Plan coming together
The countdown has officially begun, we're under a week until we arrive in Italy for 5 weeks of fun and relaxation. Our adventure has been in the works for about 18-months now, researching and planning, reading several guidebooks and surfing the web, all the while ensuring we leave whitespace on the calendar for lots of time on the lidos of Sicila, for getting lost, and for drinking granitas.
This isn't our first extended vacation but might be our most anticipated. We've booked a variety of places off the normal Italy path: Bologna, Sicily and the surrounding Egadi and Aeolian islands. We've travelled the country before, living there for a couple years while I was a young US Army Soldier, there's just so much more to see. We expect to take only one or two official tours, I gotta see those wheels of parmigiano reggiano, so that will require "official" help, but otherwise we are flying "duo". My wonderful wife of 27 years Kathie and I enjoy art and architecture, coffee and wine, pasta and pizza, hiking and relaxing, seafood and pork, beautiful geography and beautiful people.......Italy has them all and more!
But 5 weeks Mike, you're going for five weeks?
Yes, and invariably some questions arise. First, how do you get that much time away from work? Simply put I work for a great organization, one that values its people and their work-life balance. I am a proud P&G employee within our Demand Planning organization, an often misunderstood function in the world of Supply Chain Management. For those who don't consider themselves spreadsheet monkeys I forecast how much of every Dawn UPC we will sell/ship to our customers each week for all of North America. That's a lot of soap people.
So, how do you pack for 5 weeks and carry it all hands free? Yea, that's a trick. We certainly will be taking more home, so we are packing an empty bag. And we'll likely ship a box or two home, ceramics and food products will be too much to carry while island hopping. I have an Osprey bag for my clothes and a messenger bag for my camera/laptop/drone by Peak Design, an American company that specializes in camera accessories and gadgets, some really cool stuff. The conservative nature of dress when visiting churches, as well as Sicilian and Italian culture dictate a wardrobe that respects and blends in with locals, I'm being very specific about space and what to pack. While we expect to be noticed as Americans when talking we will make every effort to blend in from a distance, to respect the culture we are visiting, and to ensure our safety while abroad. And we won't be carrying all our stuff around very often.
So how do you plan for 5 weeks, where to go, what to do? We've prioritized several things to see and do, places we want to visit, and then put together the best way to get between the places we're going. We'll be using the trains on the mainland and then renting a car for our time on Sicily. I've driven in Italy before, as well as other hectic parts of the world, so that is not a limiter for us. I've created personal maps within Google Maps for sights and places to help plan the next day's events or to visit on an impromptu basis if we're close by, gleaning tips and many things from the travel forums on TripAdvisor.
So how do you afford 5 weeks off work, especially unpaid? Yea, easy to say but you gotta plan for that. I'd say if you want it bad enough, and you can do it within your means while not infringing on others, then whatever that thing is in life you need to make it happen. We love to travel, love Italy, and have the means and a tight window to make it happen. I like to think I work for vacation.
I hope you check back here through the next several weeks and follow along as we enjoy the wonderful country of Italy.
This isn't our first extended vacation but might be our most anticipated. We've booked a variety of places off the normal Italy path: Bologna, Sicily and the surrounding Egadi and Aeolian islands. We've travelled the country before, living there for a couple years while I was a young US Army Soldier, there's just so much more to see. We expect to take only one or two official tours, I gotta see those wheels of parmigiano reggiano, so that will require "official" help, but otherwise we are flying "duo". My wonderful wife of 27 years Kathie and I enjoy art and architecture, coffee and wine, pasta and pizza, hiking and relaxing, seafood and pork, beautiful geography and beautiful people.......Italy has them all and more!
But 5 weeks Mike, you're going for five weeks?
Yes, and invariably some questions arise. First, how do you get that much time away from work? Simply put I work for a great organization, one that values its people and their work-life balance. I am a proud P&G employee within our Demand Planning organization, an often misunderstood function in the world of Supply Chain Management. For those who don't consider themselves spreadsheet monkeys I forecast how much of every Dawn UPC we will sell/ship to our customers each week for all of North America. That's a lot of soap people.
So, how do you pack for 5 weeks and carry it all hands free? Yea, that's a trick. We certainly will be taking more home, so we are packing an empty bag. And we'll likely ship a box or two home, ceramics and food products will be too much to carry while island hopping. I have an Osprey bag for my clothes and a messenger bag for my camera/laptop/drone by Peak Design, an American company that specializes in camera accessories and gadgets, some really cool stuff. The conservative nature of dress when visiting churches, as well as Sicilian and Italian culture dictate a wardrobe that respects and blends in with locals, I'm being very specific about space and what to pack. While we expect to be noticed as Americans when talking we will make every effort to blend in from a distance, to respect the culture we are visiting, and to ensure our safety while abroad. And we won't be carrying all our stuff around very often.
So how do you plan for 5 weeks, where to go, what to do? We've prioritized several things to see and do, places we want to visit, and then put together the best way to get between the places we're going. We'll be using the trains on the mainland and then renting a car for our time on Sicily. I've driven in Italy before, as well as other hectic parts of the world, so that is not a limiter for us. I've created personal maps within Google Maps for sights and places to help plan the next day's events or to visit on an impromptu basis if we're close by, gleaning tips and many things from the travel forums on TripAdvisor.
So how do you afford 5 weeks off work, especially unpaid? Yea, easy to say but you gotta plan for that. I'd say if you want it bad enough, and you can do it within your means while not infringing on others, then whatever that thing is in life you need to make it happen. We love to travel, love Italy, and have the means and a tight window to make it happen. I like to think I work for vacation.
I hope you check back here through the next several weeks and follow along as we enjoy the wonderful country of Italy.
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