Carried Away on a Vespa in Rome

It is funny that my journey to Rome involved a lot of serious introspection because my first activity in Italy was not on any level indicative of the deep thoughts I was having during my plane ride. In fact, my first order of business in Rome was quite possibly the best fulfillment of a girlhood dream and a wild cliché, EVER.

I hardly had enough time to make it into the city, settle into my apartment in Trastevere, meet my roommate Heather and unpack a little; before we were picked up by two vintage Vespas and two handsome Italian men for a sunset ride through Rome to meet our other blogger colleagues near the Piazza Venezia. It’s a wonder I didn’t faint and fall off the Vespa on the way. Clinging to my handsome Italian driver and grinning as the setting sun glinted off white, stone buildings I felt as if I had died and gone to heaven. I was Audrey in Roman Holiday. I was any of the heroines in any of the Fellini movies. I was incredulous that the trajectory of my life had put me on that Vespa. How had I ever had a sad thought in my head? It seemed ridiculous as the wind whipped through my hair and the smell of flowering vines assaulted my senses while city lights illuminated ruins that pre-date the entire country I was born in.

For hours, our little Vespa biker gang toured the great landmarks of Rome. Lit up at night, they took on a romantic air that can only be experienced to be understood. Rome at night on a Vespa may not be Paris in the rain with a lover, yet it may be even better. Or, just different. Either way, the experience I had that night will forever be on my “must experience while in Rome” list. For female travelers particularly. However, over wine at the end of our excursion, all involved [even the men] agreed that seeing Rome from the back of a vintage Vespa was indeed the way to begin any trip in Italy.

My sojourn in Rome was provided by Housetrip and they are happy to help you rent apartments in Rome enabling you to live like a local while in Italy as I did, however, as always the glowing review of this experience is my own and not in any way prompted by anything except my own swoony heart.