how often do you get the chance to have your eyes
opened. I mean really opened, we must have been about halfway through our Contiki
trip and we arrived in the Italian capital city of Rome.
There was an American
girl traveling with us called Julie. We discovered Julie was almost completely
blind. On this particular day after exploring the many winding beautiful
alleyways, we ended up at San Peter's Basilica. Our trip manager jokingly said
he had forgotten the way back to the hotel, and did anyone know how to get
there, none of us did but then Julie piped up: “I can do it”, we all thought
she was joking too but she said: “no seriously I can take us all back”, so he
turned and filed behind her retracing our steps as she led us. Through the maze
of winding streets, someone asked: how are you doing this? How can you possibly
remember the way we came? I just know feel how beautiful and call the areas
where by the fountain, this is where we turned left, we continued on. “I'm
smelling freshly baked bread” she said, we turned right by this bakery and this
is the cafe we passed by. I recognized the sound of that coffee machine, trust
me and sure enough had every turn the things we hadn't focused on before
revealed themselves like hidden gems, and we discovered more and more the
essence of this rich and vibrant city. Did we make it back to the hotel, we did
actually right to the front door but that's only a part of this story. What
struck me was how Julie made us all see the city through her eyes, it made me experience
a travel in a totally new way.
Thank You
Julie, you are my kontiki legend
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