Traveling around the globe has always had joys and challenges. I’m a firm believer that everything in life is a two-edged sword; some good, some bad. When you’re traveling, you make choices, some turn out great, some turn out ok (better memories than moments:)) and some things are unbelievably excellent.
So I invited a distant friend to our place to recuperate from surgeries. She accepted, suggested brining her family from the US and then we all go visit his homeland in Romania. My wife and I had never met her husband, daughter, and I really knew very little beyond a tremendous like and respect from working together on a project. A little nervous, but her husband, an ace project manager by profession, promised to show us Romania like we’d never seen it. So we booked the tickets, planned a few days for them to visit our island, some sightseeing in Lisbon, and then accepted Gino’s itinerary to his beautiful place in Romania. Gino did all the planning, scheduling, reservations, and driving. Which was significant, including the Transfagarasan Highway, more than 130 kilometers of motorcycle heaven.
My bottom line is simple…travel again with these great friends, return to Romania with more time, and most importantly…get a BMW motorcycle and ride the Transfagarasan Highway again!
In the meantime, the greatest lesson was not a new one, it was a reinforcment of one of our primary rules of thumb; meet new folks, try new things, and take pictures and memories. You’ll never regret it!