If someone had approached me a few months ago and asked:
If you could have one wish, one just-for-you, dream-come-true wish, what would it be?
I would’ve answered:
Travel the world on a journey solely devoted to eating.
Maybe you could narrow that down a bit? They might’ve replied.
Italy. I would’ve have responded immediately.
And here I sit today, waiting in the airport with a ticket to Italy and an itinerary centered on food.
I can’t really remember the Skype conversation that I shared with the World Nomads representative who told me that I had won the Passport & Plate Travel Writing contest. When she mentioned – in a tone that suggested nothing out of the ordinary – that I would be going to Cinque Terre in a matter of weeks, I sort of slipped into a state of shock. I went rapidly from an inability to process the news to the urge to jump up and down and hug her through the computer. The second the call was over, I burst into tears. Next, I terrified my parents (who universally never hope to receive a call from their crying daughter) and tried to explain how this wonderful thing had come to be. When I had assured them I wasn’t in the emergency room, I ran down the three flights of stairs in my apartment, literally burst through the door and sprinted several blocks down the street to tell one of my friends. She came out in the courtyard clothed only in a towel, wet hair stuck to her shoulders, apparently similarly concerned by my emotional phone call. As I told her, she started to cry and jump around, causing just the sort of scene I felt was appropriate.
I am so thankful for these fantastic people in my life and the unbelievably amazing opportunity World Nomads has given me with the aid of Can't Forget Italy and Parco Natzionale delle Cinque Terre. I don’t know how I’m going to sit still on the plane for the seemingly-endless hours between now and when I touch down in Genoa…
