First
Time Out
My First Photograph of a European Street
A
Short Grand Tour with Barbara and Bob
The
Plan
Waking
Up
You wake up
one day and realize time is getting thin. If we really want some things it is
now or never. Sometime in winter of 2006, this happened to me. Was it the
creaking in my bones? The lack of travel adventure in the last 10 years? A big
time had become a trip of 25 miles to the hardware store and coffee.
Not to bitch
too much. I love my life. I work outside in nature every day (a life goal). I
love AND like my wife. We have built a good life together on our small farm. It
is a great place to land. I love the silence and the wild. Still, I wish to
have a full life experience and this requires visits to unfamiliar places.
We have lived
(for Americans) low on the scale. We have no children as the world has all the
humans it needs, air conditioning, microwave and T.V. We grow 70% of what we
eat and have built our own house. Neither Barb nor I have an inheritance. We
prosper by the sweat on our bent backs and a few wits. We have saved a bit and
wish to use it.
My Grandma
always wanted to travel. She was a young adult during the Great Depression of
the 1930’s and was so traumatized by the experience that she could not bring
herself to spend any money on a luxury like travel. She had a stereographic
viewer in her living room with cards from all over the world and she would sit
of an evening and look at them. She died with a fairly large sum of money in
the bank.
This was a
real lesson for me. As the light fades from my eyes I wish to remember Barbara
happy in Venice
It is time
to tick a few of the big items off the list. At last, time once again for the
open road.
Meeting of the Minds
I let
Barbara know about how I feel over coffee and as it happens she is on the same
page. Where to go first?
I love
history and art. Barbara has family from Italy Italy
We decide on
the simple but “Grand Tour”. Rome , Florence and Venice Italy
We decide on
the late fall of 2008. This will be after the Farmers’ Market ends. This makes
leaving the farm less complicated. It will also put us in the “off season”. Hopefully this will help to control
cost a bit and we like cool weather.
Barbara puts
in for time off and I put together a plan for the farm.
A New Partner
Barbara
comes down to breakfast one summer morning and says we need to talk. Of course
I quickly roll over the list of recent mistakes I have made and wonder how I
can talk my way out of trouble.
She opens
with a boom and says. “My brother Bob wants to go to Italy
Bob would
not be my first choice of a travel companion. He seemed to be the least social
of all of Barbara’s brothers. Barbara and Bob seemed to be the least
compatible.
I also am
not the easiest person to be around for Barbara’s family. This seems to be
particularly true for Bob. I am not sure it is good for Bob.
I look up
from my oatmeal and say “He is your brother. If he wants to go and you want him
to go then of course he can go with us.” Much later Barbara confesses that she
hoped I would say no.
As with most
fears we were over reacting.
So then
there were three.
Robert in Venice
Putting It Together
Our main
travel experience is trips in North America so
the learning curve is steep.
The main
lesson learned in hindsight is do not sweat it and be unafraid. It all works
out. By embracing the simple is better approach. We book flights and only our
first hotel and we will work the rest out in country.
Bob was
married to a “planner nazi” and he freaked out. We send him a list of stuff to
bring and he wants to take way too much. We want to be light and flexible.
Barbara talks him down from the big huge bag. She explains that there will be
no porter and we will be on the move a fair amount. He gets it sorted after
wearing his pack around for an hour.
We Commit
We book the
flights and taking a mental step into the “no going back club”. I love this
part of any trip because you leave all the reservations about go or no go
behind at this point.
Barbara Books the
Flights with Bob
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