Travel expectations

We like to think we keep our travel expectations moderately realistic.  We fall somewhere between those who hope for nothing more than a relaxing get away and those leaving nothing to chance with a too-long checklist of sites and restaurants to visit.

Generally, we’d define our expectations while traveling to be based on experiences that spark our curiosity to learn about new things.  We always trust this to happen.  It’s not something that can be planned ahead of time.

If you’re curious how this works, a wonderful example came about in Ravenna, Italy.   We kept seeing references to the Goths (Visigoths and Ostrogoths) at many of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites we visited.  That started us off on a path of learning more about the “barbarians” that fascinated us and added memorably to our visit.

Fifty-four years after Rome fell to the Goths, the Mausoleum of Galla Placida was erected.  The arts and religious structures appeared to continue to flourish in the reign of the Goths.

On another trip we planned a few stops at ancient ruins in Turkey and we became hooked.  How could we see more?

We arranged a special visit to the memorable ruin, Aphrodisias, on that trip.

Soon after, we made plans to go back to visit more ruins not so well known and off-the-beaten-track.

Miletus was one of the greatest Greek cities until the Persian invasion in the 6thcentury B.C.E. A few hundred years later a theatre was built, with seating capacity of almost 15,000 people.

We never would have expected that our trips to Turkey would result in visits to over a dozen archaeological sites.

After 6+ years of travel to places far and wide – where we were rewarded with great and wonderful new sights – we found ourselves on a road trip to Ohio.  This trip would not be at all like our previous travel.  First, Ohio is oh-too-familiar as that is where we were both born and raised.

The familiarity started when we drove through rural Pennsylvania and into Ohio.

We hadn’t been back to Akron, Beth’s hometown, in over 30 years.   What a surprise that most everything looked better than we remembered.

The high point of that stop was a lovely luncheon with classmates not seen in many years.

We ricocheted through Ohio with stays in Oxford, Yellow Springs and Columbus.

A quick stop at Miamisburg Mound was sparked by a recent news article about new information coming to light about the people who built the ancient mounds.  We were very excited to see the mound but, alas, the displays were old and not so up-to-date.

We discovered that the trip to Ohio was a different trip entirely.  We had to drastically adjust our travel expectations.  This wasn’t a trip where our curiosity sparked new interests. Instead, this was a trip of total and pure nostalgia… visiting family and friends…remembering the long ago times…and catching up on what’s happening now.

After so many years thrilling to such places as the ancient ruins in Turkey and learning about the Visigoths in Ravenna, maybe it was time for a nostalgic trip back home.

 

May 2019