Travel Memory

[Image: tuscan-holidays.net]

So we had a little bit of thunderstorms yesterday, which we rarely get where I live (thunderstorms still bring up a sense of fear/awe from people around here). But they reminded me of a memory from my trip to Europe a couple of years ago:

I was backpacking my way through England, Ireland, France and Italy with my cousin and uncle. We had just left Venice and were on our way to a little farm in Tuscany. I was a little bit cranky about it, since I was still of the mindset that traveling should be about as much sightseeing as you can cram in, rather than immersing yourself in the place you're in (a much better way to go about travel). We traveled for hours by train, went past our stop, went on the (one of the) craziest cab rides we had ever been on to finally arrive at the farm a little later than expected. We were hot, tired, cranky, and starving. The sweet woman who ran the place whipped us up some yummy pasta and we had a long, lingering dinner, and perhaps a little too much wine (when in Rome...). It felt like we had all let out a collective relaxed sigh. As the sun began to set, we decided to take a dip in their pool. And it was at that moment that you think to yourself "Wow...I'm swimming in a pool in Italy...my life rocks" It's the things you never think you'll enjoy that turn out to be one of your favorite memories. Oh, and in the middle of the night, we were all awakened by the loudest thunderstorm we had ever heard in our lives. (See, I told you there was a connection there somewhere). Anyways, it really made me rethink how I approach travel. Yeah, all the tourist-y stuff is great, but it's silly to ignore all the other amazing experiences/people out there.

P.S. - That pic isn't of the place we stayed, can you believe none of us took any pictures of this amazing farm?! Sigh.