Welcome to Italy, and to Our Patreon Launch!

Hey everybody!  It’s launch day!  Our Patreon page JUST WENT LIVE!  Take a look to see all the great stuff you can get for just a few dollars a month.  And if you haven’t signed up for our email list, remember everyone who signs up through the end of February gets a FREE gift!  You’ll get a sample “Weekend Getaway” itinerary and a short Valentine’s Day story!

This month’s travel theme is ITALY!  So all the content we send you will be related to Italy in some way.  To start things off right, and in keeping with February’s upcoming romantic holiday, here are some thoughts about one of Rome’s most romantic traditions.

The Trevi Fountain is one of Rome’s most popular tourist attractions, and city workers collect roughly 3,000 euros worth of coins from the fountain every day after the tourists leave.  Why so many coins? Because a longstanding tradition says that if you toss in a coin, you’ll return to Rome someday.  

​You’re supposed to use your right hand to toss the coin over your left shoulder into the fountain, but I didn’t know that when I visited.  I tossed in a few coins during the three months I spent there, and I must have tossed at least one in correctly, because it worked!  I had no idea I’d ever be coming back to Rome. I really wanted to, but there are so many amazing places to see in this world and just not enough time.  

Nine years later, I found myself on a plane headed back to the Eternal City -- just for a week this time -- and only after I arrived did I think about the coins.  I tossed another one in that week, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the old tradition works as well as it did the first time.  There’s something so romantic about the idea that I’m only saying goodbye for a while.  Like two lovers separated by circumstances but determined to find each other again, my love affair with Rome keeps drawing me back.  And I’m not ready for it to end.