Italy 2017: Arrival, Pompeii, and Dear Old Friends

The last two days have been a whirlwind of travel and exhaustion, as all international trips can be. So, the reason I am in Italy:

My friend, photographer Gregorio Carullo (look him up) is getting married in his hometown of Salerno, Italy. He and his fiancé were instrumental in my successful conquering of a tumultuous trip to Italy four years ago, and I told them if they ever got married, I would show up. Fast forward to last year when Greg told me they were engaged, and I began to make plans. Since neither my mom nor aunt had ever traveled abroad, I saved up my Patreon funds and invited them along, and thus started the planning for this grand adventure. 

We flew into Rome from LAX, with a speedy and rushed layover in Toronto. Upon landing in Italy, it took a long, hot frustrating two hours to get our bags and our rental car, but soon I was rushing down the A3 Italian Highway to Salerno with two exhausted, snoring ladies in the car with me. I somehow wasn’t tired, even though I’d only slept a total of ten minutes in a day and a half, and I somehow powered through the 3 hour drive quite well. 

Then we got lost again, with our GPS unable to find the tiny B&B Gregorio had booked for us. Like most of Italy, the address was haphazard and difficult to single out, but eventually I met up with Greg and his wonderful fiance Shiela, and the afternoon ended with everyone taking a nap but me. Thankfully, a  well-needed luke-warm shower kept me going, especially since the Italy summer heat had made me pour sweat for the last several hours.

That evening, having only been in the country a few hours, we headed to Greg’s parent’s apartment overlooking the ocean, a humble, modest apartment that had saved me and my friend back in 2013, a home I remembered fondly. In attendance were a dozen members of Greg’s family, mostly little cousins and nieces and nephews, that I had the pleasure of meeting in 2013, and they were surprisingly all very happy to see me again. His parents, who I called “mama” and “papa,” greeted me with enthusiastic and open arms, kissing me on each cheek and hysterically throwing Italian sentences at me that I still don’t understand. The food was great, my aunt and mom were impressed at how happily I was received, and the night went splendidly, capped off with some limoncello. Quite the unusual way to spend a 4th of July, in a foreign country.

The next morning, today, we slept in until noon, then headed out to Pompeii to fulfill my Aunt Cathy’s dreams. She and my mom cried, overjoyed at the experience, and I couldn’t help but allow my insecurities to subside and let a small bit of pride seep in to my heart. With the help of you all as patrons, I had made this trip possible, and I felt honored to have done so.

After several hours exploring those ruins, we ate an extremely over-priced late lunch at 5pm, then drove back to Salerno in time for another well-needed shower (read: sweaty over-weight Mexican) before heading off to yet another dinner with Greg and Shiela. This time it would be at a new, fancy pizzeria, “the best in the city,” Greg promised, and we got to meet Shiela’s dorky, nerdy, video-game and comic-book-collecting brother, 20 year old Mikael. Being a comic nerd myself, he and I talked about our love of Marvel endlessly while Greg rolled his eyes and Shiela smiled at me appreciatively. Everyone had a great time, and my mom was once again impressed how well I could navigate friendships and language barriers so well.

After dinner, Cathy took Ma back down the cobblestoned street the few blocks to our B&B while I headed off with Shiela, Mikael, and Greg to a nearby Piazza to enjoy the cool night air. Greg’s supposed Bachelor Party would be starting soon, but Shiela joined us and we all laughed and shared stories. I loved that Shiela’s english was still top notch, and thankfully her brother was even more fluent, unlike Greg who continually had to be updated on the explanation of the sarcastic things I was saying that everyone was laughing at.

Finally, around 11pm, Greg’s other macho Italian friends showed up, so Shiela said goodbye and I was stuck in a crew of tough, bearded men who hardly knew any English. One was Mimmo, Greg’s friend that had helped me translate during a shoot back in 2013. Mimmo is good looking and clearly charming with the ladies, though he spent that entire shoot ogling the model. It turns out he’s a very respected lawyer in the area, which was almost surprising as Greg’s other friend who is an archeologist. (Archeology will always be an intense passion of mine, though I was dismayed that his friend had no interest in talking to me about it, not thats he’d understand me if he did.)

I had been promised a crazy Italian Bachelor Party, but what I got instead was a group of 9 guys sitting around a table in a piazza on a hot night having one drink each and sharing a chess plate, then walking to a nearby bar for one shot each, then playing a little foosball before everyone parted ways at 1am. Hardly the RAGER that was implied to me, but an interesting evening, nonetheless.

So thank you all once again for making this trip possible for me and my mom and aunt. You have helped make two older ladies have what they believed were unreachable dreams come true. Though models have been once again incredible difficult to find in Italy, I am doing my best to find at least one in each of the four cities we will be traveling to, including Rome, Salerno, Florence, and Venice. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, and stay tuned for more Italy updates for the next two weeks!