Sarah & Mikki

Before the time gets away from me, I have to tell you about Sarah & Mikki.

Our road trip through Italy wouldn’t have been nearly as memorable without them.

Michael and I had been groveling all day about our overbooked day tour that wasn’t going as planned. At our last stop for the night, over the day, we were given an hour to explore, so as we got off the bus I told him, “Let’s just do wine & cheese tastings for the next hour.”
A few shops later, we meet Sarah & Mikki at the sample counter & they laughed and said, “We heard your plan so we just followed you.”

I loved it (100% something you’d find me doing…).

It turned that we were on the same tour, yet we hadn’t seen each other until now. After oversampling there, we moved on to a wine bar with what I’d still consider the best wine tasting we had in Italy, and our interaction was so fluid that we agreed to have dinner together when we returned,

which was followed by an Irish bar,

and tequila shots,

in Florence (we all have Sarah to thank for that one).

Somewhere between shots and trading travel stories, we discovered our mutual plans of heading to Rome for the new year, so I sidebar asked Michael if he’d be cool with them joining us on our road trip (which even surprised myself). It’s Michael, so of course he was fine with it.

They agreed to join us because they are just cool travelers like that, and the next morning we scooped them up & set out for two really refreshing days of driving through Tuscany to the dreamy Montepulciano, followed by an easy afternoon at the IG worthy hot springs in Saturnia, before heading to Rome. It was perfect. Note: Saturnia was Sarah & Mikki’s idea, as I didn’t realize it was located in Italy. I’d seen it online only two weeks prior, but didn’t bother to check the location, assuming it was some dreamy place I’d probably never get to. Ha!

After we got to Rome, Michael & I assumed that may be the last time we saw them, considering they’d meet other people at their hostel (just the nature of hosteling). To our pleasant surprise, we all missed each other’s company, & managed to get together every night for dinner or drinks before really doing it up on on NYE (that’s a whole other interesting story).

A few days after the new year began, my niece shared an article with me about the types of people that come into your life and why. Naturally, I thought of Sarah & Mikki and why I needed to meet them right now. Beyond enjoying their chill personalities, British humor, and up for anything nature, I had a few things to learn from them.

As much as I love to travel, something had changed with the way I approached it.
I went from a having a little info and seeing where the day took me, to meticulously planning each day so that we could see/do as much as possible. It changed my mood on trips, I no longer felt relaxed thinking about the agenda, and I could see how it was effecting Michael. Of course we still had fun, but there was little room for down time, which is where a lot of unexpectedly good stuff can happen.

Sarah & Mikki had a more relaxed approach to travel that I really appreciated. They had a few things in mind for what they’d like to see/do, were flexible to those things happening or not, and left plenty of space for everything else. In their company, I couldn’t help but feel a bit wound up and see a major need to chillllll. Even my husband, upon talking to him about my mixed feelings, gladly encouraged me take a cue from their style and remember to enjoy myself.

That’s typically a major point of traveling after all, right? Eeesh.

As the day approached to our final night together, which felt weird for all of us, they brought us a perfect little cheesy souvenir clock, so we could remember our “time” together in Italy.

Ah, I loved it.

It now sits on my desk, and looking at it not only reminds me our time together and what they taught me, but that I’d forgotten one of the most enjoyable (and memorable) things about traveling is rarely what you check off your list, but the chance encounters with cool people and sometimes new friends you meet along the way. I mean really, if you would’ve asked me if I thought all of that would’ve come out of the crappy day tour, I’d say bs. Moral of the story, book those day tours, walking tours, and AirBnB experiences, especially if you’re traveling solo.

And that’s what I wanted to share with you about Sarah & Mikki.

Thank you again ladies for wine stalking us that evening & making our Italy road trip one for the books!

We’ll see you in Switzerland soon 😉