Travel Indecisions/Decisions: Where do we go from here?

 It has been four years since Izzy and I made our first journey to Europe.  Far too much time has passed since that trip and we have longed to take another one.  This year, in celebration of my one year cancerversary (Yes! June marked one year since I finished cancer treatment) I decided we would go on a long voyage.  Where we would go?  I wasn't exactly sure but I knew we would go to Europe.

At home I planned the first and last weeks of our trip.  We would start out in Germany where we would visit with Aunt B. and Uncle Rabbit in Altotting. This would be relaxing, or so I had hoped. At the end of our trip we would visit with our old Jersey City friends, Helen, I. et al. in London.  We would be gone for five weeks total.

With the first week and the last week of our trip  planned, we left Jersey City.  I spent that first week in a state of agitation as I tried to resolve the question of where we would actually go.  As I had packed far too much luggage, we were somewhat limited to places that would not involve too many train/plane transfers and other maneuvers that would involve carrying the luggage.  I had initially imagined a stay in just one place - renting a house or an apartment and exploring one town for a month. I mulled over places like Provence (been there), Apulia (saw great article in the NY Times about it) and Sicily (intriguing), Ischia (worried about getting around) a farmstay in the Sora (sounds wonderful) and Praiano - a small coastal town between Amalfi and Positano which seemed to have the most appeal.   I tried to book the farmstay as well as a week in Praiano.  At first this appeared to be the perfect plan but I began to worry about the luggage situation and felt that the traveling between place to place would be less relaxing than what I had intended.  In the end I  booked a ticket from Munich to Naples and we took a car service to Praiano where we would stay for 11 days.

Our flight to Naples was uneventful.  We found our luggage and our driver from Italy Limousine,  met us and whisked us off to Praiano.  He was an expert and I never once felt uncomfortable as we wound our way around the narrow main road of the Amalfi Coast.  The scenic drive was merely an introduction to the beauty of this area, where houses are built into the rocks of the cliffs. We arrived at our hotel, La Locanda Costa Diva, at about 8:30 p.m... We set our bags down and looked around.  I was relieved to find that I had selected a most beautiful and peaceful locale.  Perhaps I would finally be able to relax...

We have now be at La Locanda Costa Diva since July 7th.  This small coastal village is a quiet respite from life as we know it... to be continued...