how do you hold on to the feeling in between trips?
 

I've only been back from Italy for a week, but I feel bereft! I continue to read the Sicily blog and the posts here, but really, how can I hold on to that great feeling of being abroad? Cook? Drink wine? Listen to Italian music?

Sure, all of those help, but the fact is, you're not there anymore, so you really can't replicate the experience.

This is why some of us have gone back dozens and dozens of times, bought houses in Europe, done all manner of crazy things to feed our addiction.

Start planning your next trip.

Yes--cook, listen to the music, do a great scrap book, share here at Fodors, go to an opera, rent Italian films, and by all means, drink Italian wine! :D (good luck trying to great a decent capacino tough)

StCirq - I can't even fantasize about buying a house - the dollar is so low!! I guess I need to plan another trip. Hmmmmm. Where to next??

Trust me, txtree...I'd never buy a place in Europe right now. I had the good fortune to get that brilliant idea when there were almost 7 francs to the dollar.

Take Italian cooking lessons, drink wine, rent Italian movies, get yourself a bunch of Laura Pausini CDs...

We have framed some photographs and put them up around the house. We were lucky enough to stay in an apartment in London, an old mill house in Bath, an apartment in Paris and a villa in Tuscany and we have put those shots together and had them professionally framed.

Keep America outside your life. Hang out with Europeans, work with Europeans, listen to the BBC, eat European, live a European lifestyle. Keep the USA at outside or stay home.

Take a language course. I just started that this year and, for one evening a week, it feels a little bit like being on vacation.

We have turned our den into a "travel room". Pictures of all of our trips cover the walls, the entire room has items we have purchased on trips and we sit there often and plan the next trip. The best way to keep that feeling of excitement is to book and start planning your next trip, even if it is a year away it takes away some of the pain to know exactly when you are going back again. Drinking wine certainly helps too so here's to you and your next trip. J

I usually start planning another trip as soon as I return. My airfare first if not already booked, then planning, book hotels...I'm ready to go. My mind does not venture far from thoughts of several favorite places in Europe.

txtree,
Yes, all of the above, as well as St. Cirq's suggestion to "start planning the next trip." :-) That's the first thing I do when I get home from a trip to Paris -- plan the next year's trip! This year, we didn't go to Paris. We went to Ireland instead, but we're back, and we loved Ireland. However, I am planning our 2009 trip to Paris. When we go to Paris, we bring back chocolates, mustard, tea, etc. We like to roast chicken and serve it with Maille mustard, accompanied by a bottle of beaujolais. I like to read books set in Paris, watch French movies, and webcams help, but nothing helps as much as planning next year's trip. My husband and I take a conversational French course before we go back to Paris. It's very helpful, but it's also a lot of fun to talk to other students who are planning to go to Paris or other French speaking countries.

Sandy

Lots of great ideas! After I put my photos on my computer, I print off highlights, and using all my tickets, postcards, and mementos, I build a great scrapbook. I type up little paragraphs for the photos, giving a description and history of the subjects, or telling about our experiences at the location. Especially for historic sites, I use my Dorling Kindersley guidebooks, and doing this research refreshes everything for me.

I have my home computer screensaver set to scroll through my photos, and it is very nice to see the pictures pop up as I walk by. A digital photo frame can do the same thing, and I'm getting ready to get one for my desk at work.

Like most of you, I love hanging out here, and planning the next trip helps, too. I think about my travel passion a lot!
Barb