“Italy! O, Italy! We love you as Rick Steves does!”

It was this time last year that Joe and I were prepping for our belated honeymoon trip to Italy! Neither of us had ever been there, and it had been at the top of each of our proverbial bucket lists for decades.

For our wedding in 2018, rather than receive wedding gifts, we started a little “honeymoon fund” to which our close friends and family could contribute in order to help us go on our dream trip! This also being the first time for Joe to travel outside the United States, we were extra stoked and ready to go, passports in hand!

We bought our airline tickets for a great price about six months before our trip, tediously selecting Air B & B’s in each area of Italy we knew we wanted to explore, reserving a pint-sized rental car, and listening to every Rick Steve’s Italian podcast known to man.

The organized, fairly well-seasoned traveler that I am, I purchased some fun new “must-have” travel bottles, organizational bags, and handy-dandy pillows for the airplane. We had a detailed itinerary typed out and distributed to several loved ones, in case of an emergency. And like my Grandma Audrey, we laid our suitcases out a couple weeks in advance, slowly and mindfully adding each essential. We were incredibly prepared…or so we thought!

A few days before we were scheduled to depart, I went online to pay the baggage fee, as we were planning on checking one full-size suitcase to share and bringing one carry-on. I kept clicking the “Buy Now” button, and the website simply wouldn’t let me pay for my checked bag! So frustrating! It was only after several attempts that I finally read the teeny-tiny print on Kiwi’s website stating that we had, indeed, purchased tickets that did not ALLOW for checked baggage. Like…there was no actual amount we could ever pay anyone at that point or at any point going forward, in order to pretty-please put our suitcase into the gigantic cargo area in the belly of this airplane, while we pay you to fly us over the ocean for eighteen days?

After getting up off the floor and having a brief panic attack, I got out our two tiny roll-aboard suitcases, in keeping with this new, fine-print discovery I had just made. Cute, “optional” outfits, extra shoes, “just in case” umbrellas, a hair dryer, travel books, and other odds-and-ends were haphazardly cast aside.

We instantly pared down. More than that, we were going to be savvy, European-esque, stealth-like travelers - not the typical Americans, busting at the seams, lugging ginormous luggage throughout the cobblestone streets of Venice!

We were now warrior minimalists, taking the travel world by storm. “Look out, Italy! Here come the Adducci’s!”

And we were off!

Truth be told, we didn’t long for a single item we left at home. We washed our clothes in the sink of wherever we were staying, wore the same outfits over and over, ate way too much gelato, and got up before dawn to beat the crowds, hit the fruit and veggie markets, and wander the streets of each awe-inspiring, magical, Italian town, “big-girl camera” (a.k.a., my Nikon) attached to the hip.

Side note: There is much to be said about “traveling light,” both literally and figuratively. We carry so much around with us throughout our everyday lives - mental, psychological, emotional, spiritual, and even physical baggage.

No wonder we’re so exhausted. No wonder our brains are rattled. No wonder we can’t think straight or barely function sometimes. No wonder we miss seeing so much beauty.

We assume we’re erring on the side of caution and safe-guarding ourselves from hurt, injury, and residual pain, by carrying around these “just in case” items.

“Just in case I’m rejected.”

“Just in case someone lashes out at me.”

“Just in case I fail.”

“Just in case I’m not enough after all.”

“Just in case the past comes back to haunt me.”

But hanging onto all this “stuff” is actually holding us back from going all the places we are meant to travel freely. There’s only so much terrain we can cover if we have fifty pounds of luggage dragging behind us.

And so, in traveling light, Joe and I had the time of our lives.

Now here we are - the Summer of 2020. A very different Summer from last. As most of you, we aren’t really traveling anywhere out-of-state this Summer, let alone out of country, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We’ll putz around the Colorado State Parks and explore the trails in our own back yard. And that, on its own, will be simply delightful!

But we’ll also glance through the pictures of our romantic and dreamy trip of last year. We’ll give a shout out to Rick Steves. We’ll dream of the colorful cliff sides of Cinque Terre, and thank the Lord we were able to experience Joe’s Italian roots before COVID-19 came on the scene. Because who knows exactly how soon we’ll be able to roll aboard another international flight with our tiny suitcases?

In honor of Italy and our beautiful world, I thought I’d share a few of my favorite “big girl camera” shots here (we took 2,300 pictures, so this is REALLY just a few!).

May our hearts and yours be as bright this Summer as they were last, simply because we are traveling light.

Enjoy & Ciao!

❤️ SJA