Travel Bug

I was messaging with a colleague about the Closing Mass for the Synod on the Amazon, and I was suddenly overwhelmed with a great desire to spend another month-long working holiday in Rome. 

Goodness knows when Benedict Ambrose and I will be able to do that. My guess is as good as yours, but I'm putting my metaphorical money on an October, maybe a November lockdown, to last until April. At some point in 2022, I'm hoping, there will be ticker tape Victory Over COVID parades, and then I can book a flat. 

I'm thinking a triumphal progress around the western world. First Canada, to see every member of our Canadian family and all our Canadian friends. Then Poland to see my Godling and her beautiful parents and their family and friends. 

Rustic Polish dwelling

Then--who knows when and how many vacation days I'll have left--we'll land in Ciampino and get our usual bus to Roma Termini and (ASAP) to our temporary Italian home.  

View from temporary Italian home

Then we're going back to Poland--this will come as a surprise to B.A.--so we can be in a Polish-language environment for a few weeks and generally bask in the western Slavic weirdness of it all. Warsaw, maybe, although too many people tell me Warsaw isn't "Real Poland." If it's winter, maybe Krakow, as it's less tourist-haunted in winter, and the parks are so beautiful. But there's no way I'm going to Poland for weeks without B.A. because I did that once and NEVER AGAIN.   

In Warsaw without B.A. 

Yes, international travel, like contact lenses, does have its drawbacks. I need to remind myself of this so I don't go a bit crazy thinking about what I can't do and who I can't visit. Meanwhile, I had an energetic Italian conversation at lunchtime today, and tomorrow morning I will have a spritely Polish conversation on the beach, so even if I can't go to Italy and Poland, I can speak their languages.