Daily prompt: An ounce of home

Tags

momentos, postaday2014, trips, voyage

You’re embarking on a yearlong round-the-world adventure, and can take only one small object with you to remind you of home. What do you bring along for the trip?

This prompt brought back such wonderful memories of when my sister and I were backpacking through Souther Europe and we had the most fantastic luck in meeting the three friendliest Australians girls; Fiona, Natalie and Jennifer, who took us under their wing and made us feel so welcome in their little group.

We met them on the train ride down to Florence and once we got to Florence we had the awesome luck of finding the coolest pensione in all of Florence. It was a former dormitory; the showers were large and clean and the rooms had the thickest mattresses, our room actually had five beds so we felt as if we were staying in the lap of luxury. We spent I think about four days in Florence and during the day it was dreadfully hot so we spent the days in the coolness of our room while Natalie, Jennifer and Fiona took turns regaling us with stories of their lives back home in Brisbane Australia; that is when the photo albums would come out and the diaries as well. They were on a walk about and they had been at it for over a year; they weren’t done yet. What stuck in my mind was when I asked them what they missed most from home, aside from loved ones, they each answered at the same time with the same answer “Vegemite”, to this day I still don’t get the allure of vegemite, but for the girls, it was a huge part of home.

I don’t know if I would bring something with me to lug around for a year. Honestly nowadays with smart phones and iPad’s you can upload all of your photos and not even make a dent in your luggage, not like twenty some odd years ago, when you had to carry your photo albums and diaries on your person to keep the memories alive to give you comfort. Score one for technology in terms of keeping the packing light.

I don’t know what I would take with me if I were to go for a year. In reality my husband would be going with me, he would be too scared of me getting lost somewhere or getting into some sort of trouble to let me go that long alone. Our daughter would probably find an excuse to tag along and who knows they might even bring Jack along so that he wouldn’t feel too lonely at home. If our son wasn’t in the middle of gigging, he probably wouldn’t want to miss out on the fun and he’d show up as well; then it would be a family affair and I wouldn’t need any mementos to keep me smiling because they would all be with me.

Cheesy I know but it’s my blog and I can write what I want to 😀

Penn Station, a sea of passengers

Tags

Amtrak, postaday2013, trains, travel, voyage

It is 6:43 pm Friday evening and we have just pulled out of Penn Station. We’ll be arriving at Springfield at 10:10 pm where my dear hubby will be waiting for us to take us back home to Blandford. I had a very nice time, I got my haircut, the grey’s were miraculously washed away in their sink at Space Salon, they must have special water at Space because every time I go there, I emerge a refreshed brunette. Funny how that happens.

The baby girl and I had lunch after our hair appointments; she wanted to try the infamous Gyro at Pizza Palace, a gyro is a greek specialty, a sandwich in a pita bread with grilled meat that has been made into a type of meatloaf with several spices and herbs and put on a rotisserie and then sliced off, lettuce, tomato, onions and tsaziki sauce, a cucumber, Greek yogurt, dill and garlic sauce all in the pita bread. She ate the whole thing and loved every single bite. I got myself a souvlaki sandwich with everything on it as well. I can tell you that there are few things that I like more than at the end of the pita bread where the juices from the pork combine with the tsaziki sauce and it becomes a creamy, spicy meaty sauce that impregnates the meat and the bread into the tastiest morsel of food. It is to die for delicious. After that we went off into the city and did a little bit of shopping. We went back to my mother’s to spend some time with her before taking the train back home. My mother answered some more questions that I had about the subject of my book, my great, great aunt and then before we knew it, it was time to say good-bye. I do have to say that as far as visits go, this one was quite fruitful, we got to spend time with our family, had good food, got beautified and saw some of the city. All in just two days, fast and efficient, just as I like it.