Mi Manchi, Alpi Eagles

As you know if you have read my last couple of Posts, I go down to the Amalfi Coast a bunch of times every year, which means somehow getting to Naples. Sometimes I take the train, sometimes I fly. The train is annoying. It takes about 7 hours, and I have to change in either Bologna or Rome. If I am lucky the first train is on time and so I don't miss the second one. When I get to Naples I either take the hot, dirty, and slow Circumvesuviana to Sorrento, then wait for a bus to Positano. There are about 16 million people who do the same thing, which of course makes the whole journey horrible, and that's if the roads are open. If the roads are closed, I recommend swimming from Sorrento to Positano. If my schedule coincides with a ship, I pay for a taxi or take the bus to the port, where I get one of the two or three ships that goes to Posi. Both of these processes take forever, and since train prices have gone up recently, it made more sense to fly. It would all be a bit better if there were more connections in that area, but more connections might mean more tourists, and I dont want that either. So...

AlpiEagles is the name of the low-cost airline that flew from Venice to Naples. I could usually get a round trip ticket for 100 euro. Alitalia, in order to compete, kept its prices low too. Well now, AlpiEagles has gone out of business, so Alitalia has hiked up its prices and I'm sh*t out of luck, as my grandma would say. Round trip tickets are about 250 euro, but hey, the train costs 150.. Ridiculous. UFFA!!!

The Beginning of a Love Affair

Ciao a tutti,

Well every summer I go down to Positano as often as possible. I have been doing this since I was 20, so this will be my eighth summer visiting my favorite place in the world. It seems that many people have this same sentiment regarding Positano. I am not alone in that "feeling" that I get when the bus from Sorrento makes that last dangerous turn along the coast and Positano comes into view. My heart starts beating faster and I overload on anticipation.

The first time I went was during a summer I was spending in Tuscany. I had just arrived in Italy, and I COULD NOT WAIT to go to Positano. I was doing a language program through my university, and our very first weekend I planned a trip together with 5 other female friends. It was early May. I did all the research for rooms, trains, and buses.

Six 20-year old American girls, all who spoke at least some Italian, at the very beginning of the tourist season, when the Italian male is full to the brim ready to release his hormone-drenched pick-up lines on freshly-arrived targets is an experience unparalleled to any other I have had in Italy. And I have been around Italy.

Needless to say, we had a blast. The town was rather empty, and we were offered boat rides and dinners and "passaggi" on the motorini when it was still custom in Positano to go up the street the wrong way on your scooter.

Now, after years of watching the same boys do the same thing I just sit back and laugh, and enjoy the fact that some things never change.

I live for the energy that seems to spill over the Positano mountainside at about 9pm. That is my favorite time of the day in Posi. The sun has gone down and the town lights up. You can hear the music, the laughing voices, and the clinking of wine glasses from the restaurants along the main street and you can just FEEL that something is going to happen. The cars start coming in, parading down the street, observing the scene. This exciting beauty.

I went back one more time that first summer, and then again the next year after studying in Padova. The year after that I moved to Italy, and well, I have been going at least once a month from May to September. Sometimes I make a last-minute weekend trip and sometimes I stay for several weeks. I have a bunch of friends there, and one of my closest friends here in Venice is from Positano. I feel at home there, and every year in May I come THIS CLOSE to quitting my job and moving there for the summer. And every year there is some new British, American, or Australian living there who has done just that, many because of some new Positano boyfriend they met over the winter. Sometimes I get borderline jealous thinking that someone else could not love being there as much as I do, but alas, such is life.

I have come across many people, both in Positano and through various blogs, who feel that same way about the town. I think its a mix of the kind people and the beauty of the place that are so convincing. Italy in general has a way of capturing foreigners, especially women. In fact, most of the Italian expat blogs are written by women, and I will go into that later....

Some people feel about Venice, Florence, Rome, and Tuscany the way I feel about Positano. Being in love with a destination is much like being in love with a person. Sei perso.

Perhaps if I am a good girl and say my prayers one day I will get the chance to live there. At least for a bit.