What I Did On My Summer Vacation

Bill and I began talking about our European adventure about five years ago. Those who know me well will be surprised to hear that I was the first one to actually say the words, “Let’s live in Italy for six months.”

My life had just been impacted by a shake-up at the job where I had worked for 15 years. Up until that time, my life had been predictable, with few surprises, and I liked it that way. But my professional experience taught me that life isn’t always predictable. I began feeling like I needed to push myself out of my comfort zone and shake up my life in a way that I controlled. Bill, of course, is always game for an adventure, and he jumped at the idea of a brand new life experience. So we put motions into place in our life to prepare for me to retire at the young age of 54, and we began saving money towards a goal of spending time in Europe.

Our original plans of living in Italy for six months eventually morphed into a more reasonable three- to- four-month trip. Though I began getting cold feet almost immediately after we started making firm plans, Bill knows just how to deal with me. When I would say, “I don’t think I can do this,” he would say, “We will just take it a day at a time. If we get too homesick, we will come home.” I found I could handle it if I would say, “We will be gone for UP TO four months.”

Well, in fact, we were gone for a total of three-and-a-half months. We spent two weeks cruising over, two weeks in Rome, four weeks in Certaldo, and the rest of the time we traveled around visiting much of western Europe. And we did this at a time when the dollar was as weak as it has ever been. We learned how to travel wisely and frugally, and still had a wonderful time.

In total, we were in eight countries (including the United States): Portugal (remember the Azores?), Spain, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Ireland. We attempted to communicate in a total of five languages (plus English) and a number of dialects within those languages: Portuguese, French, Italian, German, and Spanish. We saw a total of six bodies of water: the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, the Adriatic, and the English Channel.

When we picked up the car in Barcelona, the odometer showed 27 kilometers. When we turned it back in, the odometer showed 11,109 kilometers. That translates to over 6,600 miles. In 6,600 miles, we drove around thousands of roundabouts and paid hundreds of dollars in tolls. In addition to that car, we traveled on airplanes, trains, a cruise ship, subways, buses, and of course on foot.

We drank espresso, café latte, cappuccino, macchiato, and café au lait. We enjoyed regional wines and beers, delicious hard apple cider, kir, lemoncello, sambucca, and vin santo. We ate paella in Spain, wienerschnitzel in Germany, bratwurst in Austria, wild boar and rabbit in Tuscany, and of course, the infamous andoulette sausage in France. (We passed up the opportunity to eat horseflesh in northern Italy.)


We attended a horse race in Siena, a circus in Honfleur, a confirmation in Roccotederighi, a medieval festival in Monteriggioni, saw a doctor in Salzburg, and made a pilgrimage in Lourdes. We visited somewhere near 50 churches, and all but one were Catholic churches. We heard Mass in English, Spanish, German, Italian, and French.

We slept in a total of 20 different beds over the past three-and-a-half months.

Since we’ve been home, I find that the most common questions our friends and family ask us are twofold: First, what was your favorite country or experience; and second, was it worth it.

I was prepared for the first question. My favorite country will always be Italy. I love the food, the varying landscapes and colors, the strong sense of tradition, and most of all, the people. But when I try to think of what was the most beautiful place we’ve been, I also think of the Pyrenees Mountains in Lourdes or the beautiful Alps we saw from our window in Salzburg. The countryside in France was astoundingly beautiful. The people in each country are so unique. Each country’s food is distinct and wonderful. I enjoyed the uniqueness of each country.

As for the second question – yes, it was definitely worth it. When I am asked, “how was it?,” my first response is always, “very long.” But after I said that the first couple of times, I began realizing that, while that statement is true, I wouldn’t change it if I had it to do over again. It’s true I was homesick much of the time. I desperately missed my family. I thought very often of my friends. I missed being able to pick up my cell phone and call somebody who spoke English. But a shorter trip wouldn’t have been an adventure. It would just have been a vacation. I needed to push myself beyond what I thought were my limits. My goal was to spend so much time in Europe, and particularly Italy, that I would have a really strong sense of the people and the way they live. I have that.

I think this adventure has changed my life in many ways. I feel right now (and hope I am able to retain this feeling) like there is very little I can’t do if I put my mind to it. I also learned how differently the people in Europe live from people in the United States, and realize that they are happy living the way they do and don’t necessarily envy us our life. But, while I always appreciated what I have as an American, I am much more keenly aware of how good it is to live in this country.

And probably most important of all, my relationship with my husband of 16 years has grown stronger than it ever has been. We were together for three-and-a-half months, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If we would start to bicker, we would stop and work out our difference because in the end, we were each other’s only friend. No one else spoke English! From that experience, I learned a lot about how to accept our differences and know what is important.

We will definitely travel again, as long as we can afford it. We will never take a trip of this length again, but we both still want to see southern Italy and Greece, and eastern Europe. We want to travel around Great Britain again. And of course, there are thousands of things we want to see in the USA.

But for the time being, I am happy to be home with my family, and am enjoying becoming acquainted with my new granddaughter and playing with the rest of the little ones. I am looking forward with great anticipation and joy to the birth of my son’s baby girl in the next few weeks.

One more thing: Many people have asked me if I will continue to blog. To be perfectly honest, I can’t tell you all how much I enjoyed writing this blog every day. It gave me the opportunity to solidify each day’s experiences by putting them in words for you. It made me feel closer to everyone. But, again, to be perfectly honest, my day-to-day life here at home is pretty boring. I am going to be thinking a lot about how I can continue to keep a blog. If I come up with an answer, you will all be the first to know. In the meantime, I will continue to write as things happen.

Enjoy your lives, your families, your friends, and your travels. Ciao!