Category: exploretheworld

A picture is worth a thousand words.

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As we are solidly counting down the days to our next trip, I’ve enjoyed going through our photos, and this one gets me every time. Smiles all around, as we were both secretly exhausted, but couldn’t complain, as after all, we were on our way to Venice! What is not shown here, is the walk out of the train station, into the city, when someone was finally kind enough tap my arm, and pointed out to me that I had tucked the back of my dress into my tights! Absolutely mortified, I turned to my charming husband, and asked him how on earth he didn’t notice?!?! The girl saw my apparent embarrassment and was so sweet. There was a slight language barrier but she laughed, took my hand, smiled, and said that she would hope someone would do the same for her. I remember feeling so far from home, but in that moment, I was reminded that kindness is all around us, and that is a beautiful thing. Not to mention, a little humility from time to time is good for the soul. It also made for a good laugh after a couple glasses of wine later! It had to have been that way for hours, we switched trains twice!

The Adventure Awaits

The night after we got back from Italy, we sat in the kitchen with a sub par bottle of wine (I mean, come on, we just came back from Italy!) reminiscing about our trip. We finally decided the only way heal our wonderlust souls was to choose where we were going next, which would be in 2 years, for our 10 year anniversary. We jotted a few ideas on sticky notes, threw them in a hat and I picked Paris. We then stayed up all night as we threw one idea after another into a fishbowl. The 7 wonders of the world, Beach destinations, Alaskan adventure Cruzes, a River Boat trip that takes you down the amazon river for 7 days. … You get the idea! Some may take years to save up for, but that’s part of the fun!

The thing is , what we have quickly realized that when you pick a spot in Europe, it’s just a starting point! Yeah, we are packing 17 days of clothes in a carry on bag (somehow!) Gotta love how cheap it is to bop around out there!

102 day countdown has begun! Cleveland to Paris, Paris to Nice, Nice to Corsica, Corsica to Genoa, Genoa to London, London to Paris and back to Cleveland.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

To say that I’m obsessed with travel, is an understatement. Long before I could ever afford to fly to Europe, I was taking road trips. Once I drove for 23 hours from Northern California to somewhere Mid Baja Cali. I’ve camped in the Redwood Forest, Climbed Half Dome, and spent many trips driving up Highway 1 free diving for abalone and camping in Fort Bragg.

2 years ago, a customer walked into my shop. He was grinning oddly, and informed me that he wasn’t there to buy pasta. I will never forget the way my mouth dropped, my heart stopped and my chest tightened as he proceeded to tell me that he worked for an airlines company and that he has a buddy pass that he can share with someone. FOR A YEAR! He went on to say how cool it was seeing my business grow from the home business it was, to watching me sling pasta at the farmers markets for years, to now opening my shop and he wanted to give it to ME! It was truly the last thing I ever expected. Within 2 months my husband and I booked our first trip to Italy!

I will never forget getting off the plane, and backpacking into Genoa. The moment we walked into the city, I knew my life would never be the same. We spent 14 days traveling through Northern Italy by Train and by the end of our trip, we looked at eachother and vowed that this would not be our last trip. Whether we used bonus’s , tax returns, or saved for years, we want to travel the world. Traveling changes your perspective of what’s important in life in one of the most beautiful ways. Realizing that the world, is much much bigger than you.Wanderlust now runs in my veins. I’m an entrepreneur and work hard, but now I know just what I’m working so hard for.

Yeah, I am constantly manifesting travel

Our next trip is 103 days ! We are going flying into Paris, flying from Paris to Nice, then flying from Nice to Corsica. Then it’s a boat ride to Genoa, then a flight from Genoa to London and then London back to Paris. 17 days in Europe! To say I’m excited, it’s an understatement!