it's all in the details.

on our second full day in sri lanka we discovered one of the real gems of this flashpack tour.

something that's only loosely mentioned on their website and didn't register fully with me until we were on the tour.

meals prepared by local families.

in their homes.

when you travel, you're always on the lookout for truly authentic experiences, or at least as close as you can come to them.

but connections to people that are native to the area are hard to come by beyond passing conversations.

flashpack and their guides have worked to establish relationships with several families in sri lanka so that they can host groups and also support themselves at the same time.

our guide, in blue, introducing us to the couple who lives in this gorgeous piece of
countryside and prepared our meal for the day. 

on this day we had lunch outside a family home with a beautiful garden. it was really lovely and delicious with a variety of curries, rice and fruits.

all the chicken curry we had was far too hot for these baby taste buds sadly.

but the other curries were quite delicious and more suited for taste buds of all heat levels.

sri lanka's lion is slightly sweet and golden in color. 

the lunch set up was these blue picnic-style tables with one bench attached,
perfect in number for our group of 12

that evening, we were taken by tractor into the darkness. cautiously being told we should listen carefully for elephants nearby. hmmmm....probably more like a snipe hunt, but...we were brought to a open farmhouse, where a circle of pillows and a nearby fire pit provided quite the ambiance. a local couple prepared some hoppers, basically a sri lankan pancake formed into a bowl with an egg cracked into it. we were also introduced to arrack, alcohol that is distilled from sap of the coconut flowers or sugar cane. as is typical, it was far too strong for me!

half our group in the truck bed, being pulled by a tractor.

it was set up so nicely! 

hoppers! i love an egg, so...

as if the other two experiences weren't enought, the night we were in kandy, we took our small tour bus to a neighborhood full of family homes. we were led through the gates and down a long driveway into another family's home, where we dined on traditional sri lankan curries on their patio. they showed us around their home while their granddaughter slept in a nearby room.

you can see three members of the family in the back and then also in the bottom right corner. 

their patio, set up with tiki torches and a variety of hanging lights

it's these moments that really added something special to this tour. they were real highlights for me and one of the reasons i would book another flashpack tour again.

when can we travel again?

once upon a time there was a world where you could hop on a plane and travel anywhere you wanted in the world.

is this the start of our generation's, "i used to walk to school five miles, one way, in the snow..."

i find myself writing this and craving space that's more than two kilometers from my apartment.

here we are, mid may, and in the last 8 weeks, i've left my apartment only four times for something other than a walk.

it's had its ups and down, but nonetheless, it's a lot.

and there are no days off in online teaching. a mental health day doesn't exist. just like at school you still have to have all the plans and work for the kiddos and check it all the same.

we still have six weeks to go.

somehow in the midst of all this i've dug out this blog and thought about dusting off the digital dust that i've let accumulate.

here in dubai i'm simply too busy to make time for it.

but in an effort to occupy some time rather than just staring at the latest netflix series i thought i'd reminisce over some of my travels from before.

bc.

before coronavirus.

ugh.

so let's throw it back to last spring break when i left on a 10 day tour of sri lanka with flashpack, a uk based tour company.

i've never been much for tours, but i wasn't sure about traveling sri lanka solo, and i didn't have time to plan anything, so this seemed like an option that might help with both of those problems.

the tour was designed to travel through several parts of sri lanka and make sure you saw many of the most visited places, while still having a boutique type experience.

our group. twelve people who didn't know each other, but made a really fabulous group of travelers.

the tour includes nearly everything you need along the way, so while the tours aren't cheap, the hotels are amazing, the tour guide and team were top notch and i didn't have to think about a thing, so it was a price well paid in my mind. and allowed me to see quite a bit of country #45 i couldn't have seen on my own.

the first day of this tour hit the negombo fish market and then a long drive took us to the ancient fortress sigiriya, built in the 5th century. read more about sigiriya in this gorgeous national geographic article. avoid a tribe or two of monkeys, giant wasp nests, and some 1200 steps later and you can find yourself at the top of the "lion's rock." in true tour guide fashion, we were led here to arrive in time for sunset. it was not a bad way to start our sri lankan adventure.

welcome to sri lanka.

much of the fish at the negombo market is laid out to dry.

traveling reminds you how privileged we each are to live the lives we do. even with a virus keeping us in our homes.

you're lucky that the internet has not yet developed a way for you to smell what you see. 

the fish vendors were steps from the ocean. 

approaching sigiriya.

from the top.

sunset in sri lanka. 

blogs are best delivered in small doses, right?

well, assuming my motivation continues, there's several more days to highlight from this amazing trip.

special shout out to my tour group for sharing all their fantastic photos, many of which i've used here!

return to milan.

when i knew i was leaving milan, i had this notion that i wanted to get back to milan on my way home from dubai at christmas. 

for the longest time, the flight scenarios just looked impossible. 

but one day, i happened upon an affordable and doable flight path and i bought it. 

my school in dubai has an extra week off at the holidays, so my friends in milan would still be in the city so that i could say hello. 

caitlin, of course, let me stay at her apartment...i just had to figure out how to get in the door! 

the key was with the doorman, who was nowhere to be found...of course! coffee break, i'm sure! 

so i dropped my bags outside her door hoping i'd be able to jump on her wifi since i'd used her network before...and success! 

after a little while, i checked back downstairs and the doorman had returned. 

and, of course, we had to hit our favorite places.

i love this little wine bar, convivio, and have posted about it many times before.

some of my favorite people!

then it was off to pizza am, one of the best pizzerias in town. you must arrive before they open if you don't want to wait forever.

ugh, so delicious.

good friends, good food.

see? #cleanplateclub

i'd basically been begging for a starbucks to arrive in milan the entire time i lived there.

and then three arrived as soon as i left. #figurati

so i had to go and get a latte. just because i could.

but there were plenty of lines!

i miss watching the little old italians walking the streets.

and i miss this foccacia. it's one of my favorites.

all that deliciousness.

channeling girl eat world.

another mandatory stop was luini's. i mean, when this is the line, you know it's good, right?

panzerotti. basically baby calzones.

delicious food, historic background.

milan was all decked out for the holidays.

blue skies and the duomo.

i was also able to swing by school to say hello and see how the renovations finished up over the summer.

and i couldn't pass up chocolate brioche.

and discovering i've been immortalized on the school's timeline.

i asked my italian teacher to meet me for lunch, somewhere we could have a bowl of delicious pasta.

she insisted on her sister's.

so we lunched over traditional italian ragu.

buonissimo!

it was awesome to get back to milan so soon after leaving. and honestly, surprisingly reassuring that i made the right decision to leave when i did. i'm so happy to have had the experience of living in italy for seven years, but am thrilled to have taken the leap into a new adventure.

until next time, milan.

december in the middle east.

leading up to winter break we had a staff holiday party at a hotel in jbr. a huge spread of food was provided by the school. 

notable difference from school parties in milan? drinks were not on the house! 

but so cool to have a holiday party outside- in december!

lynn and lindsay photographing the scene!

fun times with these amazing ladies...and i found a killer dress!

also in december, a group of us went to this fancy hotel for tea.

i've got to say taking holiday-ish pictures in summer dresses is weird!

blue skies and the burj!

this lounge was an awesome place for a chill afternoon.

fyi, for those of you in dubai, there are some discounts available in various entertainer type apps to save some cash.

and the food was delicious. and cute.

with some classically beautiful christmas decorations.

and right before we headed out for winter break the elementary staff had a potluck afternoon.

there was so much food!

after all this i was off to reunite with my friends in milan!