Intermission: Coffee in Italy

                                        

So here we are, we have passed the halfway point by over two weeks now!  That is said with quite a bit of sadness as the time has been flying by and the places we visit just keep getting better and better.  All of the pieces of the puzzle have been sliding into place as we fill in those blanks that before we left sounded like, 

“Well we arrive into Rome and then we have seven weeks to get to Istanbul, probably by train and bus mostly.”  Now our story sounds more like this.  “Well we flew into Rome for three nights, and then we made some great new friends in Sacile (pronounced ‘Sah-Cheel-Eh) who then drove us down to Venice.   We spent two nights in luxury on the Grand Canal in Venice before taking a bus and then a train to Salzburg where we will spend three nights before heading to Neuhofen to stay with someone we met along the way for two nights.  She offered to drive us to Vienna where we will stay for three nights before heading to Prague for four nights.  After that we will fly back to Rome to meet Andrea’s parents for two more nights before heading out on an 11-night eastern Mediterranean cruise together.”  

There is more, but you get the point, the four month unplanned adventure is filling up with plans!  In the past 2.5 months we have had a lot of experiences, every minute of every day is something different.  This whole experience started as a dream in Andrea’s mind.  I have to give her 98% of the credit.  I get 2% because it took A LOT to convince me that this was remotely feasible before I was 100% on board.  However, here we are after years of plans, changing of plans, and saving, two and a half months into this great adventure.   

When we began to plan this out we realized (as I mentioned much earlier in my blog) that we would need to cut back in a lot of areas to be able to save enough to enjoy this trip.  For me that meant my Blu-Ray movie acquisition would have to slow way down.  It actually came to a screeching halt, and I missed it a lot less than I thought.  For Andrea, less caramel macchiatos at Starbucks.  Together we made fewer purchases, and cut way back on our dinners and drinks out.  Whenever I was visibly annoyed at Andrea saying maybe we shouldn’t buy this, go here, or eat that she would say, “that could be a coffee in Italy.”  Well it kind of stuck and that was our little “thing” as we saved.  No Starbucks now meant a “coffee in Italy.”  No dinner out on a certain night meant several “coffees in Italy.”  I am sure you get the picture.  Well my friends, I have had “coffee in Italy” several times, and even two in one sitting once.  All I have to say is it was delicious and totally worth the sacrifices and wait.  Every single thing we have done has been amazing, and I can’t help but smile thinking about what we have packed in so far and what is coming up!

                           

So as I sit here on the OBB Train from Villach to Salzburg, Austria after a 2.5 hour bus ride from Venice, sipping my vino rosso in a juice box, listening to The Lumineers as we wind through the Alps, I cannot help but smile.  

Prost!