Category: Travels with a Daughter

I am a single parent with a teenager on the autism spectrum and travel is one of my passions. Travel is a wonderful, educational experience for typical children, and my hunch that Julia would learn and grow with travel experiences was rewarded last summer in Italy. So, I am on a mission to teach Julia about the world—one trip at a time!

travel hangover

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Plant fossils at the Museo di Storia Naturale in Milan 

Almost mid-day on day 3 at home.  Julia is still asleep.  I thought she had no jet lag/long day travel effects at all.  She seemed to go to bed at relatively normal times, wake up pretty early and go-go all day.  Not sure what switched but she has finally crashed.

I’ve been crashing for three days!  I wake much too early and want desperately to nap midday and then crave bed by 9.  During the last two days, I’ve gotten out of bed hoping that I could climb back in as soon as possible which is something I haven’t felt for a long time.

And I am grateful that I recognize that the last time I felt that way was for emotional, not physical reasons.  Those physical reasons fade quickly.  Blessedly quickly. Continue reading →

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Home!

July 2010
July 2015
August 2016

We are home.  Julia was positively jubilant when I woke her up in London and again, when we finally got into our own house.  It was not a hard travel day, we made every connection.  We almost missed our connection in Chicago-an hour and 10 minutes is not enough time for immigration, getting baggage, customs, rechecking bags, going through security and all the walking from terminal to terminal.  The 8 hours from London was long and Julia did not want to sleep in the middle of our day.  I couldn’t blame her.  It was a blessing beyond belief to be met by friends at our little Madison airport, to get welcome home hugs and be driven home, to have milk and eggs and a tomato in the frig and then to get into bed.  It was only after 9 when we climbed into bed but it was somewhere around 3 London time.  I was out much quicker than Julia but she didn’t fight me on sleep.

Today, we move slowly.  We managed unpacking, a wash and food shopping.  I have a meeting tonight.

Much more to say but another day.

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London – friends, dinosaurs and more Harry Potter

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Our last day and on the train to Warner Brothers Studio to see where they filmed HP.  Again, the weather is gorgeous.  We could have used a few more warmer pieces of clothing, one long pair of pants for both of us and slightly warmer tops.  Italy was hot and if anything, we wore our lightest clothing over constantly and I hand washed some between washings.  Here is the opposite.  We both have was very light jackets and light sweat shirts; however, not everything matches and although I am by no means a clothes junky, and perhaps because we have such limited choices, I want us to look put together.  All clothes matching would be easy and a goal. Traveling in jeans and tee shirts with random sweatshirts thrown on used to be my style and fine but we’ve been in cities and we needed a more formal look.  Ummm, this may just be me getting old and desiring some respectability. Continue reading →

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London – friends, Harry Potter & some history

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Where else would we go first?

The line to pretend to push the trolley at the pretend Platform 9 3/4 which is conveniently located next to a HP shop in Kings Cross Station is Potter worthy long. Waiting is long and boring and there is no chance that any person, young or old, who is waiting will give up their place. Julia, who has been challenged with the hub-bub of London stations, is focused and committed. There are two young women taking pictures for the store to sell and they really seem to be making a memorable experience for each person wanting a photo. And to be clear, not every adult waiting is accompanying a child. The noise of the station, regular announcement and travelers, makes for an excellently appropriate background.

Continue reading →

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Milan – Leave taking

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The Duomo and piazza from the Museo del Novecento

On the train to Malpensa Airport in Milan, all packed up. I count to 5 over and over before we leave the apartment–two roller bags, two backpacks and my small bag. Leaving our airb&b apartment, which has served us pretty well this week, we need to leave the keys on the table and leave the building. If I forget anything, we cannot go back.

Continue reading →

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Milan – art & Sunday evening

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My favorite painting at the Pinacoteca (and I don’t remember who painted it).  This was one panel of an unknown altar set of canvasses.  Disconnected from the others, it invites captions.

We have completely given over to living la vita turistica di Milano. Gone are my pretensions of traveling like an Italian. At least in Milano. Our apartment is in Brera, the West Village of Milan, and we are in the most kitschy part of the West Village. Every restaurant caters to English speaking tourists. There is pizza with hotdogs and French fries on it. I’m sure there is the British equivalent. I just don’t recognize it. When we were in Venice last year, we spent an afternoon sitting in Piazza San Marco, with ice cream (Julia) and gin and tonic (me), listening to two dance orchestras and watching other tourists pose with pigeons on their arms. In Milan, it seems comparable to sit in a cafe on the via Dante. Julia has been lusting for a slushie -that really tastes like watermelon although just as incredibly sweet an any American slushie. I have a gin and tonic (in these ridiculously expensive tourist cafes, a small glass of beer is the same price as a mixed drink and I enjoy gin and tonic in the summer. And so rarely order one.). We share a plate of cheese and meats. The servers bring potato chips and olives, just like Venice, an excellent way to encourage a second drink. There is music from whatever is the boom box equivalent. It plays pop, mostly American and mostly impossible to understand. It soon becomes white noise and not bothersome. The people watching is as good as last year. Lots of Asian travelers and women in head scarves, none speaking English. I’ve read that Americans have been scared out of European travel and tonight I wonder if that is the case. Continue reading →

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Entry into Milan

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Not so early in the morning but Julia is still asleep and I’m going to let her be for awhile.

We have been in Milano for 36 hours, gotten somewhat settled, walked a lot, spent hours in the daVinci Science Museum, eaten gelato and seen the Last Supper. I was last in Milano 32 years ago and although the I remember nothing about city or its sights, I vividly remember the energy and how that energy wraps its arms around me.

Continue reading →

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Orta San Giulia – one last look . . . for now

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It is 5 in the morning and Orta is quiet. Amazing. Somewhere someone is waking up and getting ready for the day but the island, over which I continue to obsess, is dark (Is everyone asleep there?) and there are few sounds in Orta except for birds and air conditioners blowing. Too bad about the air conditioning but this is a tourist town. We had ours on for the night. Julia couldn’t sleep with the din from the piazza and the rolling thunder that presaged a late night storm. That thunder went on for most of the day! The lake is long and narrow and surrounded by hills and mountains and the sound bounces and pings around. That storm tonight has been slowly moving towards us since noon. Continue reading →

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Orta San Giulio & drawing

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Julia is sketching about what she sees the last few days and drawing landscapes for the first time.  It is clear she lacks training but as usual her eye for design and placement is right on.  She fumbles when trying to add color but I continue to encourage her.  New learning is exciting.  Besides feeding my wanderlust, I travel to open this incredible world to Julia. Continue reading →

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Orta San Giulio & Pella & music

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Pella

A concert tonight (Monday) and even though it begins at 9:15, I don’t manage to get us out for supper in time. We’ve become very lax about supper. Most restaurant don’t begin serving until 7:30 and we tend to wander about looking for something somewhere around 8:30. I should have checked the poster announcing the concert earlier in the day but I didn’t. Instead, I checked at 8:30 and finding out it began at 9:15 made the executive decision that gelato would make the perfect quick supper. Julia didn’t disagree.   Continue reading →

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