5 Life Lessons from a Trip to Italy 🇮🇹
Last week, my wife and I were lucky to relax for a week on holiday in the Amalfi Coast, Rome, and Milan. I wish that we could have had a whole month there. It was a sun-filled trip that I’ll never forget. Slowly getting back into the work mode, feeling fully recharged, below are a few things from the trip that stood out.
👨👩👧👧Relationships are a force multiplier: Initially, I hesitated to contact a family friend, a local Roman, that I had not seen for 13 years. We used to stay in touch over texting, but the passage of time had brought our communication to a halt. So, I reached out and she and a friend treated my wife and me out to dinner. We dined on a full Italian spread of food that lasted hours and was spectacular at Casa Bleve, a restaurant located halfway between the Pantheon and Piazza Navona. It was inside an ancient noble palace. Later, we took the train up to Milan, and I contacted a local friend from there that I had not seen for 9 years. We caught up over work and family, and he filled me in on the metaverse and future technology developments, with his remote work team spread across the globe from the U.S. to India. This all reminded me that we are social creatures at our core, and it always amazes me how relationships add to our lives
⏲Time over money: I still struggle with the default of saving money at the expense of time. In Milan, I wasted time by trying to strategically plan how I could use public transit instead of a taxi for a 6:50AM return flight back to the US. It was a matter of saving €25. So my wife and I could enjoy our last night out in Italy over classic Italian summer drinks of Aperol Spritz and stop trying to get creative on getting to the airport for less money, I decided to take a taxi. The more expensive option can sometimes be worth it, as everyone’s most valuable commodity is time.
🚶♂️Take the less popular path: In the Amalfi Coast, a string of coastal villages, the town of Amalfi is one of the most visited by tourists, next to Positano. Yet, just a 10 min walk from Amalfi sits Atrani. The smallest town in Italy by square miles, Atrani was a quiet hamlet with ancient alleyways, nestled in a valley. Atrani’s beach, and restaurants, were also less packed with tourists and more breathtaking in views, such as Le Arcate and Ristorante Da Zaccaria. My wife and I stayed in a room with a balcony overlooking the piazza. Never crowded, Atrani was a hidden gem.
🌻Patience: Under the hot Mediterranean sun, my wife and I waited for our tour bus to take us for a day trip to the ruins of Pompeii, the once thriving Roman city buried by volcanic ash from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. We waited and 5 minutes had passed, then 20 minutes. We both contemplated giving up and walking down to the beach instead, but knew more time in the water would pale in comparison to stepping into the streets of Pompeii. We waited 1 hr 15 min when the tour bus finally arrived, and not giving up early made the difference. It was very much worth the wait.
✈ Embrace the journey: Door to door, total travel time was 21 hrs to get to the Amalfi Coast from Washington D.C. Our first leg of the trip, we had a connecting flight in Switzerland, then flew to Milan, and finally to Naples. Tired and barely awake, from Naples we took a two hour bus to the Amalfi Coast. We were rewarded with crystal blue water beaches, and views of terraced vineyards and cliffside lemon groves. The journey was relatively long, but the experience and reward of staying in the Amalfi Coast for the better part of a week were exceptionally worth it.
While these are a few situations someone might encounter on holiday, what are some insights from your recent or past travel experiences?
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Must go to the Amalfi coast having been to many other Italian towns and villages. Having to make do with de Carlo olive Oil at home in the sun. Thank you Tom Mueller for Extra Virginity
Wonderful insights and reflections!! Thank you for sharing!! ☀️💛