Exhilaration at the edge of comfort

My travel treasure is a ride along the Amalfi coast with my now husband

Position is a 'Rivendell'-esque town cut into rocks with streets that wind steeply back and forth from the coast up the hills littered with flower-strewn villas and restaurants overlooking the ocean. Unlike many Italian communes, it is not a walking friendly town, with leg muscle challenging steps leading straight up the hills from the beach, transecting the winding roads and therefore going straight up. My new husband and I stopped on the way back from Breakfast down on the beach just in front of a moped rental place. We looked at each other in a "should we?" way then walked on a short way before daring each other to take the opportunity. We had planned to travel down the Amalfi coast today, why not by moped?

It is worth noting there were many reasons why not. Neither of us had driven one before, the rules of the road are barely followed, the roads jut out from the rocky hills over the ocean and you can be taken out by a tourist coach on the one car width road at every tight turn.

Our lack of experience with this mode of transport was obvious as we tried to pull out of the parking lot but our excitement with the spontaneity of the plan was palpable. We almost crashed twice, we got run off the road several times but the coastline from Positano to Amalfi is one of the most sensational drives in the world. We barely missed a celebrity wedding in the Villa Cimbrone in the mountain vantage point of Ravello, we caught a festivals in the Cathedral of St. Andrew, laid on the beach and stopped for breath-taking photos along the way. More importantly, it was the first time the control freak back seat driver in me let go, completely trusted to put my life in someone else's hands and lived life on the edge of comfort and it was one of the most sensational experiences of my traveling life.