THE THOMS SUNDAY TRAVEL SECTION.
Stay Home Next Weekend and Go Somewhere.
When was the last time you threw a theme party? More specifically, when was the last time you did some planning for you?
What is all this crazy talk? Stay, but go next weekend.
Didn’t you promise me you were going to travel more this year? O.K. maybe I suggested it. It’s not too late to resolve.
How can you combine travel with experiences, and stay at home?
Plan something.
Italian is Too Much Trouble.
For a group of 10 or more, you are right. But I am talking about just for you and possibly a significant other. If the kids are around, you can invite them to, if you want.
Start Out Simple.
Have you ever said, let’s go out for Mexican, Italian, Chinese, Greek etc? Most people have. Then they go to the Italian restaurant and spend most of the dinner looking at their phone. Or, complaining about work. FAIL!
O.K., some restaurant decors leave a lot to the imagination. And there are some you don’t want to look too carefully in fear of what you might see.
But maybe you do have a cute little Italian restaurant that has a red check table cloth. And the required Chianti bottles with the drippings of countless candles down its side. Then use it to escape. Sit in the corner, away from a window, and pretend you’re in a small village outside Florence.
Order some Italian wine and take the time to taste it. Turn the phones off. The world will go on without you for 90 minutes. Talk about the time you went to Italy. Make plans for an upcoming visit to Italy. Talk about a video you saw on Italy.
But We Don’t Have Any Cute Italian Trattorias Where I Live.
So go to the local Spaghetti-R-Us and get some Italian food to go. Bring it home. Get out a tablecloth and a candle. Sit at the table you never use. You have gone this far, put the food on real plates.
Ask Alexa, or any other of the hundreds of streaming music sites, to play Romantic Italian music. Now you’re in an old neighborhood of Rome.
Buon Appetito.
Extend Your Italian Day.
I never want this evening to end. O.K., extend it. Instead of Wheel of Fortune, put a movie on that takes place in Italy. Finish your wine while watching three coins going into the Trevi Fountain, or James Bond racing through the Venice canals.
Make A Day of It.
Check art galleries and museums for special presentations: the Treasures of the Vatican, the paintings of Renaissance Italy, The Cars of Ferrari. Spend an afternoon exposing yourself to culture. Follow it up with Italian food in or out.
Travel, but Don’t Go Far.
Save the bonus miles and big bucks for a big trip.
But within an hour car or train ride is there an Italian district, neighborhood, village? A two-day Italian Festival?
Go to Montreal for pizza. What? Not everything there is French. Montreal has a Little Italy as well. So does Toronto, Chicago, San Diego, Philadelphia, and New York City.
St Louis has its Hill, Providence has Federal Hill. San Francisco has its North Beach, and in Boston, there is the North End. You get the idea.
Find an inexpensive hotel room for one night. Find one with a really small elevator or none at all, to get the real European experience.
Then get out and see and smell the neighborhood. So often, people treat these neighborhoods like a port on a cruise. Rush in, eat, and rush back to everything “American” at home (on the ship.)
If there is a market, take a stroll around inside. Maybe they have something you did not know was available. Score!
Visit the butcher, the baker, and if they have one, a candlestick maker. At least get some candles for your Chianti bottle.
Sip an espresso, buy a cannoli for later, before bed. Why not? You’re in Italy!
Is it 100% the same? Of course not.
Is it cheaper than going to Italy for two days? Yes.
Is it better than staring at each other and saying what are we going to do this weekend? OH yes.
I Don’t Want To Go To Italy.
And it doesn’t have to be Italian. Depending on where you live, you may have access to Cuban, Mexican, French, Irish, Chinese, Japanese, etc.
If not, you can google how to make a Cuban sandwich or a Greek Salad at home.
You can rent movies that take place in France, Greece, Asia, Australia, Morocco, or even on the Road to Zanzibar. Which is interesting as it is an island 50 miles off the coast.
Whether it’s a few steps from where you are sitting right now, or an hour’s drive away, go.
What exotic place are you traveling to next weekend?
Give yourself something to plan, and then anticipate. The week will go faster.
Let your imagination take flight.
“See Athens” Continued on Page T8. “Taste Italy” Continued on T14