Italy

Italy took me embarrassingly long to get to. Four years of living in Europe and it somehow kept slipping through the cracks, until I finally made it to Rome for my 28th birthday with just two days to spare. Not ideal, but enough to eat irresponsibly well and fall head over heels for the place.

It’s a country that doesn’t do subtle. Ancient ruins sit in the middle of traffic, every piazza comes with a fountain and someone arguing over espresso, and the food alone is worth the flight (carbonara, cacio e pepe, and more gelato than I’ll admit to). It’s a lot to take in, so don’t try to do everything. Just enough to make you want to come back.