She left Florence on Friday, there were tears, and laughter and hugs.  The new friends she had met were going their own way too.  She made a special trip to the API office for one more request, help with getting a taxi at 4am for her trip to the airport.  She asked for a picture from the wonderful API advisors that had brought joy, organization and guidance during her time there.  Memories were made with people she did not know 34 days ago and she was feeling lucky to have met them and shared this short snippet of her life together.  Her social media posts have been a farewell love letter to Italy and it warms my heart to see her happiness and enthusiasm for more travels.

I was given a gift from this experience as well.  I saw my youngest child grow into a woman that is acting upon her dreams and planning her next adventure.  I found that API as a travel abroad company is a great investment.  The money she used did not come from me, it came from her own hard work the previous summer.  She included me in discussing her choices around what company to go with, what country to visit, how much time she should spend (a semester vs a summer) and how much will all of this cost.  She made the decisions and I am proud of the planning, thinking and choices she made.

My homecoming gift to her was a poem I wrote her and printed on one of my favorite pictures of her in Florence, her apartment in the background.  I thought she could hang it in her college apartment this fall to remind her to follow this dream as she fulfills another dream of becoming a nurse.  She is happy and that makes me happy too.

Your beauty is your soul

Never lose your love of wandering

There are vast experiences that await you on this blue ball we call home.

Getting to know past and present people who change your mind – about good, evil, beauty and history.

Swirling -Skipping -Twirling -Tripping 

The world is yours sweet girl.

Daughter Alone in Italy ……..My Sweet Girl is my youngest child.  I have three other children that are in their 30’s.  They have jobs, homes and families. There was a twelve year gap between them.  Each time I have watched one of them set off in to their life I have had those mother pangs of extreme fear, overwhelming love and dread for all the things that could potentially go wrong.  The world is a scary place and it can be overwhelming to think about a young lady alone on a street in a strange city – it can be downright debilitating to think about if that girl is your daughter. My older children had taught me something about my parenting.  The key is making good choices.  My sweet girl is pretty good at choices.  In my earlier post Survival Day I talked about the way she plans, considers and thinks ….a lot.  

She has wanted to travel for years.  As a young girl she would march confidently through the airport pulling her child size wheelie bag.  Once she heard that she could travel abroad in college she was sure that would be her plan.  The first semester at her university she visited the travel abroad office and attended informational sessions about the programs available.  It was there she found the API Study Abroad Program.  It was a good choice.

This is not a commercial for API – I am not being compensated, I am feeling very thankful for this program.  I’m hoping that other parents that are anxious will read this and know that finding the right program not only thrills your student, but it also calms your parental jitters about watching your child literally and figuratively walk out into the world.  API had communicated throughout the entire process.  They have sent me emails with extensive information as any parent would want, but their communication with the participating travelers is where much of the parental relief is found.  The have been very clear with the students about where they are going, what is expected and what the students should be doing to prepare for the trip.  The API on-site contacts in Italy are helpful, patient and fun.  The students have a resource with them to advise and guide – but not hover over and watch these “adult” students at every moment.  There are many activities offered from walking tours of the city and campus to cooking classes and group dinners the first week.  The program is well thought out, engaging and has put my mama emotions at ease. 

This past weekend the group went to Rome. They rode a train passing sunflower fields along the way.  My sweet girl said it was very crowded, very hot and she loved it and will return someday.   She visited the Vatican, stared at Michangelo’s work on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and walked the streets visiting fountains and piazza’s.  She is wandering the world – She is happy – She made a good choice her first solo trip abroad. 

Sharing a walk through Rome  in the pictures below.  Enjoy.

My sweet girl is traveling to Florence on a 33 day educational adventure through her travel abroad office at her university.  For this program students pay tuition, room and board and travel separately. Booking flights was up to the student. We had some miles that had accumulated from travel and credit card points and we wanted to help her defray some of the flight cost by using an award ticket. She needed to fly from Chicago to Florence, Italy. 

We looked at flights and tried to figure out the best route while meeting the expected arrival times set by the hosts. The only way to make it work would be doing several flights. The itinerary was Chicago – Cincinnati – New York JFK – Zurich – Florence.  Staying true to my motherly ways – I worried, checked flightview regularly through the day watching over each travel leg of the itinerary as it was completed.  

The first 2 flights went by quickly and easily – all is going great.  Her layover at JFK was 3 hours – where she had her “last cup”  of Dunkin Donuts coffee – posting on Snap Chat and sending us a text to announce this fact.  She boarded her plane to Zurich, took her economy seat and watched a circus of other travelers follow her boarding to economy.  

The texts started just after her – “we are boarding!” Message.   It read – I’m going to be late .  My message back – Why?   She explained that there were about 50 people in a group that were making the flight late.  They would not sit down in their assigned seats, could not get their luggage stowed and the flight attendent even looked at my daughter and said she had been flying for 10 years and never seen it this bad.  

Next message – What if I miss my flight in Zurich – Next message – Can I call you?  Of course the answer is yes .  The crazy tour group had delayed the flight long enough that some of the crew had timed out – so there was a need for them to wait for new crew.  This was going to cause the plane to arrive at 9:30 in Zurich – vs the original planned 7:55am.  I had Hubby (the international travel pro) talk to her.  We had booked the Zurich to Florence flight with 5 hours time between them. She was scheduled to leave at 12:15 – so she should make the connection with no problem.  He explained in the voice he saves for moments just like these.  He said she was talking it through in a calm way, was not rattled by all of this.  He told her to text when she landed in Zurich, but don’t worry about communicating once she was off the plane – just get to your plane to Florence.   Just as they were saying goodbye the pilot announced they were leaving the gate.  We did the math – and knew she would be just fine.  But of course I did check flightview about an hour later – just to see where her plane was in its journey.  

During the night I woke up twice – checked my phone and when I did not see a text I visited flightview again and saw that her plane had landed on time in Zurich.  At the time I checked I knew she was collecting her bag, going through customs and finding her gate for Florence.  It was 3;30am. 

I fell back to sleep and woke at 7:30 – a notification came through before I even got down to the kitchen to make coffee.  She was there and sharing her ICloud photos folder.  I was relieved, excited and happy.  Let the adventures begin!

St John is full of trails and beaches. There is a number of places to rent snorkel gear for the week so we headed to Coral Bay to check out Crabbys.
Crabbys Coral Bay
It’s a small shack of a shop that sells and rents various kinds of water sport gear. A woman fitted all of us, and we paid $40 each for the rentals and we were on our way in 20 minutes.
We headed out to find a beach and a spot to snorkel where we may see some turtles.

We took off via Rt 10 headed toward Annaberg, this road goes up and over the center of the island and while Coral Bay is on the south side the north side beaches are easily reached in about 20 min. We landed at Maho, the first beach you reach when coming from Coral Bay. There is a parking lot, but if that is full, there are cleared areas between the trees where it is easy to pull off and park. The beach is just a quick hop across the road, so bringing chairs, coolers and other items is quick, easy and requires very little effort. We found a shady spot under the low hanging sea grape trees and set up our chairs and cooler and set out to enjoy this beautiful beach.

The beach was populated but not crowded, there were several boats attached to the buoys and the bay had a number of snorkelers already floating with their tushes peeking out of the water. It was easy to tell where the underwater life to see was by watching where the snorkelers would dart off to next. Some of our group stayed on the beach to take in the view, a couple others donned snorkel gear to explore.

The underwater world was full of sights! We saw several Sea Turtles, a large Sting Ray and a variety of tropical fish. The best part of snorkeling is the feeling of being in an actual aquarium with the fish that I’d watch for hours as a kid.

Then it was time for some football! The first playoff game started at 4pm local time so we all headed down to Skinny Legs Bar and Grillfor a burger, beer and big screen. This place really demonstrates the St. John vibe. Relaxed, friendly, and you immediately feel at home. The benches were a bit hard and had no backs, so we decided to finish watching the games back at the villa. Another good day on the island.