Vacation Time!!!!

Right now I really should be getting on a plane headed for Italy, but sadly I am not.

Don't be too sad about it Mona and I chose this. We decided to be responsible and not waste money on a trip to Italy when we are trying to open a coffee shop, so instead we bought this for half the price.

I would have told you sooner, that the trip was canceled, but the news was rather anticlimactic. Mona and I were in our room. Mona sat on her bed and I was in the chair across the room. She had just written out the check for our first payment. She held the check in her hands staring down at it. Staring at the sheer amount of it and considering the ramifications of sending it out. "Do we really want to spend this much money on a trip when we are trying to open a coffee shop?" she asked me. I stared at her and the check. I knew she was right. I had been having the same feelings about the trip for the last week, but I had yet to voice it or accept it. "Probably not," I replied to her with a sigh of disappointment.

We talked about all the pros and cons of going to Italy and the cons eventually won out.

Mona dramatically  ripped the check into little pieces and symbolically threw it in the air like confetti. Okay, so maybe the confetti throwing didn't really happen...she might have just set it on the bookshelf next to her, but now that I'm thinking about it she should have thrown it in the air! It would have made for a much better story. This is why it was so anticlimactic and I didn't write about it! She just sent it on the bookshelf and we moved on with our lives. It's all Mona's fault! If she would have just thrown the ripped up check in the air we would have gotten a proper post. Thanks a lot Mona! So, to make this story better, let's just pretend there was a metaphorical confetti throwing. The falling of paper pieces like the falling away of one dream to make way for a better dream. Like the death and rebirth of a Phoenix. Very poetic and beautiful!

So, back to my main point, even though I'm not going to Italy I'm still taking the time off.

We are heading up to Northern Wisconsin, and by Northern Wisconsin I'm talking about the Green Bay area. Any farther North and that's practically Canada. I live about 30 minutes from the Wisconsin/Illinois border, so that far north would surly insure some sort of culture shock.

I've got my bags packed (which that in itself is a major accomplishment seeing as of 11:00 last night I had absolutely no clean laundry or motivation) and I'm ready to hit the road...that is as soon as I'm done with work. The countdown is at 2 hours and 30 minutes. It's nice to know I won't have to be back here for a week and a half!

Since this vacation is to a place void of a wireless or plug in internet connection and Mona is trying to get me to go on a social media fast (I have agreed to no such thing), I'm not sure how much you will be hearing from me in the next week or so...you never know I might be bored out of my mind or have so many hilarious things I want to tell you that I'll write double the posts from normal, but I highly doubt I'll be bored, so it's more likely you won't hear much from me.

So, if you don't hear from me just think of me sipping espresso on a pier by the lake reading a good book and soaking up the sunshine with a content smile on my face.

Italy In Transit

Italy.

This May. 

Yes, please!

I was planning on not planning a trip or vacation this year to save money.

Then, last week, an amazing opportunity came up for me to go to Italy on a volunteer trip this May.

At first I was like, "ABSOLUTELY!" 

Then I was like, "No Way! I can't afford to go to Italy and I probably won't be able to get time off from work."

Then Mona was like, "Don't be an idiot, this is Italy!" 

Winter Palace of the Bogd Khan

Last time I was able to go on a trip like this was quite a few years ago. I traveled to Asia to teach English as a second language in Mongolia. I loved everything about it! The culture and the people I met were amazing!

 I stayed in the capital Ulaanbaatar. We saw the Winter Palace of the Bogd Khan and the Zaisan Memorial which was surrounded by poles covered in blue rags to bring good luck to those who tired them. 

I've been crammed into a taxi car with ten people and survived their insane traffic. 

We rode Mongolia horses across the grassy mountains and flew over the Gobi Desert. 

I've listened to Mongolia throat singers and was entertained by contortionists. 

Gher in Mongolia

I drank Airag, fermented mare's milk (an acquired taste), and shopped at the Naran Tuul Market (the black market). 

I've been inside a Gher and even learned to speak a few words in Mongolia.

But, I have to say, my favorite thing about this trip was the people, the Mongolians.  My favorite memory is when our bus broke down on the way to the country. We all sat, Americans and Mongolians, on a grassy hill beside the road with smiles on our faces, laughing and joking, as we waited for the bus to be repaired. The connections I made there, with these people,  I will never forget. I will never forget these people. 

I will never forget this trip.

How could I not jump at the opportunity to do something like that again?

Then I was like, "You're right, Mona, I'm in!" 

I put in my time off slip yesterday. 

My bosses are still doing all of the other employees priority vacation time (which I missed the deadline by a few days), so I will have to wait a while. But according to one of my bosses the middle of May (the trip is the 8th-20th) wasn't looking too bad for getting my request approved! 

FINGERS CROSSED!!

Will all this travel talk, what has been your favorite traveling experience? 


{update: moments after hitting the publish button of this post, my boss came up with my vacation request slip. I was APPROVED!! They even drew a little picture of Italy on the paper!! I LOVE MY BOSSES!! ITALY HERE I COME!!}