FROM MY EXPERIENCES SO FAR, travelling in countries outside the States has been different than just travelling domestically.
I mean, there are certainly similarities. Navigating through airports, public transportation, getting around new cities.
But I guess, it's the uncertainty of travelling in another country. You're only with a few people that you know, travelling on airlines you've never heard of, without an iPhone, staying in cheap (sometimes sketchy) hotels, not knowing the lay of the land, nor having anyone speak your language primarily.
But the uncertainty of travelling in another country isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's not that I've ever felt at risk or in danger. This uncertainty, this change, doesn't have to be a negative, it can be a positive. It can be a "wonderful adventure."
Which is a convenient segway, that phrase, a "wonderful adventure." At the moment, I'm reading an amazing book, called "What It Takes" by Richard Ben Cramer. It's about the 1988 presidential election, and explores the background of six of the primary candidates vying for their party's nomination.
One of the candidates he takes a close look at is George H.W. Bush, the Vice President at the time of that election (one that he would later go on to win). However in 1980, he had tried to win the nomination for himself, one that he would lose to Ronald Reagan. His acceptance of the Vice Presidency might've been seen as a failure (particularly when the job in the past had been described by others as "not worth a warm bucket of spit"), but it certainly wasn't how Bush saw it, at least after he changed his mindset. Here's a passage from the book (in the passage, "they" is Bush and his wife, Barbara):
"'What was the Vice Presidency?'
A wonderful adventure.
He had decided- they had decided- that it would be, just as he had decided how he was going to do the job. This was the ultimate triumph of discipline, and Geroge Bush's greatest talent: the power of mindset. He could decide-they could decide- how it was going to be, and then it was that way... because no one, no one, would ever see them treating it any other way."
I took this passage to heart this weekend in my travels to Sicily (Italian island, south of Rome), and that whenever my travel was uncertain or different than what I was used to in the states, that it was all just a part of "a wonderful adventure."
So when I flew an airline that I'd never heard of: "Blu Expres" (that's an abbreviation for "blue" for those uncertain), or when we waited on the tarmac in a chilling wind to get on the plane, or when our takeoff had more turbulence than any flight I'd ever been on in my life, it was all just a part of the "wonderful adventure," that was, my weekend in Sicily.
The adventure continued when we got to our hotel, Hotel Moderno, on the fourth floor of a building on a main city street. The hotel receptionist asked for our passports, and while we expected to get them back right away, he instead said that it would "take a second" and that we should go to lunch and he would be done when we got back (done with what?!!!). But it was okay, more time for us to see the lovely town of Palermo.
We got back from lunch and our friend was "done" with our passports (done with what?!!!) and we went back to our room. For some reason, we heard this loud wailing sound coming from someone in the building across from our hotel. An anomaly, we thought at the time, but it persisted. It was a woman who kept shouting what sounded like "MARTA!!!" (Meh-Heh, Mur-Hah, we weren't exaclty sure what it was) over and over again, about once every thirty seconds. Picture the person in the opening of the song "Lamborghini Mercy" yelling "MARTA!!!" over and over (by the end of the week, we had a nickname for her, "Lamborghini Marta"). She must've had some sort of mental illness, because it continued during just about all daylight hours when we were in the hotel.
FORTUNATELY, we didn't spend much time in the hotel. We spent the day Friday walking around the city, and went out for dinner at night (three dishes, calamari, spaghetti, and an incredible cannoli!). We went to Mondello Beach on Saturday afternoon after a nice lunch (sandwich at a good sandwich shop) and had a nice day in the sun. The water was so blue and it was just a beautiful day (even tried to go for a swim, might've lasted only ten minutes, though, that water was too cold). We had another amazing dinner (margherita pizza, spaghetti carbonara, and another cannoli!). I think I had four cannolis, in three days, so I've got that going for me.
As we left the hotel this morning, our friend was screaming at the top of her lungs again as we left the room for our double decker bus tour (the bus tour was great!). Over and over again, she yelled, but it was okay! Wasn't that big of a deal at all! All just a part of the wonderful adventure.
We had a short plane ride today (only an hour) and we had to get a train from Fiumcino (the airport) to our apartment (in Trastevere). We got our tickets and tried to hustle to get the train, but we'd just missed it. We had to wait another half hour to get the next one.
I sat down at the station, and opened my book, and thought that it wasn't a big deal, I'd have an additional half hour to read! All just a part of the wonderful adventure.
Next week, I'm going to the Amalfi Coast in Italy. Update will be on Sunday.
JC
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