Imperfect Moments

To me, true travel challenges and stretches you. It challenges you to see the world differently. When you come back home, you have something itched in your subconscious that changes you from then on out. Maybe it is something you saw or something you experienced, but in total the trip has progressed you to a new place in your life. Even if only slightly noticeable to yourself.

If travel challenges you, it must also not be perfect. Imperfection keeps you on your toes, it heightens your senses and makes you more aware. When it comes to my travels, I often have found that in the most imperfect moments are those that I remember. It is what I ultimately write about and retell to my friends. The perfect moments simply become a blur overtime. Where as, the imperfections and everything that comes along with those imperfections, ultimately, become my travel. In the end, travel is just a series of imperfect moment with a dash of perfect ones in the middle.

I just returned home from 2 weeks abroad in Italy. Started in Rome, then Florence, then Rome again, and ultimately to Southern Sicily. It was a whirlwind that was perfect, imperfect, and ultimately amazing. Instead of retelling every detail today, I wanted to focus on those imperfect moments.  Those moments that at that time make you cringe, but in the end make up your trip. Some of these moments are funny, some not so much. But, I've learned something everytime.

The plane/bus trip that will cause me to never complain about an airplane delay again

The Duomo- Beyond Beautiful



I will never, ever complain about a plane delay again. Never. If I do, call me out and remind me of this post. On Day 1 of the Italy adventure, I encountered Italy's laid back attitude eventhough I was resisting. After an uneventuful 7 hour flight from Boston to Rome, we were to get on a 45 minute flight to Florence. We were tired, gross, and desparately needed a shower. We load the plane, take off, and fly about 42 minutes to Florence. Just as the flight was ready to land, the pilot gets on the intercom and says (in Italian with no translation), "Florence airport is closed due to bad weather, so we are turning back to Rome". You are what?! Um, the flight is only 45 minutes-- didn't you know the weather was bad 45 minutes ago?! Funny thing, the sun was shining and there was no sign of bad weather. Anyway, we fly back to Rome-- get off the plane-- get our luggage-- and then get on what was told was a 2 hour bus ride to Florence. After 4 hours, 2 smoke breaks, and an average speed of 50 miles/hour driving we ended up in Florence. A totally imperfect start to a wonderful trip, but totally memorable. Plus, it put a little 1 hour delay on my next flight into perspective.

Sleeping on the floor in Rome

You sleep on the floor and then the next day you eat Cheese and Fresh Honey and it all is worth it..



It is such a crazy story, I can't make it up. I've travel a lot, with many trips in some questionable B&Bs or hostels. Even in my shadiest moments, I have never slept on the floor and never is a visibly dirty room. On this trip to Rome, all that changed. After a late train from Florence to Rome, we arrive at RetRome at about 10:30pm. RetRome was a B&B with an amazing website and a nightmare reality. Take a look at the site- who would see a dirty room and a broken bed  at this place? Not me. When we arrive, we arrive in a dirty and small B&B. The receptionist tells me in broken English that there is an error and they do not have the room for more than 1 night (so, we can sleep there tonight but we will need to move afterwards). We were so tired, we went into the room and tried to sleep. The bathroom was dirty and the second I stepped on the bed, it came crashing down. I ended up sleeping on the dirty floor. The next day, I get a call while at the Vatican that we must move rooms and I have to leave to come back to help. I run through the Sistine Chapel (literally) and get in a taxi to come back. We get moved to a B&B right in the building which is fabulous (clean, no broken bed, and a nice owner). We also get a night free. It was a painfully imperfect moment. But, I'll never forget that night and I'll never take advantage of the fact that I have a bed that stands up again.

Mechanics without the labor charge

Molto Grazie, Alfonso-- the mechanic who saved my Pinto-- for free!

While in Sicily, we wented 2 cars-- a manual shift, small Fiat Pinto and a beautiful automatic Audi. I drove the manual where as Erin/Jenny drove the Audi. After 3 days of driving the stick shift, the Garmin took us on an unpaved road and the next thing we knew the car was grumbling and shaking and grinding. We were 2.5 hours from teh rental car dealer and no idea. Finally, the Villa property manager offered up to take it to her friend who was a Mechanic in town. So, we drive down the road to this tiny 1-garage mechanic and without a question he drives the car, puts it up on the slilts so he could take a look, and then just adjusted some screws. 5 minutes, $0, and a look into the Italian culture....where friendships are amazing and people have a willingess to help. It also made me realize how muich we get ripped when it comes to fixing our cars.

Sure, these moments weren't ideal, but they definintely put things into perspective for me.

We all know what is really important-- Gelato!

Ciao!

I am off for a fabulous 2 week trip to Italy. I'm leaving today at 5:45pm. After months of planning, I cannot believe it is finally here.

Here is a rundown of the trip:

2 days in Florence. Going to the "Mall", Accademia and Uffizi, and drinking espresso with old Italy men in local bars.

1 Day Rome. Vatican, Collesium and tons of Gelato.

7 Days in Sicily in rented villa. We are flying to Catania and then driving 2 hours to our Villa in rural Sicily. Near Agrigento.

Goals of the trip:

1. See the local Italy. Not the touristy bunch.
2. Eat Gelato and keep a running log of favorites
3. Run with the locals in Sicily. Be stopped by a Goat at least once on my run.
4. Eat something I have never eaten before.
5. ENJOY

Sorry, I do not have time to write more. Leaving in just a few hours! Talk soon!

The real runners of Comrades

Love this link. The real finishers of the Comrades. I will be one of these people. Although, they don't even look that tired...

The Real Comrades Runners

Loving to Run

Finishing my 1st Marathon. I'm on the far left.

The last couple days I have been completely reoccupied by two major things happening in my life. First, I signed up for the Comrades Marathon (as you know if you have been reading). Second, I am leaving for a 2 weeks trip to Italy (Sicily, specifically) in just 5 days. Talk about some major running and traveling milestones.

This weekend I plan to update you all about my trip to Italy and talk through the plan and what I am excited about. But, for now, I need to continue on my thoughts on Comrades. It is such a big decision to just SIGN UP and sometimes I think that is half the battle in most things. Just coming to terms that you are actually going to do something. Most of us get paralyzed in indecision. I'm so glad that in this moment, I have not allowed my indecisiveness to win.

Since I have signed up for Comrades, I have also been thinking a ton about love- what I love, why I love certain things, and what I do to acknowledge and appreciate them. We move so quickly through life, that many times we end up focusing so much on what we don't love that we ignore what we do. I wish I could exclude myself from that statement, but I cannot. I love running and I love travel. I hope that this blog is a statement to both of those things. But, I wanted to go deeper into exactly what I love about running. I know that over the next couple months I'll get a lot of questions of "Why?" "How could you want to run for that long, that far?" "Why would you wan to run 4 hours on Saturday and 2 hours on Sunday-- back to back?" I do it because I love to run and here are somethings I love about:

1- I absolutely love that it is practically free. Anyone can run, anywhere. It doesn't require significant gear, it doesn't require a rink/court/field, and anyone can do it. At the end of the day, it isn't about the type of gear you have, but about the type of body you have and how well you have taught it to run the way you want it to.

If you can smile while in pain, you know you are doing something right.

2- Running clears my mind...no matter what. All day today, all I thought about was coming home and running. It was all I wanted to do. It is about 99 degrees here today and I'm going to run at 9pm to avoid the heat, but I'm going to do it and I'm going to feel 10x better afterwards.

They must love it to wait in a corral like that

3- No pressure, but your own pressure. I used to have major anxiety issues when I was a kid about team sports. I never wanted to be the kid that was 3rd out in softball, or missed the fly ball in the outfield, or missed the serve in volleyball. I hated the guilt or disappointment I would feel from others and I never got any enjoyment out of it because of that. This is also why I never joined Cross Country or track teams. With running, it is me and me alone. There is nobody to impress or disappoint but myself. It also forces you to know why you are doing it. Because there is no team to hide behind.

It feels good.

4- Running has always been there for me...in my travels, in my life, in my happy and sad moments. It has been my constant and I know it always will be. I have run happy, I have run sad, I have run when tired, I have run sick, I have run in the rain, I have run in the blizzard, I have run in foreign countries, I have run in farmlands, and I have run on countless unair-conditioned gyms on treadmills. It has been the best way of seeing the world and put everything into perspective.

5- I just grew up with it. Both my Mom and sister were avid runners when I grew up. I mean, one of my first memories of summers was following my mom and sister running around the neighborhood at night, while on my bike. I always associated it with just "being". It wasn't working out. It was just a part of living.

What do you love that much that you would actually write it down? If you haven't, maybe you should today tell that something why you love it.

Sister and Mom. My original running partners.