amomentadrift

sometimes too many choices can be a problem. endless possibilities cloud decision making… fill it with infinite loops of what if or why not. it’s especially hard when you’re not too picky what the final decision is… or rather, there’s no clear set of criteria available to differentiate between possible actions… other than maybe the obvious finite availability of time or money. but when you’re traveling, everything seems reasonably possible… and because of this, every decison is a sacrafice of sorts.

so as I lay in a hostel bed in florence, I found myself in typical decison making quagmire. I had just spent the last week making my way up the amalfi coast of italy and on through rome…. and now I had to decide where to go next.

the amalfi coast was absolutely gorgeous. it was amazing to dive into the napoli bay in october… with its lucent green water and gentle autumn sun. and parallel to the natural beauty of the coast, rome’s metropolitan elegance was undeniable… superior to the cities I’ve visited to date.

the actual decison to visit florence was largely based on looking at the map and noticing its presence between rome and venice. I’d heard of the city and read about its role in the italian renaissance but really didn’t know much more than that. it seemed logical to stop there on my way up to venice and out of italy. I was interested in visiting venice… but really for no other reason than the image of canal streets streets navigated by men in gondolas and striped shirts.

but time was starting to play a role that it hadn’t really before. I had promised my brother that i would return to the united states for his wedding… and now the late november flight from dublin to dallas was starting to loom in the distance. (don’t worry, an early january flight to new zealand has already been planned… but more on that later).

so as I there I lay… half a dozen locations floating in my head… none of which really presenting any specific glory over the other… the soft sound of time ticking away… I decided to look up some details about venice.

15 minutes later I learned three things… the train to venice was expensive, it was hard to couchsurf there and other accommodations where expensive as well. 20 minutes after that, I’d booked a train to ancona, italy and an overnight ferry to split, croatia.

to be honest… I wish all decision making was like this.

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