Jul 08, 2014
7 hours to go
Only seven more hours before we take off for our flight to England. We decided to travel UltraLite because we will be in six countries (we are now planning a day trip to Montenegro): England, Italy, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia, and Austria. That means nine hotels, plus an overnight on a ferry.
Here are our 22 inch carry-on rollers. Note the UltraLite Patagonia bags on top. John got his backpack for Christmas from Cindy and Larry, and I was so jealous I bought the tote for myself. I love this thing. It weighs 10 ounces, and it folds into its own little pocket when you’re not using it.
I want to tell you a story about our trip. I taught travel writing online in Summer Session A and I had an amazing variety of very talented writers. One of my students fights pirates in the Indian Ocean. His work was thrilling to read. Another student was traveling in Europe during the six week course. She started in Italy, moved on to Croatia, went to Montenegro, and then to Bosnia.
Her last travel article was a gorgeous and moving 500 word piece about working a dead-end 9-to-5 job where the best part of her day was stopping at McDonald’s each morning for a coffee. After weeks of going through the drive-through, she became friends with the man who served her every morning. He was from a small town in Bosnia and had moved here after political unrest. She enjoyed her interactions with him so much that she started picking up some Bosnian phrases and started greeting him in his home language. They got to talking, and she was so moved by his story she went to visit his hometown during her stay in the region.
Her article gave me goosebumps. It was difficult to respond to as a teacher, because she’s such a talented writer there was very little I could add about craft. Instead I wrote to her, “This travel article makes me really like you as a person, which is the highest compliment I can give to any writer.” She emailed me immediately and said that my comment made her feel good. After a few emails she told me she is spending the month of July in Slovenia. We will be there on July 17 which was my dad’s birthday.
So we have plans to meet for coffee. Seems like this trip is already shaping up to be wonderful.
