And Now the Real Trip Begins

We left Amsterdam in the afternoon on October 1st, feeling a little sad to say goodbye. It had been such an amazing place to visit, and we were so happy we had taken the time to explore it together. But now it was time to move on to the next part of our trip, and really, the whole reason we were taking this trip in the first place.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we were finally doing Son #3’s graduation trip.

He graduated from college in 2020, right in the middle of COVID, which made planning any kind of trip pretty much impossible for the next year and a half. When travel started opening up again, he wanted to wait a little longer because his then-girlfriend was finishing her doctorate later that year. He wanted the trip to be a joint celebration for both of them.

Then she graduated, got a job in Virginia, and the two of them decided to get married. At that point, the green card process became the priority. We couldn't really plan a big family trip when he needed to be available for an interview with only about a month's notice.

Finally, in the fall of 2025, he received his green card and was able to officially move to the United States to be with our beautiful daughter-in-law.

By then, quite a few years had passed since that original graduation trip was supposed to happen.

We asked if he would rather we just give him the money and let him and our daughter-in-law take a trip of their own. But he really wanted this to be a family trip.

And so here we were.

From Amsterdam, John, Son #1, Son #2 and I flew to Rome, where we finally met up with Son #3 and our daughter-in-law.

Photo by MAURO FOSSATI

They had arrived ahead of us and had already checked into our Airbnb. They had even managed to get in a bit of a nap, although the jet lag was still pretty obvious when we arrived. There was lots of catching up to do, and then we headed out for dinner at a little local pizza restaurant.

And I have to say, that pizza may have been the best pizza I have ever had.

After dinner, it was back to the Airbnb to finish getting everything ready for the cruise the next morning. We had a quick evening and an even quicker sleep before it was time to get up and go again.

All Aboard

The next morning, we were up early and checked out of the Airbnb by 10:00. A large vehicle arrived to take all six of us, along with all of our luggage, to the port of Civitavecchia.

By 11:30, we were checked in and on board our home for the next nine days.

And what did we do first?

Lunch, of course.

Our first day on the ship was pretty much exactly what you might expect. We unpacked, ate, settled in, ate some more, wandered around to get the lay of the ship, tried to get all of our devices connected to the ship's app, and then ate again.

There was something wonderfully familiar about being back on a cruise ship, but this time it felt different.

We weren't just travelling. We were all together.

At 6:00 that evening, we sailed away from Civitavecchia just as the sun was beginning to set. The sky was beautiful, and as I looked around our dinner table, I realized just how happy I was to see all of us sitting there together.

This trip had taken a long time to finally happen.

There had been COVID, graduations, a doctorate, a move, a marriage and a very long green card process standing between that original graduation celebration and this moment. But none of that mattered as we sat around that table.

Our family was together again.

I know there will come a time when getting everyone together like this will become harder and the opportunities will be fewer and farther between. Life changes, families grow, jobs and distance get in the way, and everyone becomes busy with their own lives.

So for now, I am going to take whatever time I can get.

And this time, we have ten glorious days together.

I have a feeling it's going to be a great trip.