A NEW WAY to Think About Traveling

We Americans have been taught to travel a certain way. Over the past couple of decades, we have shifted our way of traveling into something that seems to be less fulfilling than it should be. When we save up our hard-earned shekels to take a much-desired vacation, it seems prudent that we would want the deepest life's experience for our money. Right?

Instead, we have been slamming and cramming as much into our 2 weeks that we possibly can. "12 cities in 8 days," or "7 sites in 2 days." We choose from the "top 10 sites" in every destination, we stay for 1-3 days, we focus on eating instead of the destination that we paid so much for, and we have forgotten that the more we spend on lodgings, the thicker the American 'bubble' we cushion ourselves with.

Let's take Rome, for example. Did you know that the "top 10 sites" in Rome are the same ones that were made popular by the American movies in the 60's? You remember: 3 Coins in a Fountain, Roman Holiday, et al. These movies made people crazy to see the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and Trevi Fountain. Sixty years later, we are still hungering to see these same sites.

Don't get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with these sites. Yes, the Forum is fantastic, the Colosseum is fabulous, and Trevi Fountain is, well, a Fountain. My intention is not to dis these sites, but to reveal the fact that Rome has been around and fully populated for 2,700 years, and it left behind WAY MORE than 8 or 10 sites. Since the movies of the 60's, archaeologists from all over the world have continued to excavate the Eternal City and have unearthed hundreds of incredible sites everywhere you go!