Travel is like an Artichoke
There's nothing like travel to get you out of your comfort zone, question your own competence and understanding, and test your patience, flexibility, and fortitude. Travel is kind of like an artichoke: the challenging, sometimes thorny aspects -- long journeys, language barriers, unexpected delays, or navigating the unfamiliar -- ultimately lead you to the heart, the rewarding experiences, the connecting with others, the many things we find we have in common, the reasons we travel in the first place. Language is an obvious area of difference. English is my first language. Spanish is my second language and one I still struggle with. Now we're in Italy where I can speak a few words and understand a few more. Today we were asking directions to a bank ATM and we had to use all three languages to communicate. But we got there. Luckily a lot of people here can understand more than one language. Paul and I are going to language school for a week to help us com...