Laughing All the Way

The anticipation sometimes exceeds the experience you’ve awaited but not so with the arrival of Chris and Caroline. Their familiar, smiling, American faces leapt out from among the crowd leaving all the other passengers in a blur. From the moment they came bundling through the international arrivals door at Milan’s Malpensa Airport, all was right with the world and we had nary a care. We crammed the four of us and our 11 pieces of luggage into our Fiat minivan rental, made our way to the autostrada and headed south to the Mediterranean coast, packed to the gills. Our itinerary for their visit included five nights in La Spezia from which we would explore the Cinque Terre, Pisa and Lucca, one night in the Lake District on our way north, five nights in the Alps in Val Gardena for some skiing and two nights in Verona, the city of Romeo and Juliet.

We never laugh so hard and consistently as when we’re with our children. Joe and I are not perfect parents, but we love our children dearly and must have done something right or we never could have so much genuine fun when the four of us are together. Always sentimental, Caroline had brought along a CD of our favorite family Christmas carols to help us get into the Christmas spirit. So, we sang along with Nat King Cole as we headed down to La Spezia, anticipating being together for two weeks in Italy and laughing all the way.


Pictures of our adventures: http://gapyeargirlgoestoeurope.shutterfly.com