A Mere Half Century Later

 A MERE HALF CENTURY LATER

Susan and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary this spring.  We had begun dating in the spring of 1972, were engaged about 6 months later, and got married about 6 months after that.  She was a senior at Mississippi State, and I was on the staff for that academic year with plans to pursue my doctorate the following year. For our honeymoon Susan wanted to go somewhere exotic and romantic, a plan which sadly didn't fit my meager checkbook.  We settled on spending a few days with Mickey & Minnie at Disney World, which had been open almost a year, then driving over to St. Petersburg Beach for a few more days. We said that one day we'd take that honeymoon trip we had dreamed of.

But first came graduate school and 2 1/2 years in married student housing at the University of Florida, followed by life as a young professional in higher education (translated as rewarding in ways other than financially) and family life with children, houses, cars, college educations, weddings, etc. That dream trip became a dream continually deferred.  Oh, I don't meant that to sound pitiful -- we have traveled often, especially in the US.  And because we made dear friends from Australia during our first year at UF, we've been able to visit them Down Under and to work out a side trip to New Zealand on one of those excursions. Susan's dream, however, has always been a visit to Europe, especially Paris. My dreams were close -- Normandy (yes, I'm a history buff) and Greece (same reason).  

As our 50th anniversary approached, we began deliberating on where we could go and both be blissfully happy.  The compromise that we both knew we'd love was Italy, specifically the Amalfi Coast ... and since we'd be in the neighborhood, working Rome and Pompeii into the trip seemed compelling to me.  Our Aussie friends had visited Positano and the Amalfi Coast and had shared tales and photos that left an indelible impression on us.  Others who had visited that area with whom we talked did nothing to dissuade us from our desire to visit.  We said we'd like to go, not on our March anniversary, but perhaps May, when it would be warmer but not yet summer. (Vacations to us seldom mean replicating Mississippi summers.) We also agreed that we'd like to go with a small tour group since we don't speak the language and had never been to that country.  (I'm not much of a risk taker.)  At our age (married 50 years, so do the math) we decided that it probably made more sense to do a tour of 7 - 10 days' duration and to minimize the amount of moving around and bus travel on the trip.  Fortunately friends who had often traveled in Europe put us in touch with a travel agent who recommended a first class travel company called Tauck. Both the tour agent and Tauck were home run decisions!

It appeared, however, that we had agonized over our destination too long because almost all of the tours we identified as appealing were already booked, as were most flights to Europe.  Perhaps God thought we needed this trip, however, because in early April the perfect option became available.  It was called "A Week in Amalfi, Capri, and Rome" and had everything we felt was important to us:  Only changed hotels twice.  Minimal bus riding.  Group of 24 plus us. Included the Amalfi Coast and Rome.  It also included 2 nights on the isle of Capri, which frankly neither of us had ever heard of before, but okay.  It didn't include Pompeii, but instead included a visit to Herculaneum, another city which, like Pompeii, was destroyed in the 79 AD eruption of Mt. Vesuvius (or Vesuvio, as it's called in Italian).  Yes!  This was darn near perfect!

Did it truly approach perfection?  Welll, it was costly -- more than we've paid for any car, and almost as much as we paid for our first house.  Tauck puts its guests up in 5 star hotels in the heart of cities, and one pays for that. There were other benefits that I'll explain as we go along.  And I let Maria, our travel agent, talk us into spending considerably more to travel business class.  That seemed extravagant, but Susan has a back issue that made the trip a bit of a risk.  We learned that business class provides reclining seats/mini-beds that allow travelers to stretch out, and we'd be able to arrive more rested because our chances of getting some sleep on the 7 1/2 hour trans-Atlantic flights were considerably enhanced.  And Scrooge that I am, I have to confess that it was worth it.  Susan was indeed more comfortable, and we both got enough sleep to overcome the worst of jet lag.

So this is the how, why, where, and what.  We were pumped!  Come on ... let's go!