Pianto Per l’Italia

August 3, 2010

Sit down.
I have something to tell you.

We’ve officially canceled our long anticipated trip to Italy this fall. That’s right. Our frequent flyer miles have been plunked back into our mileage plus account, the rental apartments have been rented to someone else, the reservation fee for the Florence Market day with Divina Cucina (sad face) has been refunded, and the wall map of Italy and accompanying countdown calendar hanging on our living room wall now reside in a tear-stained cardboard box in our garage.

I know. It’s okay to cry. Don’t hold it in. I’ll give you as much time as you need to collect yourself before I continue.

There. Do you feel better now? If it’s okay with you I’ll continue but please, if it becomes too much, stop me at any point because I want to be sensitive to your needs.

All humor aside, the reason we canceled our trip was that my spouse’s mom was recently diagnosed with stage four lung cancer and so making the decision to not go to Italy was both a great disappointment and a very easy decision. It simply boiled down to this; Italy will always be there but D’s mom won’t always be here and so here is the only place we want to be. Disappointed but with no regrets.

I initially purchased travel insurance because I have this recurring travel phobia of getting up in the morning to catch our international flight and having that instant awful realization that I’m in the first throws of the stomach flu. Maybe it’s just me but when I’m vomiting I want the toilet seat I’m hugging to be securely fastened to the ground rather than hurling through space. So sure, while I winced at the 800 dollar price tag for travel insurance, I never hesitated and whew….am I glad because while the airlines, independent tour operators, and travel company were all incredibly gracious and sympathetic toward our situation there were still service charges, handling fees, and other minimal costs up front that were non-refundable and added up together they made one hefty pile of cash. So follow my advice and get travel insurance because despite our best plans we just never know what life is going to toss our way.

And despite the bad news I just dropped on you (sorry about that), on the bright side we’re planning to re-schedule our month stay in Italy for September-October 2011 which gives me even more time to obsess, plan, and obsess some more. And yes, I’ll be following my own advice and purchasing travel insurance once again with the hope that we don’t have to use it.

Posted in Italy, Travel