My vacation to Italy Part 1

In 2012, one of my biggest goals was to visit Europe. Being 37 years young, I thought it was necessary to visit at least one European country just to say “I’ve been there. Earlier in the year, I had some lofty travel goals that included going to 10+ countries over a span of one month with a travel agency. Then business and finances came in the way and that ruined my plan. However, that burning desire stayed with me but towards the end of the year I completely forgot about my travel plans and started focusing on other things.

My girlfriend Jenn and I have been together for a year now. She has heard me speak multiple times about traveling to Europe and in the beginning of our relationship, I had mentioned that going to Europe was one of my priorities. At some point, we even sat down to make some plans but later it got scrapped due to finances, time and other life related setbacks.

The month of December rolls around Jenn and I are discussing Christmas gifts and we ask each other what we want for Christmas — I give her a short list and she does as well. Some time passes by and two weeks before Christmas, I am handed tickets to Italy as my Christmas gift along with hotel and a nice tour to go along with it. Wow. Just wow. Thank you Jenn!

With Christmas approaching really quick, I have some personal agendas, goals for 2013 and a new business venture I am looking to start-up (hence, why you’re here at WilliamShaker.com). In my mind, I am thinking — “Oh man, what a way to end 2012 and have 2013 all planned out so that when I return, I can finally start reinventing myself and beginning my new purpose in life.”

Its December 25th, Christmas Day and our bags are packaged and we’re ready to go. On our way to the airport, Jenn notices a friend she had in High School who is behind the ticket counter while we wait in line. I persuade her to go talk to her friend since Jenn can sometimes be a bit shy and reserved. Next thing you know, her friend escorts us past security and in less than 5 minutes, we’re whisked away into the British Airways Business Class Lounge — Woa! This trip is looking good already!

After we land in Italy, we realize that we’re somewhere special, a place that has culture and significance dating back thousands of years. One thing that was obviously noticeable were the building structures — not a single building looked cookie-cutter and every building had a pastel color which reminded me of how houses and buildings looked in Paradise Island in the Bahamas back in the early 1990s when I visited with my family. However, these buildings were built hundreds of years ago and some even thousands. Needless to say, there was much eye candy and history to explore and so we set in our way to do just that. We arrived at 10am and after getting acclimated we decided to venture out.

Venturing out, we felt this uncanny energy around us, something to signify that we were some place special. If you’re the type of person who is sensitive to energy (good and bad) and become affected by it, then you will know what I mean by the “great energy” rome provided us. I don’t know about you but when I travel some place, I immediately feel neutral, good or vibrant and Rome made us feel completely vibrant.

To our surprise Rome had gorgeous weather. For our entire trip, the weather Gods treated us to 55′ days and mid 30′ nights and to boot, there was not even a single cloud in the sky! Being from New York, it can get bitter cold up here but surprisingly, Rome was quite surprisingly warm. Doing a quick check on Weather.com, I learned that we were there during the coldest month! I also found out that the peak is somewhere around 88 degrees Fahrenheit in the Month of July and back down again to 55′ degrees in December. Rome is not such a bad place to live now is it?

Thanks for reading part one of this 3-part series. Please hop on over to part two here. In part two, I will talk a bit about the places we visited such as the ones below. In part 3, I will finish off with what did not fit into part 2.