travel

Road Tripping Day 3

/ christinaparisi / Leave a comment

I’m finding that there is definitely something special about getting out of dodge that goes beyond the trip itself.

I have no idea what day of the week it is. And I don’t mind.

Leaving town has taken me out of my routine and damn, I like it.

Routine by definition means a fixed schedule, but life around you doesn’t run on one so why should you?

Hitting the open road has enabled me to be much more in the moment rather than in my own head, trying to get to the next thing on my to-do list. It’s helped me get to know my husband better through new experiences and situations. And it’s allowed me to see what I miss from my routine and question if it’s actually something I should be missing.

Hmmmmm……

Now look, I get it. It’s good to keep a routine precisely because life doesn’t, allowing one to control as much as possible. But while I understand this importance of routine,  I’m only now realizing the importance of interrupting it.

True learning is not about facts,
but about conscious appreciation
of the experience of living.
– Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Till tomorrow…

 

 

#roadtripping

Road Tripping Day 2

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Today, we spent the entire day with my husband’s mother and it was such a pleasure to sit and just be, present in the moment with the woman who raised the man I ended up marrying.

She is a gem and I couldn’t be any luckier to have this woman in my life. Seriously. She’s not online so this isn’t being written to score any points :)

Tonight, my husband and I stepped outside at ten at night to take a walk in the backwoods of central florida. I mean, straight up backwoods where a mile away there’s a sign to leave the bears alone.

Yeeeeeaaah.

Probably not the best idea to take a stroll under the pitch-black sky. After maybe twenty steps and we couldn’t see our hands in front of our faces, we turned back around.

But before stepping inside the house, we paused. And thank the heavens we did. I discovered something tonight…

Nature has an orchestra.

And it is unbelievable. From crickets to frogs to owls to sounds belonging to who knows what. There was a melody that sounded like music to my ears. Unbelievable.

Surreal.

Ethereal.

But before we could ponder it all, a very loud noise sounded too close for comfort, so in we went. Quickly.

But man, was that something. I always believed nature speaks if you listen but tonight I learned it sings too.

Till tomorrow…

 

#roadtripping

 

 

Road Tripping Day 1

/ christinaparisi / 1 Comment

Thank you for joining me for Day One of my two-week Road Trip Journey.

Please forgive me though, I’m operating on not enough sleep and fear I will either ramble or head into an incoherent zone that no one needs to see, so I will keep this brief.

I managed to wake up at 3:45 am after going to bed after midnight, surprising even myself with that one. (I’m far from being a morning person.) But I did it, with the help of my husband, and we made it to the east coast safely… after a stretch of logistics.

Isn’t that how most trips begin these days?

All logistics.

Ordering a ride share, lining up for TSA pat down, checking in, getting boarding passes, renting cars, finding transportation, navigating.

With every trip I take, I do get more efficient and that thrills me, as it allows me to get to the good stuff much quicker, but there are still things I need to work on.

Like sleep. I don’t do well when I don’t have enough of it. I can get moody. Snappy. But considering I know this about myself, why on earth do I not bring assistance when traveling? Like a neck pillow for sleeping on a plane. After I jealously watched the man next to me sleep like a baby with his, I vowed to get one for next time.

I’m sure my husband will appreciate this idea too. He was my pillow all flight, as much as my contorted body would allow.

Let’s just say it wasn’t sound sleep.

But it’s nearly 1am where I am so I’m going to shut this down, close my eyes and get the precious sleep I speak so fondly of while putting the logistics of traveling all behind me so I can wake and get to the good stuff.

Till tomorrow…

 

 

Road Tripping Minus One: Countdown

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Two years ago, my husband and I took an eleven-day road trip honeymoon from California, through Oregon, up to Washington and then back through Idaho and Nevada, before returning home to Los Angeles,  California.

It was intense, to say the least. I filmed this newly married journey of ours and turned it into a short documentary (for more info, go here.) We were both newbies to road tripping and our schedule proved to be wayyyyyyy too jammed….

But we learned.

And we’re heading back out there.

This time we’ll be tackling the east coast, starting in Florida, heading through Georgia and the Carolinas, up to D.C., and further north to upstate NY, with a finale in Canada. Passports, check!

And this time we’re doing it in fourteen days and going only one way.

See? We learned.

With our home secure and well-watched, we’re heading out tomorrow, before the sun rises since American Airlines decided to change the noon flight I booked to a six am’er. Who knew those even existed?!

I invite you to come along for the ride with us.

Inside of doing any video documentation (I can’t do that to my husband again!), I decided to do a writing series, complete with photos.

I promise to be truthful.

I hope to learn and pass that on.

I hope to meet people different than myself and I hope to talk with them, peacefully and curiously.

I hope to eat amazing food.

I hope to enjoy every moment with friends and family along the way, appreciating that we are able to be together (I was born and raised in Upstate NY and have a ton of family there. My husband was born and raised in Baltimore and spent a chunk of his life on the east coast.)

I hope to be safe and have a shit ton of fun.

Please join me. Expect posts daily but who knows, with spotty internet. But that will be the only reason a post is delayed till the next morning.

And let me know your thoughts and any fun pointers you have along the way. Especially looking for cool things off the beaten track.

Cheers!!

 

“The wise man travels to discover himself.”
James Russell Lowell

 

Flow of Flying

/ christinaparisi / 2 Comments

rushing, packing, night before if smart, morning of it not. time is key. unless you travel with parents. then them against you. three hours early or ten minutes before boarding… rushing regardless.

drop-off war zone. luggage wheels flexed. lines. security. lines. questions. gates figured out. sometimes after a few tries.

check-in. phones out. id’s ready.

sitting. waiting. relieved. anxious. technology or sleep?

flight delay. wtf? or boarding. yay! lines. pushing. rudeness. smiles.

seats made for children. uncomfortable. taxi’ing. time moves slowly.

take off! finally. reading. time check. sleep. time check. uncomfortable. time check.

landing. 10mph. phones out. claustrophobic. bags everywhere.

wheels flexed. lines. attendants.

people in all directions. gift shops. phone calls. bathroom time.

baggage claim sometimes. hopeful. waiting. eyes peeled.

taxis. uber. friends. family. chaos. exhaust. cars and you.

till next time….

 

 

 

What we talk about when we talk about love

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The other day, a friend asked me if I had been to Sicily, the place where my parents were born and the root of my culture. I said “no, not yet” and it made me think of something…

First, a little background.

My husband is not from the state we live in. While I have my immediate family here and have had a life in Los Angeles for the past thirty years, my husband has not. His family and friends are on the east coast but his passion for music and the Pacific Ocean led him out west. (Thankfully!)

A little over a year into our relationship, we decided to step things up a notch. We moved in together. And we wanted me to meet his parents. At that time, roundtrip flights to Orlando were going to cost us nearly a thousand dollars. Having just moved in together and needing to pay for a few surprise expenses like car work and dental bills, we did not have an extra thousand to spend.

A little more background.

I am Sicilian, as most my readers know, and going to Sicily has been on my goal list for as long as I can remember. I have a ton of family there and when I was single, I was planning to go visit there for a month. I had been saving up my frequent flier miles for a round trip ticket for almost a decade.

Then, I met my husband and though I was able to take the trip for the first time in my life, I had postponed it because I wanted to get to know him and felt like something magical was happening.

It was indeed and flash forward back to where we were… moved in and wanting to go to Florida so I could meet his parents but lacking in the funds department.

I went online and looked up how many miles I would need for two round trip tickets to Orlando. It was the exact amount for my Sicilian trip.

Though this even surprised myself, I immediately offered them to be used to fly to Florida. My husband insisted I not give up my trip but I was steadfast on the idea and ultimately, he accepted the gift.

We went to Florida and had the most wonderful of trips. His parents were an absolute pleasure and welcomed me in with open arms, thrilled to see their son and I in love.

I had zero regrets on using those miles. And that’s when I realized I was deeply in love with him and my priorities had shifted. Though Sicily is extremely high on my list, he’s higher.

Six months later, my husband’s father fell ill and passed away.

And that was when I realized those miles were never meant for Sicily.