan cheese. It may have been a different cheese, but it kind of looked like Parmesan, the way that it kind of dusted on top of it. But they put a giant spoon on top of this uh risotto. Y'all, it was freeze-dried or something like it. Because as soon as they sprinkled it over your bowl, it was like a little implosion of steam. Is that steam? Is that what dried ice does? It just enveloped the whole plate. It was the it was so cool. It was like magic on the plate. Uh, we had a fish dish, and then we had two desserts that led to the 12th dish, which was a tiny little birthday cake bite. And I guess at some point in the reservation, I must have mentioned that it was um like birthday trip or something like that. And that was a lot of fun. Oh, by the way, if you were ever taking a trip over there and it is around your birthday or your anniversary, include that in every reservation because they treat you so well. I feel like Italians love to give gifts. Maybe that's their their love language is gift giving, because everywhere we went through this whole trip, they're like, oh, we have something special for you. Oh, we have a gift for you. Oh, we have a surprise for you. And this started at that dinner and went throughout the whole trip. So just note that if you're going around your birthday or a big thing, make sure everyone knows they will treat you special, even more special than they would on a normal day. So then we had the 12th ditch dish, which was the birthday cake bite. And then at that point, like Smith and I were looking at each other and we were comatosed because we're exhausted from the jet lag. We are so full, we're about to burst. And then they bring out a plate of tiny little dessert bites. And we just looked at each other. I was like, I literally can't. I mean, I forced myself to eat the birthday cake because I felt really rude if I didn't, because it had the cutest little candle on it and everything. But we did end up asking them, again, at risk of looking like Americans who don't know how to eat Michelin rated food. But we asked if we could have that boxed up. And y'all, we woke up the next morning and those little dessert bites were our first little breakfast. And that was the way to go for sure. But I did make a reel from this experience, and I'm gonna see if I can repost it because honestly, I don't know if I put that on my personal account or the at a story table on Instagram or not, but I am gonna repost this. So if you're interested, if you like food, if you if you treat food and restaurants like an experience, I tried to make it as fun as possible. And you know, I've had people ask, you know, would you do it again? Hands down. Hands down. It was worth every single effort to try to stay awake through it all. It was such an experience. Just the the craft, like the talent. It was, I guess it's inspiring is one of the best ways I can explain it because you think about when you go into a museum, you know, for some people it might be architecture, but it's this experiential way that you get to experience art. And I would do it all over again and over and over. I'm pretty sure Michael would say no. But it was absolutely amazing. If you ever have the opportunity, I would absolutely suggest that you do it. So that was our first full day in Rome. And the next day, we only had a few hours before we were gonna go to the train station and get our train to go to Florence. And I would had looked and just kind of researched what's the best way to do this. And I'm telling y'all, there is a YouTube video for anything you want to know about a trip. I have learned so much over the years, and it's just uh, like I said, it's the resource I use. And I mean, some of them are good, some are not so great. Some you just kind of you know, keep on in the background and and grab what's helpful. But one example that I saw uh of a way to see Rome, you know, in a few hours was through a took took tour. So, like T U K T U K. And it's not like it, this is just an Italy thing, I believe. They do this in India and places all over. Um, I I will try to post a picture of our little tuk-tuk, but it's like a little two-seater, and you might even get to do a little uh six-seater in some places. It's kind of a hybrid between a um a rickshaw. Is rickshaw the right word? You know, or yeah. Or a peddy cab. So it's like a it's like a hybrid between like a pedicab and a golf cart. So it's just a fun little vehicle that had comes with a tour guide, and they're just, you know, filling you in on the city that you're around and kind of you can pick the different tours of what cover different things. And so what I did was I had our took took tour pick us up and do like a hotel pickup. They did actually pick us up this time, which was nice. And it was a hotel pickup and prosecco package. And I thought, sure, let's start off the next morning in Italy with a glass of Prosecco to help us keep powering through. And I can't remember our guy's name, and I hate that I can't remember his name. He was super, super sweet, but he was the best photographer. So we went all over the city. And when we got in front of the Coliseum, it's y'all, the Coliseum is so huge. And it's one of those places that when you're standing in front of it, you just can't capture it. Not only did this dude capture the Coliseum, but he knew exactly where to park, walk us over, position us, and take a few shots with my camera. And they look professional. And I was thinking, I don't know what you did, but I I kind of want to put you in my pocket. And can you just travel around with us and help me take pictures? So we did a quick stop by the Coliseum. And of course, you know, Michael was real excited about the Coliseum. And we did want to do one of those tours because you can actually go down underneath the Coliseum where they would, like, you know, the gladiators and the animals and all that would be, which sounded so cool, but every tour you look at took like at least two to three hours. And we just we didn't have it. So we basically were just doing a sprinkling and we talked about it. You know, like one day, if we were able ever able to go back over and have the boys or something, we would totally take the time to do that. After the Coliseum, we saw the bathhouses, which this is an area, and you know, we think of bathhouse, it's like kind of just a building, a big area. This was huge. It was like it was in ruins because it was so old, but the space that it took up in the city, it was many city blocks large. It was like a resort type thing. And you just sat there and you looked at it and you considered, you know, who was allowed to be where in the bathhouse and how this worked and just oh, just all the things. It was kind of crazy. Um, and it was neat the the place that we stopped to look at it. You looked down and you saw where there was some kind of like, I don't know, race, like a 5K, a half marathon or something was all set up to be a part of that. And that's just kind of um, that's a neat thing to think about, you know. I'm not a race runner, but uh my husband is, and it looks like I have at least one boy who might be following in those steps. And uh, and it would be neat to kind of include, you know, if you're the uh outdoorsy athletic kind of family, to include something like that. That was something I had never considered before until we stopped there and I saw that and I was like, huh, you know, for the for the people who like those kind of things, might be fun. Okay, so um let's see, the Coliseum Bathhouses. Oh, there's also pyramids in Rome. Has anyone ever heard of this? There are like Egyptian pyramids in Rome. There's only two, but we did stop there and look at those. They were worth a look, I guess. Um, but that was interesting. But my favorite thing, and this is how I'm gonna kind of wrap up today, is I'm gonna tell you about this last stop we made, and then a really cool thing that happened there. Um, again, don't kill me here. I'm gonna try to pronounce this in the best Italian way I can. But we ended in what's called the orange orchard, and it's called the Hardino Delhi Arganci. And it was beautiful. It was like a little picturesque kind of garden. Um, and it had these panoramic views of Rome. And once you kind of walk forward through the garden, you could see the Tiber River. You can also see the dome of St. Peter's Basilica. And there is this really cool perspective trick or like an allusion that happens to the view of that dome on the basilica that is really cool to experience. Now, again, all the YouTube videos I'd watched, I'd seen this before, but Smith hadn't. And so I let the tour guide kind of set him up to what to expect. And I just sipped on my prosecco that he had just handed us, and I let Smith kind of experience it and figured it out for himself. And his reaction was so funny. Okay, this is gonna be a spoiler alert. So maybe just skip ahead like 30 seconds if you don't want to hear this part. It's not a huge deal, but if it's something that you really don't want to know, then just go ahead and skip ahead. But when you're standing at the back of the park, you look ahead and you see the dome of the basilica. Now, as you're walking towards that, uh is like a balcony that oversees the city and the river and everything. But as you're walking towards something, you would expect it to get bigger, right? But no, it actually grows smaller. The dome of the basilica, as you move closer to it, keeps getting smaller and smaller and smaller. It's the most bizarre thing. And so it was just really fun to see his reaction. So here is the really fun part of this story. So there was a musician, a sweet little older guy, and he was playing the saxophone under the trees, just to the right of this path that we're walking down. Now, this path is kind of centered directly under this canopy of trees, and this is where you walk down to see the dome changing unexpectedly. And when we're walking down there, and the the musician's just kind of playing whatever little Italian tunes he was playing, he suddenly changes his song right as we're passing him. And you're never gonna believe what he started playing. He started playing with a saxophone, happy birthday to you. And he kept going on. I'm not gonna keep singing for you. And I looked at Smith, and neither of us had arranged this. And our tour guide didn't know that this was a birthday trip. And I just was sitting there stunned. Both Michael and I both were. But have you ever had one of those experiences that people call a God wink? If you haven't, just ask God for a God wink, He will give it to you, and it's the coolest thing. But I didn't even ask for this. This was so much fun, such an unexpected surprise. And I think, like for me, this is one of those winks for the book for sure. How fun! Like we ended up after we walked down, we had our experience, and we came back, we stopped by and we visited with him for a minute. He was such a sweet guy, and we left him a little tip, and we just um I got I think I got a picture with him, and he was so cute. I don't even think he had all his teeth, but he was a cute guy. That was just so much fun. Like today, on my birthday, being able to think back to that experience, and it was just uh, it was such a sweet moment. It was so cool. Okay, so on the next episode, I'm gonna try and see if I can bring Smith on because I want him to share with you about his anniversary gift. And y'all, the anniversary gift that he received on this trip will likely never be topped again. Like I don't know if I can ever do better than this. So this is gonna be the next episode, it'll be a lot of fun to listen to. Okay, before we go today, I wanted to have a little before I forget, I thought one of the things that I learned about traveling over there was really helpful. And I thought I'd pass it along to you in case you are ever looking at flights to go to Italy or to wherever. But I was on a mission of just constantly searching for flights. Um, I am always on a mission to get the very best deal I possibly can. I want the most value for the least amount of money that I can pay. And so I go down rabbit holes of searching. And so one thing I never searched was a direct flight because I just assumed that a direct flight is going to be so much more money. Y'all, I was completely wrong. And they are absolutely worth the search. So the way that it worked out for us is, you know, Dallas is our closest major airport. And so we flew direct from Dallas to Rome for basically the same price I was looking at. And when I was looking, I was looking at trying to fly into different cities as well, just to kind of compare and see what works. And uh, and I was really shocked to see that. And so that has created a bit of a problem in a way because it really is quite easy to fly direct from 7 p.m. and arrive at 7 a.m. and have maybe an extended weekend trip and then fly back home, which sounds kind of crazy. I know that. I realize there's a lot of you. There's probably two versions of you know, listeners right now. Some of you are like, that's insane. Who does that? Who just goes up and goes to Italy for like a long weekend? And then there's others of you who are like, Can I go? I would totally do that. Well, that's me. I'm one of those. So I told Smith at the end of this trip, maybe actually probably several times through this trip, that we were having such a good time. And it's just that place that you, you know, like so many trips, you just want to go back. You just want to plan your next trip back. But I told him, I said, look, with these flights, and they're not ridiculous, we could do this. And so here's a deal. I'm gonna give you two years. And in two years, I'm either gonna come back with you or without you. I hope it's with you, but I'm just letting you know that I can find some people or person or somebody. I mean, my sister's always up for it. I know she'll go, but we will jump over there and have a little stay and then back. Now, this time we were over there for I think it was 10 days, maybe 10, 10 plus days, something like that. I had to go back and look, to be honest with you. But um, it wouldn't be anything like that. That's a that's a big, big trip. But something that's like four or five days, I think that's that's doable. So, anyway, I just uh wanted to encourage you to kind of when you're searching around, check out those direct flights. It might be it might be something that works out for you. Thank y'all so much for listening, and I hope that you'll come back to listen to the next episode because I think that's gonna be really cool. Because when you hear Smith and his reaction to the things that we had planned in Florence and the crazy weather we had to deal with um that made it almost all not happen. I mean, is that not a great cliffhanger? Does that make you want to come back? I hope so. Okay, I'll check with y'all later. Y'all take care of the