Three flights later...

I have been back from my trip and feel I am finally adjusted to my life again.  Last week was tough one for me.  I was in a bad mood all week and it wasn’t going away.  I always get this way after a trip.  I know in my heart I will make some changes for myself in the future because I cannot keep putting myself through this over and over again.  I just don’t want to be in Chicago anymore.

Where do I want to go???  Well that’s a good question.  For the most part, most of my friends have moved out of the city, whether it’s to another city or deep in the suburbs.  I miss my friend a lot in Italy, but cannot figure out if I could live there.

Since I’m currently not involved with anyone, the thought of taking two years off and traveling the world on my own REALLY EXCITES ME!!!  I would love to do long term travel, but again, haven’t figured out the logistics to making it happen.  I know there are vagabonders out there who do this type of thing all the time, but I can’t help but question if I could live the gypsy lifestyle.  I like to think of myself as living a simple life here in Chicago but let’s face it, I would have to make some major adjustments living on the road.  I don’t know if I could handle it.

One of the things that surprises me the most is how much I enjoy my time alone when I do travel.  But the maximum time I have done this is 7 days alone.  I have always met up with my friends somewhere along the way.  To be a vagabonder, I probably would be friend-less much longer than that, and again, question myself if I could be away from the people I care about.

So that’s where I’m at!  Lol.  I have been thinking about this all week and have settled my into my life again.  NOW I am ready to recap my trip to Europe, AGAIN!

I had received a voucher from that airlines that had me stuck on Iceland for a day back in December.  My voucher is good for one year, so I decided to use it to see my friend in Italy.  But of course there was a catch.  The only flights coming into Italy from that airline was to Milan and there were blackout dates.  I couldn’t fly into Italy when I wanted to.  Me and my friend were trying to figure out how to make this work for us.  I told her that this airline had plenty of flights to Paris jokingly and that’s when the idea popped up.  My friend looked into domestic flights .  “There’s flights for $200 coming up from Paris to Rome and that’s when I booked it.

Now the hard part for me comes up.  That means I would have to fly into Iceland AGAIN, have a two hour layover before jumping on another plane to Paris.  As if that wasn’t enough, I had a three hour wait before jumping on ANOTHER flight from the ticket I purchased to head to Rome.  Everything had to line up perfectly and because of that, I was a hot mess.
My nerves were getting to me.  I couldn’t sleep prior and I had bad dreams about this plan.  I absolutely HATE flying but I knew it was coming up.  Luckily I had friends nearby who tried to keep me calm.

To my amazement, all 3 flights were on time!  WHEW!!  I was a little frustrated my 3^rd flight from Paris-> Rome had me check in my luggage because they claimed it was “too big” (although on my other 2 flights I threw it in the overhead).  Once I grabbed my luggage my friend was calling me to let me know she was outside.  I was relieved.

I had a cup of coffee right there in the airport because I had to adjust to my time in Rome.  Luckily I slept well on the 2^nd flight coming in, but it still wasn’t enough for me.  I needed a pick me up.

My friend informed me she booked a place not far from the Vatican so we could be close to all of the action.  The problem with this is trying to find parking.  Rome is a very busy metropolitan city.  Trying to find a legit parking space took us a while.  We drove around the block for over an hour.  This was getting frustrating again.
Not to mention, we still had to meet the owner so he could drop off the keys to us.  That alone took another 30 minutes.  At this point we were in the heart of rush hour and just wanted to get rid of our luggage.
I also had to break the news to my friend that I had to wash my hair.  Lol.  She usually gets ready very quickly but I’m a human turtle.  It takes me longer to get ready.  After an hour of showering up, getting dressed and doing my makeup, we wanted to hit up the town.  It was now 8pm.
We decided to call an uber to get us close to the Spanish steps.  My friend did not want to move the car and I understood.  Luckily a Mercedes came and picked us up in no time.  Off we went!

There were so many people on the streets.  As usual, Italians love to take their passeggiata after work, even in cold weather!  Temperatures were in the mid-40s that night, but that didn’t stop them.  It was Saturday night after all.

We found the Spanish steps and took a bunch of pictures and decided to look for the Trevi fountain.  I HAD NO IDEA HOW BIG IT WAS!!  Even in the movies, it never looked that big to me.  Lol

so many people!

At this point, we knew we wanted to eat.  My friend had some trouble remembering the location of a restaurant, so I had suggested grabbing a cocktail first so we could kill some time.  Unfortunately, due to the cold weather, some rooftops I looked into were still closed for the season. 

We walked around for a bit and found a boutique at a corner. People were walking in and out.  It grabbed our attention so we decided to check it out.  The party turned out to be an art showing.  We enjoyed the art work and even had some appetizers before we headed back out again.

We took a chance on another suggestion and went to a hotel bar.  Their rooftop was closed too, but we took the opportunity to look up other restaurants because we were hungry.  This hotel bar was super pricey (even for a drink).  We decided to leave right away.

Luckily, the restaurant we chose was a popular one that our new cabbie recognized.  He drove across Rome to get us there and we found it right away.  Of course, there was a wait, but the owner was very sweet and gave us a complimentary Prosecco while we waited.

Ba Ghetto was a delight!  It gave me and my friend a chance to catch up.  Once we were seated we enjoyed our night.  I miss her very much.  After dinner we decided to take a walk around to find a bar, but gave up shortly because we were just too tired.  Lol.  Oh well.  We knew we had a long day ahead of us in the morning, so we called it a night.   

Pop's Birthday Dinner

I am currently reading “Vagabonding:  An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel” by Rolf Potts.  Since I’ve been back from my trip I was in the mood to find information on how to enhance my travel experiences.  For the most part, I’ve been fortunate to visit cities I have always dreamt about, but I couldn’t help feeling if I was traveling “correctly.”  Lol.  As silly as it sounds, I knew I wanted to visit these particular cities for my interests and no one else’s.  But upon listening to others share their adventures with me, I realized everyone had a different approach to visiting new places.  I felt that my inexperience might fall short, and was worried I wasn’t getting the true essence of a new town or city. 

Listening to others and comparing how they plan (or play it by ear) a trip made me realize that everyone has their own method.  It was up to me to customize my own interests so I could get the satisfaction I wanted out of my trips.  Yet there are other factors that come into play.  While it rained on and off in Amsterdam when I was visiting, I had to adjust my discomfort to go along with my plans.  Normally, back home in Chicago, I would stay inside nice and dry and ride out the weather.  Being on a tight itinerary meant having bad hair days and braving the wind so I could visit my points of interests.  I was on my own and I had to get things done!

In Florence however, me and my friend had our moments of disagreements.  Her interests are different than mine, and we sometimes would get pretty frustrated with one another on what to do next.  I felt as if I should have had a day to myself to go to the museums since it’s not really her thing.  I questioned who was getting the most “culture”, but in the end, we both were.  Reading “Vagabonding” made me feel secure enough to know that I was truly experiencing life out of my travels.

Now the issue of time has been on my mind, and I question if I’m getting enough “experience” out of my short stays.  “Vagabonding” introduces the idea of long-term traveling, but I’m still perplexed this is something I could do anytime soon.  For the idea of retirement; yes.  I could definitely see this as a possibility.  It’s grasping this concept now that has me stuck.  In the meantime, all I could do is focus on paying off my credit cards, so in the future I could figure out where my next adventure lies.  I am excited because I have a strong feeling I know where I’m going.  It’s just a matter of TIME.

Speaking of TIME, I landed back from my mini vacation and went to work that Thursday and Friday.  Me and my friends met up for margaritas after work and I told them about my time out in Amsterdam.  I rested up that Saturday and on Sunday, went over my Dad’s house to celebrate his birthday.  My brothers were interested about my trip, mostly because they were pretty surprised I planned everything on a month’s notice.  Reflecting back now, I’m glad I got a chance to tell my stories with my Dad included.  As I’ve gotten older, I realize the time I spend with my parents is precious especially with everyone having a full schedule.  He complained about his birthday cake being small, but to me, this was a big moment for all of us to have him with us.     

The table is ready!

Mexican tamales!

Selfie time with my Pops