Travel worn, travel stained, hardly travel weary

We are back in Charlotte safe and sound. Over the past week I was doing some tallying and came up with some interesting figures so I thought I would share a few…

3 – number of clothing items torn and stained

5 – number of eye drop bottles

1600 – number of pictures taken

1 – busted toe nail

0 – sunburns

It is kind of funny being able to boil down a vacation to a few numbers and, seeing them written down, makes me a bit sad. Our adjustment back to living in our condo, working full time, and picking up our social life has been a slow process – my body for instance keeps telling me that 8:30 PM is a perfectly acceptable bedtime. It is also interesting to view our life through the lens of “life” in Italy – tiny apartments, walking everywhere, a culture of leisure – not in the extravagant sense, but in the ‘enjoy each moment’ kind of way. I don’t think I will ever view our “little condo” as little again. I feel a strong urge to not adjust back too quickly, not get too used to just hopping in a car too quickly. Perhaps it is a worry that the old ‘normal’ will be too tempting and easy to sit back into whereas our vacation selves were inspired to change, to explore, to find new ways to enjoy life! We really do hope that we can challenge ourselves to not settle for normal…oh boy, I’m on my pulpit again aren’t I? Well, one more thing and then I’ll get back to my snarky self… The whole time we were vacationing a song kept creeping into my head when we would look at things and realize, with disappointment, that our camera never could capture the exact scene – how wonderful and amazing are our eyes?! I thought I would post the song lyrics…3×5 by John Mayer (yea, yea, just keep reading)

I’m writing you to
catch you up on places I’ve been
You held this letter
probably got excited, but there’s nothing else inside it
didn’t have a camera by my side this time
hoping I would see the world with both my eyes
maybe I will tell you all about it when I’m
in the mood to lose my way
with words

Today skies are painted colors of a cowboy’s cliche’
And strange how clouds that look like mountains in the sky
are next to mountains anyway
Didn’t have a camera by my side this time
Hoping I would see the world with both my eyes
Maybe I will tell you all about it when I’m
in the mood to lose my way
but let me say

You should have seen that sunrise
with your own eyes
it brought me back to life
You’ll be with me next time I go outside
just no more 3×5’s

I Guess you had to be there
I Guess you had to be with me

Today I finally overcame
tryin’ to fit the world inside a picture frame
Maybe I will tell you all about it when
I’m in the mood to
lose my way
but let me say

You should have seen that sunrise
with your own eyes
it brought me back to life
You’ll be with me next time I go outside
no more 3×5’s
just no more 3×5’s

So, kind of sums up how we felt about constantly taking photos, trying to document every single thing so that “we won’t forget it”. Thought it was interesting that this song was seriously stuck in my head while we were over there.

Speaking of songs, the Italian radio loves American music, well, more specifically, they love three songs and love to put them on repeat. The most played one was Purple Rain by Prince…I didn’t get it either but it seemed that every time the radio was turned on, that song was right there waiting. The other two repeats were of Lyaz “Replay” and Lady Gaga “Just Dance”.

I realize we should probably give our readers the run down of things we loved, things we could have done without, and things we look forward to for next time. Things we loved: London, Tuscan and Venetian food, small winding country roads, The Chianti Road, vineyards and olive trees, meeting people, speaking in our halting Italian…so many more things!

Things we could have done without: #1 COPERTA! Oh lord that was the bane of our existence…coperta is a ‘cover charge’ that a lot of Italian restaurants add on to your bill to cover the expense they incurred for “linens” (read: paper napkins). Granted, tipping is not customary over here…oh yea, unless you are at a “turistico” or are a foreigner – then you are expected to tip also. Poppycock! (remember, we love London!). #2 QUEUE JUMPERS! As our friend from Manchester put it: “we’re from the UK, you MUST mind the Queue!”. We couldn’t agree more, lines seem to not mean much in Italy so we had to get over our love for lines and order while visiting to avoid becoming very frustrated. #3 STUPID MISCELLANEOUS ACTS DONE FOR NO REASON. This would include our time at the Fiumicino (Roma Airport) where the security line that was moving quickly was barred to us with no explanation (even when we asked) while simultaneously two passport check booths were closed (leaving one passport control booth with three security lines feeding into it). We swear it felt like there was a phobia that things were going ‘too well’ so something had to change! If you’re not ready to leave Rome after a month, you will be once you spend an hour inside their airport. It’s kind of nice, perhaps that is the elusive reasoning…they don’t want you to be too sad that you’re leaving.

What a trip though! What times were had, what memories were made! The travel bug is here to stay we think…the only question is where, and when, do we go next? Stay tuned…