I couldn't get Taylor Swift tickets in the US, so I rearranged my honeymoon and spent $500 on VIP seats in Milan

• My husband and I were originally supposed to go to Bali for our honeymoon in July 2024.
• But my friend got $500 VIP tickets for Taylor Swift's Milan Eras Tour, and I jumped at the chance.
• We changed all our honeymoon plans, and I'll now be ditching my husband for one night of our trip.

I've never really considered myself a Swiftie — that is until I found myself rearranging my entire honeymoon for a chance to see Taylor Swift perform in Italy next summer. 

I always enjoyed Swift's music, but it wasn't until my divorce in 2015 that I began obsessively listening to her lyrics and watching her videos. "All Too Well" would break my heart over and over again when I really needed to feel my hurt and cry to heal. Then "Shake It Off" would help me get rid of the bad energy. 

I didn't realize it then, but her music helped a grown, 40-something woman through the trauma and grieving process of a failed marriage.

When Swift announced her US Eras Tour, my friends and I immediately started strategizing how to get tickets. But like so many fans, my dreams were squashed when the Ticketmaster site crashed.

When the cities of her European tour were announced, my friend registered for tickets in Milan, Italy. We saw Adele in London together in 2022, so she knew I'd be down for another international concert.

She was able to buy VIP tickets with the I Remember It All Too Well package — which includes a commemorative tote bag; collectible pin, sticker, and postcard set; souvenir concert ticket; and VIP tour laminate with a matching lanyard — for $500 each. They were honestly much less expensive than what a lot of my friends paid for standard tickets in the US.

Without hesitation or looking at my calendar, I obviously agreed to go with her. When I finally processed the date of the concert, I realized I was supposed to be in Bali on my honeymoon.

I tried to figure out a way to make the concert and Bali work, but something had to give

After exhaustively researching different flight options between Bali, Milan, and New York, I realized trying to make this work was a logistical nightmare.

So I asked my husband, "I know we've been planning to go to Bali for our honeymoon, but how do you feel about Italy instead?" 

The harder sell was telling him that I wanted to end our trip in Milan so I could go to the concert. But there's only one extra ticket, so I'd have to ditch him on the last day of our honeymoon. 

He looked at me, smiled, and said, "Sure — I've never been to Milan."

Just like that, we changed our entire honeymoon.

The flights to Milan were about $1,500 a person round trip (which actually ended up being slightly cheaper than Bali), and our hotel accommodations for four nights will be about $1,200.

It may not be the trip we imagined, but I'm so excited to go to Italy next year

I feel bad about leaving my husband alone to go to the concert, but the universe always seems to have a way of working out. When I told another friend about this trip, she said she was going to the concert on the same night. Now our husbands get to hang out in Milan while we see Swift.

Even though it caused a bit of travel chaos, I love how full circle this all feels. I really started listening to Swift during the end of my first marriage, and now here I am, seeing her Eras Tour on my honeymoon.