It’s the people that carbonate your travel memories. Say yes to any opportunity to meet people. Here are some of my favorite recent interactions.
The hairstylists who make the frightening visit to get a haircut in a foreign land an enjoyable experience…even when you don’t have the necessary vocabulary.
American students in Orvieto whose teacher uses my TV shows in their classroom.
Bulgarian folk troupes who still dance and share their culture for visitors.
Isabella and Carlo at their farmhouse B&B (Agriturismo Cretaiole), who provide a cultural boot camp for our travelers and make sure everyone (including our TV crew during a four-day stay there this spring) creates lifelong memories, drinks some amazing limoncello, and brings back a little Tuscany in their hearts.
Going to Europe didn’t make us as outgoing as RS, but our default is a smile which seems to generate smiles in return. It’s even more of a universal language than English.
I still recall a shopkeeper in Venice who was so pleased to try his English when my Italian failed – then ended the visit by pulling out his mandolin and playing a song for us. 20 years ago and still makes me smile.
A memorable incident from my stay in Rome last spring …
I was low on cash one very early morning (6:30 a.m.) near the Piazza di Popolo and stopped into the first shop I saw open to inquire.
I asked the baker kneading dough behind the counter, “Dove bancomat?” He looked at me strangely. Then I quickly asked, “Dove ATM?”
“Ah,” he said, and pointed down the street to a nearby bank.
It seems that even Italians are comfortable with English now!
And kudos to those American students who choose to leave their comfort zone and travel! What a tremendous learning experience for them. And Rick Steves’ Europe is a great learning aid in the classroom, too.
To quote Mark Twain, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness.” [Sorry, Rick, we know it’s from a competing travel show … but I still watch you, too!]
Traveling alone has its benefits. A month ago on a ferry is Greece, I was invited to a “double ceremony!” A wedding and baptism of the couples infant son. And a great dinner after. On that same trip, I spent a lovely afternoon with 2 people from London, met a generous couple from italy, while climbing the 300 or so steps to a monastery, and was encouraged to try some tea especially for old folks from an herb vendor at a market on Crete. I’m not sure whether it’s for stomach upset, constipation, or ED, but he convinced me (an 80 year old woman) that I needed it. And, no, I don’t speak any Greek except for ‘kalimera’ and ‘kalispera’. Both taught to me my someone I met on the trip.