So, did I miss anything while I was away? Traumatic weather events? Major sporting upsets? Any former presidents indicted recently for inciting insurrection or similar crimes against the republic? Movies of note? Anything at all? I suppose so, though you couldn’t tell by me.
It’s nice to be away from the news for a while.
And we got very, very far away. All the way to Europe, in fact – four different regions of three separate countries (four if you count Vatican City, which is smaller than the average American Walmart but does have its own flag and jauntily-uniformed army) using two different currencies, all in fifteen or sixteen days depending on how you count, in AirBnBs ranging from compact to palatial and even one night in the home of friends. It was busy, but we gave ourselves time to enjoy the things we saw and the people we met. You have to do that.
We also discovered the joys of siestas, which need to be installed as a feature of American life at speed.
This was our Big Family Trip for 2023. That’s what the BFT means in the title. Really. Although you can adjust the acronym to suit, I suppose. You wouldn’t be wrong.
Oh, my, yes, there will be bloggage and pictures. Lots of both. If you are the sort of person who does not enjoy reading about other people’s trips, you may want to give this site a wide berth for a while as I plan to spend a fair amount of time writing down the stories before I forget them. It’s my blog, after all. I can do that.
It was a lovely trip, full of good times and good people. If I learned anything during the past few weeks other than that I am very glad that Kim enjoys making travel arrangements it is that there are many good people out there. We ran into a lot of them.
To Mariella at the Delta gate at O’Hare; to Stefano, Domenico, Tatiana and Mrs. Tatiana who rented us nice places to stay; to Rosario, Sara, Felice, and the nonne on Via Roma in Ruoti, who went out of their way to befriend a prodigal son and his family on their return to the ancestral village; to Anita who came to meet us in Bari and spent the day with us there, showing us around; to Gerd, Sonja, Neil, and Jella who welcomed us to Walsrode; to the servers, cooks, and store clerks who patiently and diligently helped us navigate food allergy issues in multiple languages; and to all the others whose paths we crossed and who made our days better in the process – thank you. Thank you for taking the time to help, to share, to welcome, and to create such lovely memories.
It is good to go away.
It’s good to be back.
It will be good to go away again, sometime.
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