After years and years of pining…and dreaming…and hoping… and wishing… this summer I finally, FINALLY made it to the epicenter of romance and old-Hollywood charm: CAPRI. Before I arrived, I was entranced by the photos of couples sitting in those wooden boats in fresh linen suits, smiling gleefully at the camera. Couples eating ice-cream hand-in-hand, using over-sized wicker baskets as inconvenient purses. Couples eating chili-spiced, olive-oil drizzled specialty seafood pasta by the rocky cliffs, saying things like “Gatano… top up our rosé-filled champagne flutes, please.” Couples holding hands all throughout dinner, and then focusing really hard on trying to use a fork with one hand to swirl pasta into a spoon, all-while never looking at the spoon as to not break eye-contact with the person across from them. Years of seeing basic bitches shine under those iconic blue and white stripped umbrellas, with Instagram captions like: ciao and alora (lemon lemon lemon emoji); it was finally my time. But as luck would have it, I did not go with my fiancé/husband/boyfriend/significant other…I went with my best friend.

This past July, me and my friend Rana decided to go on a little European trip to celebrate her graduation. And we thought to ourselves: “We LOVE Capri, probably” and “LET’S GO. WE ARE YOUNG.” Cut to the actual day; we arrive in the GORGEOUS, MUST-SEE city of Naples. Before we hit the road for the infamous island, we had to stop off at Pizzeria da Michele (made famous by Eat, Pray, Love). After we died and went to heaven (because the pizza is so good I would literally name my first child da Michele, maybe even my second too), we headed to the ship yard to board the ferry over to the island. Once we got there, it took us 45 minutes to realize we were the only non-couple in the whole of Capri. Pretty much everyone was on their honeymoon, except for us and one local man who owned our Airbnb. We didn’t put together that June is the height of wedding season, therefore July would the height of honeymoon season. Silly us!!! We started coining the phrase: “A lot of people are here on their honeymoon, but no one is here to celebrate 8 years of consecutive female friendship.” AND WE WERE RIGHT! WE WERE THE ONLY ONES! One place we discovered that is fun for the whole family…though literally only lovers were there, is a place called La Fontelina. It’s one of the only beach clubs on the island and really lives up to the hype. Even if you can’t fall asleep in a sun-dazed nap on one very small mattress in your sig-o’s arms, you can sit a normal distance apart from your friend and read a book on scientifically calculating happiness. We had a great time here.

Capri is also known for delish dining. One place we loved is Villa Verde; the vibe is super cool, and they serve all the stuff you want to eat while you’re in Italy. Also, it took them a full hour to bring us our check, so it ended up being a 3-hour dinner. We were there so long we actually started to play our favorite game: trying to name all the United States without forgetting one and then having to google the rogue one we missed. We got gelato almost every night at Gelato Buonocore, which is centrally located and open until the wee hours of night.

We did not do any shopping. Mostly because we didn’t want or need or could afford a Cartier gold-encrusted watch with our subsequent birthday’s carved on the side. Next time I guess….

All in all, we had an amazing time. It ended up being the perfect place to celebrate a holiday we created called Salfinity, which is the object used to represent an 8-year anniversary and taken from the party thrown on New Girl called Tinfinity. It was probably the most meaningful thing celebrated on the island that weekend. I can’t wait to tell my kids one day.

Photography: Soph Penelope Hill