A picture is worth a thousand words.

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!

So Ready!

When one scrapbook is done, it’s time for the next adventure! Wanderlust!

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!

Monkey Bar, Florence

Somewhere amongst the magic of wandering the streets in Florence, drooling over the gorgeous displays of Gelato and being taken back by the beauty of it all, it came time to find a place that we could watch game 4 of the American League playoffs. I know, watching baseball while in one of the most romantic cities in the world may seem a little ridiculous to you, but hey, I’m married to a born and raised Cleveland guy. Anyway, the series had started when we landed into Genoa a few days earlier. We were exploring the city during the day and struggling to stay up til 3 a.m each morning trying to listen to the game on the radio which came in spotty at best. It was exhausting ! By the time we got to Florence it was game 4 and time to try to find a place that might be having the game on tv. With a little research, we came across the Monkey Bar which not only was showing the game but was also known to speak a bit of English. Perfect !

A little dark and dingy and a tad goth, we grabbed some beers and waited for the game to start. Before we knew it , the bar was packed with American College kids studying abroad, and sitting next to us was a travel agent from Canada. Did I mention the Indians were playing the Blue Jays? You can’t make this stuff up. We became instant friends, and chatted about our travels, where we came from, where we were going. We bought rounds of beers, cheered loudly and when the Indians lost , we were bought shots to help heal our broken hearts.

Side note: Don’t opt for the Nachos. We got a sad plate of chips topped with runny marinara sauce and bell peppers.

The point of this post, is simply that one of the best things about traveling abroad is when you find a small piece of home, meet new friends and have memories that will last a life time. Wanderlust is what crosses the barriers and brings people together.