I think I have officially found the error to my ways. I'm sorry it has taken this long! But it's seriously impossible to post about every event from our travels with play-by-plays. Impossible, I say! I will try my best to write the important bits.
Remember that one time I flew across the world and spent 10 days in Europe? Yeah that was December of 2014, it's safe to say I am a little late on this. It was an amazing, thrilling experience. I'm determined to go back and hit up the highlights but to most importantly- SHARE THE PICTURES.
Right before we boarded our flight I thought I might have a little breakdown. I was a complete mess as I checked, re-checked, and re-re-checked to make sure everything was in its place. It was my first time leaving the country. We had passports, 4 small suitcases filled to the brim, 3 jackets a piece, a camera, snack bag, itinerary notebook etc etc etc. We had two flights, one to JFK and another to Milan, which were not connecting. I mistakenly bought rather short layovers which was cause for much contention. I was responsible to see that we had all four boarding passes printed/available, picked up luggage from the first flight and redelivered to the second airline and essentially that we would have everything squared away to go through 2 different security checks. (Not to mentioned the 8 hour red-eye.) And Graham was miserably sick with a fever, poor thing. I felt like I was going to go absolutely crazy.
We flew smoothly to New York, rushed around like loonies upon arrival (Including: getting lost near the luggage pick-up, being unable to reenter the airport for th second flight until we spoke with Delta Reps and then waiting an hour to get through security checkpoint. My anxiety was through the roof.) After everything we sat windowside on an enormous plane and took off.
As soon as we touched down in Milan we were to follow a strict schedule I had painstakingly made. Of course, The mountains covered in snow in the distance reminded me that this wasn't the Southern winter I was used to. I decided to exchange my flats for my tennis shoes to keep warm. I rummaged in my bag and rummaged some more and rummaged a little more after that and came up empty handed. Ughhhhhh. So I opted for my black flats covered in black rhinestones since that was all that I had.
We trekked and carried on, which you can read more about here and here. But Cinque Terre's truly spectacular views came with a price. Every day we had to climb hundreds of steps at a deep incline, up and down, then back again.
This is where I noticed my shoes were beginning to be a BIG problem. These fit, but were just a hair tighter than I preferred and the constant steps were making my toes throb, particularly on my right side. Now as cute and quaint at CT was, there wasn't any shoe shop nearby (not to mention we were stranded by a train for hours anyway). So I did the only thing I could think of, I folded the back of my heel, on the right side, down to ease the pressure off my toes.
Did anyone remember up there where I said the shoes were completely rhinestone studded? Yeah, well, they were. With each step they pricked my foot, but not quite as unbearable as my toes jamming against the shoe. On and on and on and on and on and on as I walked. I was my own biggest enemy with the stupid little schedule held in the colorful notebook tucked under my arm. It might say "walk .8 miles" and we walked it, again and again.
By Day 4 we had just endured a torrential downpour in Rome. We spent an hour finding our apartment. We missed our Colosseum appointment. We were harassed by another crazy Island Boy about buying knock off purses. And my feet were aching. It was a day where I wanted to crawl into the gutter.
Then as we walked along the street market we popped into the Italian equivalent of a Dollar General. And staring at me was a pair of gray sandals with green and pink floral accents. They were hideous, but I knew them to be mine- call it destiny, fate, or maybe a revelation of sorts.
The following morning I searched for the only thick pair of socks I had brought. A lush navy blue and white pair, also unattractive. As self-conscious as I knew I should have been, I wasn't. There was no longer time to play any games; it was me, these shoes, and these socks. We would be a trio to remember forever. And I kid you not, that very day was when our trip of mishaps and aggravation wrapped up. I'm telling ya'll, it had to of been fate.
Throwing a little shade with my super awesome footwear. I hope to never forget this.
No comments:
Post a Comment