We have traveled to a lot of places, and we have seen a lot of things, but today, I would sum up our experience as…(I am taking a deep breath), I can’t quite find the words…

Adventure travel with the Jones!

It all started at 4:30 am when we woke up after being out late the night before to see the lights at the Eiffel Tower.

At 5:30am, Isabel threw up in the hallway of the hotel.  At 6:00 am we arrived at Orly Airport for our flight to Naples.  At 6:30 am, Isabel threw up at the security checkpoint. Unfortunately, she wasn’t ready for it, and the security people at Orly airport were able to experience an exciting moment with the Jones.

At 7:00 am we were sitting on a plane.

At 9:30 am we were landing in Naples… and Isabel was throwing up in one of her little sick bags.

At 10am we rented a car to drive out to the Amalfi Coast to Positano.

At about 11 am we blew a tire in a serious way. It was not like a simple fix either.  The tire was completely ruined. So… while we were on a narrow, two-lane coastal road, with traffic, in Italy (and a cliff), we had to pull over leaving traffic to stack up behind us.  While Stephen and Julia were changing the tire, Isabel was throwing up in the back seat of the car (luckily she had a barf bag), Grace and I were dealing with our luggage on the side of the road (because we had to unload the entire car to get to the spare tire).

At 11:05, an older Italian man, who appeared out of nowhere, arrived at the scene.   At first, we were unsure of his motivations.  He only spoke in Italian, however, he carried on quite the conversation, despite the fact that we tried to tell him we did not speak Italian.  He talked…he talked…he talked some more…he directed traffic with lots of hand gestures, he seemed as if he was informing all the people passing by in their cars what had happened.  After the tire was changed, we loaded up in the car, and he gave us the approval nod that everything was going to be ok… and he sent us on our way.

By 12:15 pm, we arrived in Positano.  Julia and I descended 100 steps down a narrow pathway to find our 18^th century villa, and there we met the manager, Marco, our new best friend.  Tomorrow, Marco and Stephen are driving to the town next to us (Sorrento), to get a new tire so that we don’t have to drive on the spare.

By 1:00 pm, our stress was washed away by some amazing Mediterranean food.

The rest of the day was completely wonderful and relaxing.

Our villa sits high above the sea, giving us a spectacular view, and the weather was perfecto! 

As we discussed our highs and lows tonight, we actually laughed at the comedy of the day.  Wow, was it hard! However, between the old Italian man at the scene of the flat tire, and Isabel throwing up all over security in Orly Airport, we had quite the adventure.

Each of my girls amazed me today! Grace provided us with some fantastic comic relief,  Isabel never complained and hung in there like a trooper (she is feeling much better tonight), and Julia was an amazing help by assisting her dad in changing a tire, and helping her little sister clean up after she got sick all over herself.

This IS TRUE Love!

Sometimes, the hardest days of travel, and in life, are the very days that bring your family the closest.

Traveling far, and growing close.