Pincio Park, Rome, November 2006I leave for Rome on Sunday, only six days from now. It's been somewhat stressful planning for a 3-month stay, making sure things are taken care of at home and figuring out how to handle things in Italy. But planning ahead and doing it well allows me more freedom to enjoy my stay. Once I head for the airport, I enter a "magic zone," and the trappings of my everyday life fade away.
A friend of mine recently shared an article that states there is "definitive, incontrovertible proof" that travel makes us smarter (Leher, J. 2010, Panorama Magazine). I know this to be true from my own travel experiences, but it's great to hear that there is now scientific proof to back it up. Once I let go of my daily habits at home, my mind is free to make more creative and liberating connections. And each time I travel, I experience a kind of magic that stays with me for months after I return home. It's this "magic" that motivates me to plan the next trip, to challenge myself more each time, and to trust that I will be able to manage the inevitable fears and hassles that go along with the journey.
I have several friends to visit in Rome as soon as I arrive next Monday, and I'll attend my first meeting of FLOW, the FLOrence Writers Group the day after I arrive in Florence. After I get settled in my apartment, I've planned to meet a friend from home (who will be traveling in Tuscany), to show her around Lucca and le Cinque Terre, a route I followed on my first trip to Italy in 2006. Non vedo l'ora! (I can't wait!)
In the meantime, I have many, many chores to attend to, so I'd best get busy.
A friend of mine recently shared an article that states there is "definitive, incontrovertible proof" that travel makes us smarter (Leher, J. 2010, Panorama Magazine). I know this to be true from my own travel experiences, but it's great to hear that there is now scientific proof to back it up. Once I let go of my daily habits at home, my mind is free to make more creative and liberating connections. And each time I travel, I experience a kind of magic that stays with me for months after I return home. It's this "magic" that motivates me to plan the next trip, to challenge myself more each time, and to trust that I will be able to manage the inevitable fears and hassles that go along with the journey.
I have several friends to visit in Rome as soon as I arrive next Monday, and I'll attend my first meeting of FLOW, the FLOrence Writers Group the day after I arrive in Florence. After I get settled in my apartment, I've planned to meet a friend from home (who will be traveling in Tuscany), to show her around Lucca and le Cinque Terre, a route I followed on my first trip to Italy in 2006. Non vedo l'ora! (I can't wait!)
In the meantime, I have many, many chores to attend to, so I'd best get busy.
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