Waiting on a Word

Thanks to my very generous in-laws, our family took a trip to Italy this summer. It was my first time overseas since 1988, when I went to France with the French Club at my high school, so it’s been a minute since I’ve seen Europe!

The trip was a 14-day, twelve city extravaganza called “Italy’s Best,” and that was exactly what it was. We thought of it as a charcuterie board of Italy… try a little bit of everything and see what we liked the most for next time. We visited (not in this order) Rome, Pisa, Milan, Verona, the Tuscany region, Venice, Genoa, Pompeii, Florence, Cinque Terre, Sorrento, Positano, Capri, Assisi, Lake Maggiore, even Lugano, Switzerland, with lots of side trips to cool places.

Basically we hit everything besides the boot heel area and Sicily. What a wonderful place! Rich with history and breathtakingly beautiful.

The Pros from this type of trip:

We saw so much of the country. I have a better understanding of the layout of Italy and improved my geographical and historical knowledge of the country. We traveled by bus (a fancy, big-windowed, air-conditioned, comfortable bus) which gave us a great viewpoint of the country and landscape, from the mountains and lakes, east to west, north to south, down to the Mediterranean Sea and the Amalfi Coast.

Cons:

It was a long trip so we had Luggage (with a capital L). I’m not much of a traveler, and I don’t think I’ve ever been on a trip as long as two weeks, ever in my life. We’ve been on cruises, where we’ve set up house in our cabin and didn’t think about packing and unpacking much. With this type of trip, though, the constant change of cities and new hotels almost daily meant for a lot of rummaging and organizing and packing and lugging the suitcases.

For me, it was hard to plan for two weeks away. Because of the heat we had gone through most of our clothes by the end of the first week, so I went on a solo side quest to a local laundromat. It was an adventure in and of itself, to say the least!

I guess my point is that the pace of the trip was not for the weak. It was a lot for this homebody, but I’m so glad that we got to see so much. I’d love to go back someday, but even if I don’t, I’ll be forever grateful and satisfied with our summer experience!

Favorite parts:

Being with the family. The art. Wine–I’m not much of a wine drinker but every glass I had in Italy was delicious. Gelato (every day!). Churches and architecture. Seeing cities and landmarks I’ve heard about all of my life with my own eyes. Feeling like you’re walking through history.

Tuscany was lush and lovely. I could live there (see note about wine, above!). Assisi and learning the history of St. Francis was wonderful and touching. Venice was super cool to experience. Pompeii was mind-blowing. I’d love to spend more time in Milan and Florence. Maybe cruise to Genoa.

Least favorite parts:

The heat (never again in August). The crowds. The flights/airports. In fact, our flight from JFK to Rome was cancelled and rescheduled to the next day, so we missed the first day of the tour and didn’t get to go to the Colosseum or the Vatican, which was a bummer.

Both good and bad:

On one hand, it was great that everything was scheduled for us. We didn’t have to worry or think about how we were getting places or where we would go next. We had an awesome guide who was with us the whole time. Meals were planned. Our days were filled.

On the other hand, the fact that we were so scheduled left little time for exploring. Everywhere we went was touristy and we were on a time limit, so we weren’t able to veer away and look for great little restaurants and cafes away from touristy areas, or spend all day in the museums, or even visit the inside of landmarks that required advanced on-line tickets for entry. There was little down time.

But all in all, the trip was fantastic and beautiful and the trip of a lifetime! I’ll forever be grateful to my in-laws for sponsoring our journey and for the time we got to spend together.

Have you been to Italy? What did you love the most?

Here are some of my favorite shots…

As always, thank you for reading!