To cut honeymoon short? Heatwave Hell

[hotasallhell]

NC as outing

DH and I planned a wonderful 3 week honeymoon around Europe months and months ago. We’re currently approaching our last week of it (9 days still to go) and in Northern Italy, ITS HELL!

It’s completely unseasonable weather - everywhere around us is on red alert and even the locals/hotel staff just don’t know what to do! We were in a city yesterday it hit the 40’s with 100% humidity and we couldn’t leave the room! Were due to go to Rome today but simply couldn’t face it so diverted to a lake nearby (lost several hundred pounds to do this) and tbh despite showing as cooler (mid thirties) it’s still crazy hot!
DH is really struggling huge heat rash all over his body and I feel unwell with it! We’re fed up and just want to come home but there are basically no flights (or INSANLEY expensive ones) so we’re here in this expensive hotel just hiding all day and venturing out for an hour or two each night to get food!

We have good travel insurance so I’m tempted to call them tomorrow. 😭 I just don’t know what to do! We are supposed to go to another Italian stop after this and then France 😒 all places are on Red alert!

But AIBU to call travel insurance and say ‘it’s too bloody sunny and hot’!

@Birdrib I can't even cope with the UK above 16 degrees so I don't go abroad. I am almost crying at the fact it's meant to get crazy hot.
I have a skin disorder where I cannot be in the heat or in the sun. At all.
This would be my version of hell. (Not that I would book it anyway haha)

Hope you and your hubby have had a great time so far though and have a safe flight home OP!

You can get an easyjet flight from Rome for less than £200 each. That'll be cheaper than spending 9 more days in a hell hole

I'm in Switzerland, which also has a red warning for heat. The advice being given is to avoid being outside between 11 and 4. Would strongly suggest as others have, get up early, its bright at 5am, and its lovely then. Then go to a restaurant with air-conditioning for lunch and a siesta back in your hotel. Also good in heat is the cinema, though I don't know how much dubbing vs subtitles they have in Italy.
Other than that, if you can afford it, I'd suggest the Italian alps. As high as you can find.

I do sympathise, I really do. We were in Spain in 2003 in the last heatwave with 3 young children and it was hell.

We have also in been in Italy (Rome, Florence, Pompeii) in August heat and get how you are feeling right now. Rome - was the only day we enjoyed, we had a private driver whisking us from A to B to C and it was bloody amazing - it cost us a small fortune but it was so worth it. Florence we spent 2 days in air conditioned shops pretending to look at leather purses (what a tragic waste) And Pompeii - 2 of the 3 hours we were there were spent in the Apothecary's garden because we found a hose pipe with a leak and took it in turns to splash water over our feet to cool down.

I would suggest you give up with the sightseeing and make a plan to return one day when it is not quite so hot. Me and DH have just done that very thing - 11 years after our first trip. Minus our children who are now grown up which made us a bit sad but we made the most of it and had a fantastic holiday. We returned this May and temperatures were in the early 20's and it was slightly cloudy and it was bloody amazing!

Go to the Trevi Fountain tomorrow morning, toss a coin and I absolutely promise one day you will return.

What everyone said.

Get up mega early, sightsee, back to hotel for lunch and snooze, back out there for dinner and drinks

Lots of AC and cold showers

Chewable calcium tablets will get rid of the heat rash - get some at the pharmacy.

Not worth being miserable on any holiday but especially honeymoon!
Can you train to Brussels or Paris and Eurostar back to UK? Put on credit card and pay it back with next month's salary!

Don't rely on travel insurance to get you out of where you are or even for them to reply to emails promptly. When our Swiss train was cancelled in France due to the rolling train strikes last year, I (still) had to use our own funds to book air tickets out from Switzerland, and it took several weeks to be reimbursed once we returned.

Perhaps my perception of what travel insurance was about was incorrect, but I thought it was in place for impromptu events.

Point being, you will need to pay for whatever changes occur to your itinerary and be prepared to slog it out with the insurer later.

Chewable calcium tablets will get rid of the heat rash

Well i was going to say as one who has been crippled with bleeding heat rash, that you should travel back on your insurance based on medical grounds!

But then i read you can chew calcium tabs! I that really a thing!?

Ahh, I wouldn’t have lost the money and experience of Rome because of the heat. I also doubt your travel insurance will pay out because of ‘bad’ weather... Imagine how many others would claim that if it rained the whole time or whatever. You’re going to have to suck it up or accept the loss if you insist on coming home early.

We went to my relative’s apartment in Spain in August about 3 yrs ago. The beach was 5 mins walk away. I went once in the evening the night before we came home because the restaurant was right next to it. The rest of the time I spent in the apartment with the air conditioning too low to do anything as I was worried about the cost, or in the car (better air con) or local Lidl, which had wonderful air con and baked goods.

Lidl was my favourite bit.

Italy is brilliant at night though. Rome is incredible. I'd just sightsee at night.

We recently went to Vietnam on a cycling holiday. It was high 30s most days and got ss high as 40+ a couple of times. The locals all get up really early when it's a bit cooler and then sleep in the hottest part of the day.

We stayed one night in a hotel overlooking the beach. I got woken up at 5am by noise - the beach was packed and loads of people were swimming. By the time we got on our bikes at 7.30am the beach was practically empty. Could you do the same thing?

Churches and museums are usually cool. There may not be fierce air conditioning in museums but they will aim at an ambient temperature eg 22C so it will be better than outside.

I think you’re just going to have to make the best of it. You can’t change the weather or your lost travel opportunities, but you can salvage the ‘making memories’ part of it. Just decide you won’t accept this honeymoon becoming a ‘remember how horrendous...’ story for your whole marriage. Flip the script, find ways to make it funny. Try and beat the world gelato eating record, or stand under a fountain. Find a lake and plant yourselves in the shallows all day, telling each other silly stories about your past and your futures. Conceive a child. Do something a bit crazy.

If you guys can’t ‘pivot’ this situation a bit now, marriage may be a bit tricky 10 years hence. Trust me, pivoting and finding highlights becomes a thing!

And don’t plan on coming to Australia for your anniversaries in summer. It’s regularly over 40 degrees for a week (and that’s in the chilly south bit). Nothing shuts down, nobody expires. We just get on with things. I’ve got a 2 day stopover planned in Doha (Qatar) next month, it could easily be 53 degrees outside there. Nothing will stop me having fun.

Try it, you’ve got little to lose? And congrats, by the way. I’d send flowers, but they’d likely wilt, hey?

I’m in Rome right now, and with broken aircon. It’s hot, no denying it. Hasn’t stopped us and millions of other tourists getting on with it.

Where in France are you going? The super high heat is supposed to calm down after tomorrow. I'm in the Alps and it's due to drop from mid/high 30s this week to mid-high 20s from Monday onwards. Also, temperature really drops at night here and no humidity, stickiness or mosquitos.

You are on honeymoon, a perfect excuse to spend lots of time in the bedroom! Early morning activities, then back to air conditioned hotel room for food, wine, movies, siesta etc

It’s not meant to be an endurance race, there will be other years, Just come home!

If the weather is making you ill then you should claim. Its not a case of it raining all the time. The heat is a high risk to mortality for some,and extreme discomfort and harm to others.

You are both suffering with your health as a result. Its not just about bad weather as some pp say

Perhaps my perception of what travel insurance was about was incorrect, but I thought it was in place for impromptu events.

It's in place to cover what the policy says it will cover. For big stuff like medical emergencies where you're racking up huge bills, they will liaise with the hospital and pay direct. But for small stuff like alternative fares and buying clothes after your case has gone missing, you pay yourself and claim it back when you return.

They don't cover cancellation of your holiday because it's hotter than you expected.

Also, not being acclimatised to the heat puts you at greater risk.

A lot of France is cooling off on Monday. Idk about Italy. So maybe stay in your hotel then head to France tomorrow or Monday - you’ll be in a/c transport I imagine.

If the weather is making you ill then you should claim.

Yes, any medical costs for illnesses incurred due to the heat will be covered. But what isn't covered is costs to get home because "the heat was making me ill". Did the doctor advise you return home following your stay in hospital?

Curently 14 degrees here. Cool and comfortable.

Op, take the train to the swiss mountains. It will be gloriously cool and lovely there. Don't ruin your honeymoon, but I would leave Italy if you are feeling ill and your dh is covered in a rash.

Scenic train ride and it won't take you long at all from northern Italy.