Euphoric is the only way to describe how I feel when I am travelling in Italy. Have you ever seen a dog hanging it’s head out of a car window into the wind? That dog looks as though it is the happiest it has ever been in its whole doggy life. That is how I feel when I’m travelling in Italy. Like I’m hanging my head out in the wind with all the smells, sights and sounds of Italy just filling me with the joy of life. I feel alive and awake in ways that I don’t normally feel.
Sometimes when I’m driving with the top down and the music pumping I experience a form of that euphoria but it’s so short lived as to be negligible. The smell of traffic fumes, the sewerage treatment plant, heat from the bitumen, fast food franchise cooking smells – and the fact that I’m on my way to work – kill any euphoria pretty damned quickly.
Maybe the euphoria isn’t destination specific. Maybe It’s just being on holiday that creates the euphoria, no matter where that holiday is. Let’s face it, not going to work in a cubicle every day would make anyone euphoric, I guess. Except I have never felt euphoric about holidays in Australia or the UK. Austria creates some euphoria as does Switzerland but Italy is the euphoria holiday capital for me. More specifically, Italian mountains. Even more specifically, when I have the opportunity to experience those mountains up close and personal.
Maybe it’s the low oxygen that makes my head light or it’s euphoria created by the unbounded and expansive views. Maybe it’s just the thought of taking my body up a big hill to the top to see what there is to see.
Whatever the reason, I feel like jumping up and down, waving my arms and shouting at the top of my lungs. I feel as though I’ve been injected with all of the energy and wonder of a child. Everything about Italy makes me high on happy. The food makes me excited to be human. Their dedication to preserving the quality and history of that food makes everything better. The melody of the language is beautiful. Mother nature astounds me with her Italian mountain beauty. Italian cities abound with awe-inspiring architecture. The people live simple lives and are happy doing so. There is nothing about Italy that doesn’t make me brim over with excitement to be there.
