04.17.23

Who knew that there are TWO Easters celebrated worldwide? The “traditional” Catholic and Protestant Easter, which we celebrated last week, and yesterday we found Easter number two, the Orthodox Easter, which is celebrated by many Greeks and Russians. The two dates are usually about a week apart, but sometimes they align, and yesterday we got to rejoice with about a dozen new friends here in Albania– mostly Italians– and what a ball, trying to understand all that was going on!

We met at a local Italian restaurant that is known for making their pasta by hand, inhouse. The chef/ owner brought out a large wooden board, coated it with flour, rolled out the dough, then cut it into ½” or so wide pieces, and that became our noodles with Bolognese sauce. That was course #2, which was preceded by handmade Ravioli with Truffle, which were about two inch or so sized squares filled with ricotta cheese. Our last course was called Tagliatelle Al ragu, which was a rolled-up pasta with meat, and a dish I never had before. Come to find out this was a regional specialty from Bologna, Italy, where the owner was from, and when I asked how many regional dishes there were in Italy I was told, “lots!” So many choices, so little time!

That is similar to the United States, which has its’ own regional dishes, from Southern cooking to New England style, and from Tex-Mex, Southwest fare, to Midwest beef, and Northwest fish dishes. One of the benefits of traveling is, besides seeing amazing places, many jaw-dropping and historical, the other perk is people; so many different people with different accents and stories, yet we all are much the same. Our large group of new and existing friends all “broke bread” as we say, and we were lucky enough to get a ride home from a nice Italian gentleman, Paulo, who is now retired and living in Sarande. As we were riding home, in Albania, listening to everyone speaking in very rapid Italian, I thought, “How amazing is this?”

And it is.

When we live in one country we rarely get a chance to REALLY experience outside cultures. Sure, we meet different people from different countries, and occasionally eat at different ethnic restaurants, but to truly immerse yourself with natives from these countries is humbling. And we have done this many times over the past four years.

“Oh, the places you’ll go!”

was a Dr. Seuss book, and the last one to be published when he was alive. After 28 countries and hundreds of thousands of mile (or kilometers) that WE have gone, we have no plans to stop. We have a nicer sense of community here than we have had anywhere before. The town is small enough that we can walk almost anywhere and the chances of running into someone we know is quite high! Last week we went out to dinner and ran into three different groups of friends within two hours’ time! One of our good friends here, Paul, is also getting to be a great worldwide traveler after almost two years on the road. We met him in Croatia, then in Turkey, had lunch with him in Bucharest, Romania, and now he is here in Albania. He will be back in Romania this summer and we found out our schedules will overlap, so we will meet him there again! In each location he makes his friends, we make ours, and our network grows, including our local hiking group which is quite consistent with weekly outings, and through them we have met great people.

Our travels have been documented from the day we left, and my new book, Nomadic Life for All Ages shares much of that, including countless lessons and insights to help you Travel Younger. That book—along with our new website!– will be launching shortly.