Ways to Travel: Random thoughts from a random mind

In the spring of 2008, after enjoying a girl’s trip to London with my adult daughter, I decided it was time to introduce the younger generation to the wonders of Europe. There would be eight of us – three families; Bill and I, the seniors, our daughter, her 17 and 13 year old sons who would be travelling from Chicago, and our son, his wife and their almost 5 year old daughter near us in California. Could we possibly coordinate everyone’s schedules and meet somewhere in Europe for a “family reunion"? There were many phone calls and email messages, son and daughter negotiated for time off in June 2009, and the planning began. The first idea was to spend a week in Paris, and a week near Lucca in Italy; a second draft had us spending a week in Provence and a week in Italy. Finally we realized the logistics of moving 8 people from one country to another was too complicated, and we settled on a little over two weeks in Italy together, spending time in the area my maternal grandparents had come from. Our son and his family decided to start their trip with a week in Amsterdam, and Bill and I decided to begin our trip with 10 days in Emilia Romagna, an area new to us.

The next challenge was to book everyone’s airline tickets. Since we were using frequent flier miles to purchase five of the tickets, I carefully counted out the days, and when the 330 day window opened, managed to get three seats for my son and his family from San Francisco, and two for my daughter and one grandson from Chicago – purchasing two more tickets on the same flights for the second grandson and a new fiancé who had entered the picture early in the summer, raising our numbers to nine.

Once the dates were locked in, it was time to find rentals. We had decided to spend one week in or near Lucca, and one further south in Tuscany, finishing the trip with just three days in Florence for a taste of one of the world’s best cities. I searched the ST rental reviews and scoured vacation rental websites, determined to find the “perfect” places. Again, emails flew, as I sought input from son and daughter, checked availability and pricing, and agonized over the options. By September, rentals were secured and my focus shifted to researching restaurant possibilities, activities, tracking car rental prices and passing along information to the kids. The grandchildren got an illustrated travel itinerary for Christmas, with pictures of the rentals, the villages where we would be staying, local sights, and a collection of photos of typical Italian food and drink. The four year old has memorized the information in her copy – the boys are too “cool” to admit that they were interested - but comments they have made reassured me they, too, were excited about seeing a new part of the world.

By January plans were in place, and all that remained was to wait for June, which felt as though it would never come. But come it has, and I am writing this introduction from my seat on the 747 carrying Bill and me to Florence. It is sure to be a different travel adventure, and it will be interesting to see it unfold.